from the USTA Communications Department

Columbus, OH — Daily Racing Form, TrackMaster and the USTA have announced a long-term partnership to create and market electronic versions of Harness Eye and Daily Harness Program past performances for racing’s most heavily trafficked site, www.DRF.com and limited partner sites.

“Daily Racing Form is eager to expand into the digital harness market with two leading handicapping products that harness fans have known and trusted for years,” said John Hartig, CEO, Daily Racing Form. “Harness Eye and Daily Harness Program products will complement DRF.com’s content-rich website and DRFBets wagering platform to serve as a one-stop experience under the DRF Harness brand.

“DRF has published Harness Eye and its predecessor “Sports Eye” since 1964 and Daily Harness Program for the past six years. We are thrilled to partner with TrackMaster and the USTA to better serve today’s harness fans, many of whom are also avid Thoroughbred fans.”

Harness Eye provides one-of-a-kind past performances for the leading Standardbred tracks racing across North America. Its exclusive “short comments” give an insight into what occurred between race calls (when the horse was on the move or how strongly he finished). An additional feature to Harness Eye is the “Eye” rating, a one-stop guide to which horses are performing well enough to compete.

“Combining the exclusive content featured in Harness Eye with the marketing power and wagering platform of Daily Racing Form is a win-win for harness players everywhere,” said Derick Giwner, managing editor of DRF Harness for Daily Racing Form. “We are confident that Daily Harness Program will also be readily embraced by harness fans.”

“TrackMaster has served the needs of harness racing’s electronic handicapping market for nearly 15 years now,” said TrackMaster President David Siegel. “We have brought a great number of valuable products, proprietary ratings and statistical additions to the market. When the USTA approached us about bringing the DRF’s editorial expertise into the fray, and expanding the reach to their well-established Thoroughbred base, we thought it made great sense to forge a partnership.”

“This is an exciting, new partnership for the USTA and harness racing fans,” said USTA Executive Vice President and CEO Mike Tanner. “It provides a new platform that will make additional, quality harness racing handicapping products available digitally to a wider audience and will give harness handicappers more information and choices than ever before. In addition, we hope that these new products will attract some of DRF’s core Thoroughbred customers to increase their wagering on harness racing.”

Daily Racing Form has initiated partnerships with the individual harness tracks to provide new and unique online content, including a dynamic partnership with the new Meadowlands that will be announced shortly.

Daily Racing Form, “America’s Turf Authority since 1894” for Thoroughbred racing horseplayers and professionals throughout North America, is the Thoroughbred industry’s dominant multi-channel media company. Launched in 1894, Daily Racing Form is the only daily newspaper in the U.S. dedicated solely to the coverage of a single sport, publishing up to 2,000 unique pages of statistical and editorial copy every day, in as many as 30 daily editions, 364 days a year (with the exception of Christmas Day). Its companion website, www.drf.com is the most heavily trafficked horseracing destination, providing players with interactive past performances, exclusive handicapping tools and access to the DRF Bets online wagering platform.

TrackMaster, a wholly owned subsidiary of Equibase Company LLC, provides a full range of handicapping products for the three major racing breeds — Thoroughbred, American Quarter Horse and Standardbred. Equibase Company LLC is a partnership between subsidiaries of The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and serves as the Thoroughbred industry’s official database. Additional information about the companies is available at www.trackmaster.com and www.equibase.com.

The U.S. Trotting Association, located in Columbus, Ohio, is a not-for-profit association of Standardbred owners, breeders, drivers, trainers, and officials, organized to provide administrative, rulemaking, licensing and breed registry services to its members.