Horse Racing Fantasy Community

There are a lot of new features on the cusp of being released. We're dealing with new product development, new game features and at the same time, we're implementing our marketing programs. Put it all together and you've got an enormous workload - this in conjunction with the normal daily issues and questions that arise from the community. The bottom line is that things are moving behind the scenes, but it may not appear they are moving fast enough from the front end. From a product standpoint, we've got a new bonus program that I've been talking about for weeks. Though a lot of the components have been moved over to the live server, none of the testing has been done. This is the bonus program that allows players to utilize stable earnings in exchange for virtual businesses that earn community points.

The new Breeders' Cup final race handicapping program for our trainer tournaments is also completed from a development standpoint, but is only partially moved over to the live server and still needs all of its testing.

On top of this, we're in the process of building out four custom applications for our new partners to increase our community base and continue the execution of our long-term objectives - taking the novice horse racing fan and getting them more engaged with the sport. Now that we have solidified quite a few deals, we have deadlines to get them executed. We are developing a flash game for mass distribution to attract new players, a Facebook app and other search engine marketing programs that will help us attract new members to the game and increase community size. Again, all of this is happening simultaneously.

We have finished the development of our next client version, which basically clears up some ten known issues with the current download, including two very important issues that deal with allowing international players using non-English operating systems to participate in our game and community.

Sitting on the sidelines is a new bit program, horse files that need to be developed, the completion of the auction program, which we continue to still struggle with on certain aspects, and just the general website and server updates for the continued optimization for increased traffic.

Everything is important to us - every feature, every fix. In the end, it all must be prioritized. Each developer has a specific skill and needs to work on the programs or tasks that best suit them.

We have a target deadline for the launch of our new semi-annual awards program that was discussed last week by Derbygirl. These are the semi-annual awards generated by hard-core stats. This program in itself is tying up one full developer and half of another developer ten hours a day. At the same time, this lays the groundwork for our annual awards program that is controlled by an HRF appointed committee but voted on by the community members. In the end, there is quite a bit on the plate and we must stay focused while implementing and dealing with all of it in a specific order. Otherwise, mistakes happen and production goes down.

I'm hoping to give very specifi deadline dates on a lot of the above programs in the next week, but we are a technology company and issues always arise that can affect scheduling and deployment. The most important thing is that no one is sitting around. We are in an all-out development phase as well as the early stage of a massive marketing program.

This is a great week for racing. Tomorrow the two top-rated horses in America run their prep races for next month's Apple Blossom, the showdown between Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. My inside sources tell me that Rachel has really filled out over the winter and spring and her training has been quite impressive, not necessarily from a time standpoint, but from the effortless appearance she gives. She is truly a beautiful animal and should help horse racing this year by continuing to increase her own natural fan base. On the other end, the undefeated Zenyatta has also been working quite well and should be ready, not only tomorrow but for the big event next month. If anyone is wondering where they can watch these races live - on HRTV or simply go to the NTRA.com website. The NTRA will be showing both races involving both of these amazing thoroughbreds.

Have a great weekend!

Puddles