Weekly Ultimate Kentucky Derby Poll Launched

PRESS RELEASE
 
For Immediate Release February 11, 2016
 
Weekly Ultimate Kentucky Derby Poll Launched
Brisnet.com to present expert panel’s ranking of Triple Crown contenders beginning Monday Horse Racing Radio Network (HRRN), the Eclipse Award-winning broadcast organization and official radio home of the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup World Championships, announced a partnership Thursday with Brisnet.com, the official data source of the Kentucky Derby, to produce the most comprehensive assembly of Turf journalists and handicappers for a weekly ranking of Triple Crown contenders.
 
Eclipse Award-winning Turf writer Jennie Rees will oversee The Ultimate Kentucky Derby Poll presented by Brisnet.com after branching out into the racing industry following 34 years with the Louisville Courier-Journal.
The Ultimate Kentucky Derby Poll brings together 13 highly regarded experts, including nationally prominent handicappers Michael Beychok, winner of the 2012 National Handicapping Championship and Eclipse Award Handicapper of the Year, and Jonathon Kinchen, who won the season-long NHC Tour last year.
 
Other pollsters are HRRN president and co-founder Mike Penna, HRRN analyst and former trainer Jude Feld; HRRN analyst and 2014 Miss Connecticut Acacia Courtney; Ed DeRosa, brisnet.com’s Director of Marketing and TwinSpires.com Director of Communications; James Scully, head of Brisnet.com’s editorial department and a lead contributor and content manager for TwinSpires.com’s blog and Kentucky Derby website; well-known racing broadcast journalist Caton Bredar, on scene at Gulfstream Park’s Championship meet; Steve Byk, host of the popular national radio program weekday “At the Races With Steve Byk” and a horse owner and bettor; Gary Palmisano, VIP services manager for Churchill Downs/TwinSpires.com; Jeff Siegel, long-time horse owner, racing analyst and public handicapper; and Jim Mulvihill, director of media and industry relations for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.
 
The poll will debut this coming Monday, Feb. 15, and appear every week on HRRN’s horseracingradio.net website. Rees will provide comments on the leading contenders and Brisnet.com will provide past performances.
“Jennie Rees is one of the most respected and highly decorated turf writers in the history of thoroughbred racing,” said Penna. “To be able to assemble the exceptional caliber of handicappers and analysts in a single Derby poll hosted on our HRRN website is extremely exciting and will be a tremendous tool for our listeners and racing fans around the globe as we make our way toward the first Saturday in May.”
 
“Brisnet.com has supported Horse Racing Radio Network since its inception, and we are thrilled to be a part of this new product offering,” said Director of Marketing Ed DeRosa. “Listeners have counted on HRRN’s on-air talent for great Derby insight for years, and now Jennie Rees and the Kentucky Derby poll give fans another reason to visit horseracingradio.net.”
 
About HRRN
The Horse Racing Radio Network is your home for Eclipse Award winning coverage of the biggest events in racing throughout the year. In 2016, HRRN will broadcast more than 100 stakes races from racetracks across the country, and is the official radio network of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup World Championships. HRRN also produces a series of popular talk shows aired throughout the week on SiriusXM satellite radio: Xpressbet Radio on HRRN (Wednesday – Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET), Jock Talk presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka (Tuesday, 6-7 p.m. ET), Trainer Talk presented by Fasig-Tipton (Wednesday, 6-7 p.m. ET), Brisnet Call In Show (Thursday, 6-7 p.m. ET), Xpressbet Weekend Stakes Preview (Friday, 6-7 p.m. ET) and the Equine Forum (Saturday, 8-10 a.m. ET).
 
For more information visit www.horseracingradio.net, follow us on Twitter @HRRN and like “Horse Racing Radio Network” on Facebook.
 
About Brisnet.com
Brisnet.com is the official data source of the Kentucky Derby, TwinSpires.com, and Churchill Downs Inc.’s family of racetracks. Founded in 1971 by Richard “Dick” Broadbent III as Bloodstock Research Information Services, Brisnet.com was the first large-scale website to offer past performances online when it launched in 1996. Acquired by CDI in 1996, Brisnet.com is a leading provider of horse racing information. Follow Brisnet.com on Twitter @Brisnet.
 
About Jennie Rees
Jennie Rees, a five-time Eclipse Award winner and 2014 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, left newspaper journalism to specialize in horse-racing communications, advocacy and fan education. Follow her on Twitter @TracksideJennie and at “Trackside Jennie” on Facebook.