NYRA Now: An In-Depth Look

by Bob Ehalt

In a fast-paced digital world, the future is indeed now.

And for fans of the New York Racing Association, there's a new and improved way to have all of the excitement of action at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga at their fingertips.

Building off the popularity of its NYRA HD app, NYRA has launched NYRA Now, a free and highly innovative application available now for iOS and Android devices and soon for additional platforms. The new app contains a wealth of new content and features which has raised the mobile experience to unprecedented levels of entertainment for racing fans.

"The idea was to create an 'Over The Top' platform to distribute our content," said David O'Rourke, NYRA Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer. "We started with NYRA.com and the NYRA HD app and now we're investing in a more robust platform across multiple devices, including ones focused on the television experience. If you like our circuit and want to watch our races, there's no better experience than this app."

A highlight of the NYRA Now app is that it allows users to pick and choose camera angles to watch races, including a head-on view and one from the stretch.

There's also a paddock camera, and many of the feeds are available 24 hours a day, providing numerous uses such as providing a glimpse of morning workouts or finding out if the weather at the track is sunny or stormy.

In the coming months, there will also be a camera feed for viewing workouts at the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga.

Users can access NYRA's full package of Race Day Live coverage as well as entries in a sharp, easy-to-read format with links to NYRA Bets for wagering. Fans of NYRA's Talking Horses segments with host Andy Serling can watch each day's show on NYRA Now, either in its entirety or for a specific race.

The multi-purpose app also has a Video On Demand area filled with replays of stakes and features from NYRA's immense video library. HD replays of NYRA races dating back to April 2016 are also available.

For Spanish-speaking fans, NYRA Now also has Luis Grandison's race calls and analysis from Grandison and Darwin Vizcaya.

And that's just the start of NYRA's push to remain on the cutting edge of the technical revolution.

"It's an app racing fans can get lost in. It's one-stop shopping for racing fans. There's so much more content in it than anything else out there," said Dan Silver, NYRA's Senior Director of Television. "What (NYRA CEO and President) Chris Kay, Dave, and our entire executive team want to do is enhance the guest experience, so we've tried to come up with technological advancements for racing fans that are first in class for the racing industry and are better than you'll see in other industries. This is taking the New York racing experience and blowing it through the roof and taking it to the n-th degree. It's a progression of everything we're doing."

While the NYRA Now app is now available for mobile and platform users, later in April it will be rolled out in a television platform that will give viewers an opportunity to watch all of NYRA's races and video feature in bold, vivid HD images.

Already launched with Chromecast capability, NYRA Now will be available through Roku, Amazon Fire,Apple TV and Android TV in April, followed by Xbox One and PS4 later this spring.

"We are producing HD video, but where can you watch it as a fan? Our Fox Sports and MSG+ shows are in HD, but there's no cable channel with consistent distribution of horse racing in HD," O'Rourke said. "We need to get that to the consumer because it's so much more impressive to watch racing in HD on a television screen. We've already invested in our own HD television show, but these platforms are where television is going and we want to go there now and continue to expand in that area. As good as NYRA Now is, it is just the beginning for us."

It's also the future, which has now arrived for New York racing fans in the form of NYRA Now.