Sports data and analysis firm Ellipse has announced a multi-year partnership with UK and Ireland-based horse racing rights distribution organization Racecourse Media Group (RMG).
Ellipse will serve as RMG’s official data and analytics partner and create a new suite of data insights, called RaceiQ, for the group.
The partnership aims to make the sport more understandable, with Ellipse chief executive Guy Evans-Tipping saying the firm wants to “demystify” horse racing performance and to engage existing fans while attracting new ones, leveraging artificial intelligence to do so.
One of Ellipse’s RaceiQ metrics, Lengths Gained Jumping, has already been utilized on the horseracing-focused UK TV channel RacingTV.
RMG represents 35 constituent racecourses and has a stake in RacingTV.
RacingTV analysts and presenters, as well as champion former jockeys such as Ruby Walsh, have collaborated with RMG and Ellipse in order to help develop the metrics.
Roderick Grafton, horse racing managing director at Ellipse, stated: “We’re delighted to be working on such an innovative project with RMG. The opportunity to combine our data science expertise with the knowledge of legends in the sport will allow us to produce RaceiQ metrics that will bring a deeper level of insight and understanding to racing audiences.”
RMG chief executive Martin Stevenson added: “This partnership with Ellipse will herald a new chapter in how we understand and engage with the sport of racing.”
Ellipse currently operates across several other sports including cricket and tennis, where its CricViz and TennisViz solution analyzes thousands of matches.
Stevenson continued: “Ellipse has shown how, through the likes of CricViz in cricket, sport can be brought to life with innovative data and analytics. We look forward to working together both to engage with existing fans and attract new fans to the sport by using data to help predict how races might be run and won, which will also prove a valuable betting tool.”
Betting is a prominent part of RMG’s business, and the sport of horse racing in general, and one that it has leveraged to open doors globally, hence its prioritization.
In November, betting firm Tabcorp partnered with RMG to distribute RMG content across Australia and New Zealand through its suite of Sky Racing channels in the region.
The tie-up, which also includes pari-mutuel wagering for RMG’s British and Irish content, and fixed odds wagering for RMG’s British racecourses, will run from January 1, 2024, through the next five years.
