NEW ORLEANS, LA— Santa Anita Park was declared the winner of this year’s Simulcast Award at the 24th annual International Simulcast Conference in New Orleans, La. The venerable Southern California track previously won the award in 2000, 2001 and 2015.
The Simulcast Award, sponsored by American Teletimer Corp. and ONTrack Media and Entertainment, honors excellence in the presentation of a racetrack’s live race product to its simulcast outlets. A panel of five judges selected the winner as best among the 10 North American and international racetracks entered for consideration.
The judges cited Santa Anita’s readable display which makes the most of available screen space without resorting to flashy or jittery moving elements, along with a smooth, unobtrusive scrolling tempo. One judge said: “Their graphics package is clear, bright and easy to read…the best graphics package in North America in my view”, while another noted that the post-race screen is great for including everything – order of finish, fractions and payouts.
“We are honored to receive this prestigious award for the fourth time,” said Keith Brackpool, Chairman of Santa Anita Park. “The landscape of producing a simulcast signal is an ever evolving one and we strive to be on the leading edge. We are very proud to win in consecutive years as we are constantly seeking to improve our signal for our customers by adding camera angles and fine-tuning the graphic look. We also thank our production company, Pegasus Communications, for their partnership in producing Santa Anita’s simulcast signal.”
Shiva Scanlon is the Pegasus Production Manager at Santa Anita, while Amy Zimmerman, Santa Anita’s VP-Business Coordination & Director of Broadcasting, has been the Executive Producer of all four of the track’s Simulcast Award-winning entries.
The 10 track entries were the actual simulcast audio and video transmission of a single race sent to wagering outlets. Each entry included the pre-race features, odds, will-pays, commentaries, the actual running of the race, the results, and post-race features.
The winner had noteworthy competition in this very close race from Keeneland and Addington Raceway in New Zealand, with Del Mar, Saratoga and Woodbine also receiving votes. Each received first, second or third-place votes on several ballots.
Previous winners of the award are Churchill Downs (1997), Turfway Park (1998), Penn National (1999), Santa Anita Park (2000-01, 2015), Hollywood Park (2002), Keeneland (2003, 2008-9, 2011-4), Los Alamitos (2007), Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (2005), and Woodbine Entertainment Group (2004, 2006-7, 2010, 2012).
The International Simulcast Conference is hosted by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations and Harness Tracks of America.