Standardbred Canada has been working with industry media professionals to identify and develop plans to assist in the promotion of harness racing by leveraging their expertise.

The task force includes Dave Briggs, Paul Delean, Sandra Snyder, Melissa Keith, Peter Watts, Nicholas Oakes, and is chaired by Standardbred Canada’s Darryl Kaplan.

“We have been really impressed with the level of engagement and ideas that the task force has identified early on in the process, which includes identifying our purpose and eventual outcomes,” says Kaplan.

Included in the stated purpose is to develop processes that will foster a collective approach in promoting the sport across the country. This includes discussing ways to improve how the industry covers racing stories that will generate and attract new fans, and developing a national calendar of events to promote Canada’s marquee events. The Task Force will focus on individual stories building up to each event, formulating a grassroots approach to highlight the “local” good news race stories that the industry has, and defining a social media roadmap that will further focus and position the sport online.

“We have put together a very energetic team and if other media organizations would like to become involved in this work, we welcome all assistance from any organization that wants to raise the awareness of our sport, industry and those that work and play in it,” says Kaplan.

For more information or inquiries regarding the SC Media Task Force, please contact Standardbred Canada Communications Manager, Darryl Kaplan, at [email protected].