New era begins as Shelbourne goes live

It’s as good a night as any to get the process under way, with 10 first-round heats of the ETS Irish Derby taking place and such canine luminaries as 525 track record holder and Champion Stakes winner Paradise Madison, former star pup Milldean Panther, reigning champ Skywalker Puma and Easter Cup winner North Bound in action.

This showcases the very best we have to offer and if tonight doesn’t begin with a real bang it will never take off. I share all concerns about where this might or might not take us but gaining a real interest from the wider public is vital and these next few weeks could be crucial to the future of the sport.

Unless the live pictures prove successful in the eyes of the bookmakers, we have no bargaining chips. Leaving aside the concerns for the future for just a few weeks, I’ll be looking for some very positive sounds emanating from the bookmakers long before Derby final night, September 14.

Many of the major bookmakers have been carrying live prices from Shelbourne for the past number of weeks and the ones I checked in on certainly didn’t live up to the expectations with regard to overrounds.

Realistically, that’s a deal breaker as far as the firms are concerned as, regardless of how educated or uneducated an average betting shop punter is, lack of value will be a huge turn-off. The betting should be brisk throughout the Derby and I don’t envisage any major issues in that sphere — for these few weeks, at least.

The decision to stream the first-round draw live on the IGB site on Monday morning was well received. While a number of watchers relayed similar issues as I experienced — namely that the stream stalled on a number of occasions on the PC — I found it worked very well on the iPhone and thus the problems were more likely browser related than an actual issue with the stream.

Having live access to the draw is another step into the future and the very fact that first notice of the live stream was sent from Shelbourne Park’s Twitter account (@shelbournepark) must also be applauded. Let’s hope updates (cards, non-runners, latest odds, quotes, pictures, etc) will come from the same source throughout the duration of the Derby.

This period provides a very good opportunity for the IGB to advance its social media presence and hopefully that will be recognised.

Again, Red Mills, Lar Sutton and Maria Dagg did a great job with their video from the Derby trial session of last week. There are a number of short-but-informative interviews with a whole range of racing personalities, as well as footage from the trials themselves. Without question, this has been a positive innovation and long may it continue.