One of the key stories of the 151st Kentucky Derby announced by Woodford Reserve at Churchill Downs on May 3rd was the involvement of social media influencer Griffin Johnson and Arkansas Derby winner Sandman.
Through West Point Thoroughbreds, Johnson is a shareholder of Sandman and finished seventh in the Derby as part of America’s best racing “Stardom Interest” influencer ownership initiative. Heading into the race, Johnson took a backstage look at the race with 9.7 million Tiktoks, 2.7 million Instagrams and 1.6 million followers.
According to ABR, Johnson created 51 social media posts related to Sandman and Derby from March 20th to May 5th (not including Instagram or Snapchat stories). These posts received over 212.2 million impressions, 3.3 million engagements and 35 million views. Additionally, Johnson has appeared in many articles, appearing on television, radio, podcasts and digital streams.
ABR recorded the most influential two-week stretch in the company’s history, which led to the Derby thanks to Johnson. ABR saw an increase in impressions by 586%, engagement by 311% and video views by 545%. Only about a third of 503 posts are about Johnson or Sandman, showing how that influence took over throughout the Derby.
This exposure also seemed to help push the Kentucky Derby to record betting numbers and the highest viewer of the race since 1989. Mike Ziegler, senior vice president and general manager of Churchill Downs, said during an association session at the Racing Commissioners Association’s annual conference that the record number was 150th Kentucky Derby surprised that he was in 2024.
“If you said we were going up through the Derby 150, I wouldn’t believe it,” Ziegler said. “The social media impact of this past Derby was astronomical and exponentially greater than the Derby 150. Much of it has to do with Griffin Johnson and the other influencers who were here for Derby. That really makes an impact.
Ziegler has joined the Thoroughbred Racing Round Table Panels with Terry Finley, president and CEO of West Point and Tina Bond, president of the Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association. The panel, held at the Triple Crown Room in Churchill Downs, was hosted by Danmetzger, president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
Finley said many comments about Johnson’s posts came from people in the 18-26 age group and that he had never seen Derby before and had his parents watched it.
“If you look at those numbers, what was different? That was the distant and deep explosion of social media,” Finley said. “I think it’s the first time we’ve really had a case study where we can really present to people and say, ‘Look, we’re not guessing, we don’t want, we’re showing you the results.” ”
Although praise was thrown on Derby Day, both Finley and Bond said the sport still needs to see it spreading standard race day on low-rise tracks for success to be sustainable in the future. Some of the issues discussed by the panel as sources of concern include a decline in foal crops, a decoupling in Florida, a decline in operating racetracks this century, and states like California lagging behind the wallet money competition due to lack of additional support from alternative gambling sauces.
“For me, it’s not a sustainable business model,” says Bond, who breeds and races horses as Sonhill Thoroughbred in New York, about the current state of racing. “A very few horses are profitable. It’s very expensive to do business in New York. Big days are great, but all the little owners and trainers who feed this great sport to cultivate this great sport will develop this point and grow the sport.”
Finley called the current ecosystem. In this ecosystem, some race days have increased success and others have struggled to keep “complexity” open, but he said he was encouraged by the passion of all industry members.
“When you have it, you have a future,” he said.
If racing uses social media and the internet properly, it could be a path to a brighter future. Finley said he believes the digital realm is the most important, cost-effective and broad focus of sports marketing.
In a later panel titled “Marketing Races in Today’s Competition World,” Jimmy Chafin, who works for Bond’s promotional “The Heart of Horsing” initiative, is called “The First Domino,” a fan creation that leads to massive involvement in horse racing.
Bond hopes that the increased exposure to more audiences for the sport will lead to field attendance on the track. She emphasized the importance of face-to-face experiences that transform audiences into lifelong sports fans and participants. To enable that experience, the industry needs to solve its declining foal crops. This helps keep more tracks open.
“To build a real fan, you need to be interested in them, but they have to have that experience on the track,” Bond said. “If they’re not close enough – they’re in Northern California or in Florida when the truck is gone – where do they go to get that experience? We have to bring people in, but we don’t just need owners and enemies, we need bets, and if you’re not alive, you won’t know the difference.”
In preparation for the Kentucky Derby, Johnson partnered with Twinspires to offer promotions for betting in the sports. Five days after the Derby, the link is still visible in his Tiktoku profile.
“It’s a way to put it in someone else’s hands. “Of course you want them to get to the racecourse. Just as important – say it’s more important – that they sign up for the bet.”
The more money you can bet, the more money you can make to support a higher wallet. The higher your wallet, the higher your incentive to own. There is a higher incentive than owning, greater demand for horses to be raised.
“It’s much easier to bet them last Saturday than betting them today,” Ziegler said. “In conjunction with Griffin Johnson of the world, if our twin spier team is doing their job right, we can stick to the game with people signing up for (Derby) accounts over the weekend.
Increased exposure from gambling could bring interest in ownership and breeding as people who participate in the industry learn more about it.
Bond and Chaffin were joined on the marketing panel by Price Bell Bell, a racing board member at Mill Ridge Farm. The mission of Light Up Racing is to become a unified voice to counter the misinformation about the industry that is spreading online. This is a mission that Bell believes can also achieve influencers like Johnson.
“(Sports) have been playing no communication/reaction reaction games, and are about to move further into aggressive, prepared, preventive awareness campaigns,” Bell said. “To make sure people like Griffin who have these influencer campaigns know the facts about the race. They can quickly tell their followers, “Horse racing kills horses.”
Chaffin presented a study in which people asked who was most likely to believe when receiving information. 74% of people said they trust information from people who believe that they have a jointly high proportion with scientists. It supported his reasoning about why using influencers to promote races is an important step.
“Authenticity, authentic emotional responses, unscripted, letting people become people,” Chaffin said. “It’s one of the reasons influencers do well. I love everything Griffin did last weekend. I need 10 more Griffin.
