Over the last few years, thoroughbred racing has adopted the ideology that marketing its marquee races as mainstream events, while making big days even bigger, should be a primary direction of the industry going forward.  Much of this has been done with great success as the three legs of the Triple Crown and the Breeders Cup have turned into a “bucket-list” item for many people, especially celebrities. While there are many things that work in thoroughbred racing that I am not sold should be adopted in harness racing, I feel that event-marketing of major races is one of the few things that can be successful in harness racing.  Case in point, the International Trot at Yonkers Raceway. In the weeks leading up to the International Trot, Yonkers Raceway used the Standardbred Owners Association of New York twitter account to introduce the contenders for the race to the public, something that was much needed given that the majority of the horses comprising the field were from another country.  The tweets included links to profiles providing key information for each of the horses. From there video footage of the horses arriving at Yonkers, relaxing in their stalls and training over the half-mile oval would follow, bringing the viewing audience much closer to the horses in the weeks and days leading up to the race. The International Trot as an event also made it to local airwaves in the form of a preview of the event on Good Day New York, which included a reporter in a jog cart at Yonkers and a live one hour broadcast from 3:30 – 4:15 PM on SNY.  It goes without saying that exposure on television can always enhance the effectiveness of marketing an event and this is no exception. The connections of the competitors in the International Trot were given a cruise around New York City on Thursday evening, bringing an important element to this event that is not often seen in harness racing.  Simply put, the parties responsible for putting together the event opened up their checkbooks, which is an important aspect of showing the world just how much they are going to support this featured day. One of the complaints when foreign horses come to North America to compete is a lack of data and information on the horses.  Enter Brandon Valvo, who was effectively utilized by Yonkers Raceway to fill in the gaps in the past performances by charting the races of each of the foreign horses.  While before we may just see a finish position and a final time, we were now privy to points of call throughout the horses’ races and the top three finishers from the race.  This information proved vital as it indicated that Twister Bi recently was the horse who cut the mile before finishing third in Propulsion’s monstrous sub 1:50 performance.  It also showed not just a third-place finish in his most start, but one that included a ferocious late charge from an impossible spot to narrowly miss.  While this likely didn’t impact the horse’s price too much, as many European bettors who wagered into the commingled win pool were aware of these points, it helped the American bettors understand why the horse was taking so much play. Yonkers Raceway and the SOA of New York did a great job in working together to bring the eight New York Sire Stakes championships and a pair of $250,000 Invitational events to the racing program as well.  This provided the betting public with championship races throughout the program, a key component of turning a single race into an event. The drone camera was very cool element to the racing card that day and it was close enough to the horses that you could identify where the horse you wagered on was and how he was moving.  It is a glimpse into something we are going to see more of in the years to come in all sporting events. From top to bottom, the marketing plan surrounding the International Trot was effective and impressive. It showed the industry how much good can be done when a racetrack operator and the horsemen get together to work collectively toward a goal.  For everyone involved in making this event what it was, I say bravo and I look forward to the 2018 edition.