The new NYRA Now app launched in April, and it "not only provides access to all things New York Racing Association but lets the user determine the experience," according to Frank Angst of BLOODHORSE. This week "figures to be an opportune time" for the app with the Belmont Stakes set for Saturday and the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival beginning tomorrow. At noon ET today, the app provided video coverage of the Belmont Stakes draw, live from Rockefeller Center. As NYRA "produces shows as well as content for its national show" on FS2 and regional show on MSG+, interviews and various segments are "added to the app, allowing the user to call up content on demand." NYRA Senior Dir of Television Dan Silver said, "We're uploading four to five elements from the show to the app on a daily basis." While the previous NYRA HD app allowed for live HD streaming of races and video replays of the day's races, the new app "continues to allow the HD live streaming but adds HD replays going back more than a year." The app allows users to "select different camera angles to view races and workouts, and users can select race calls in English or Spanish." The app also allows "video-on-demand workouts, expert analysis, and history segments." After the day's NYRA race recap show "Talking Horses" airs, the video is available on the app -- for "viewing of the entire video or a specific race." NYRA officials have "taken notice and believe the app will prove particularly important leading into its biggest races of the season." Meanwhile, NYRA is "looking at 3D, 360-degree technology through Google Cardboard that would put users in the center of the paddock at Saratoga Race Course when that meet begins this summer" (BLOODHORSE.com, 6/6).
