One of the key stories of the 151st Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs May 3 was that of social media influencer Griffin Johnson and his involvement with Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Sandman.
Through West Point Thoroughbreds, Johnson is a shareholder in Sandman, who finished seventh in the Derby, as part of America's Best Racing's "A Stake in Stardom" influencer ownership initiative. In the lead-up to the race, Johnson brought his 9.7 million TikTok, 2.7 million Instagram, and 1.6 million X followers a behind-the-scenes look at racing.
According to ABR, Johnson made 51 social media posts relating to Sandman and the Derby from March 20-May 5 (not including Instagram or Snapchat stories). Those posts received over 212.2 million impressions, 3.3 million engagements, and 35 million views. In addition, Johnson appeared in numerous articles and made appearances on television, radio, podcasts, and digital streams.
ABR recorded the most impactful two-week stretch in the company's history leading into the Derby thanks to Johnson. ABR saw a 586% increase in impressions, 311% increase in engagements, and 545% increase in video views. Only about a third of their 503 posts were about Johnson or Sandman, showing how the impact carried over to the Derby as a whole.
That exposure appears to have also helped push the Kentucky Derby to record numbers in wagering and the race's highest viewership since 1989. Churchill Downs senior vice president and general manager Mike Ziegler said during the Association of Racing Commissioners International's May 8 session of their annual conference that the record numbers were a surprise given how highly marketed the 150th Kentucky Derby had been in 2024.
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"If you would have told me that we were going to be up over Derby 150, I never would have believed it," Ziegler said. "The social media impact of this past Derby was astronomical, exponentially bigger than Derby 150. A lot of that has to do with Griffin Johnson and the other influencers that were here for Derby. That's really impactful and that's what we have to give credit to for this increased television viewership."
Ziegler was joined on the Thoroughbred Racing Roundtable panel by West Point's president and CEO Terry Finley and Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association president Tina Bond. The panel hosted in Churchill Downs' Triple Crown room was moderated by Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association president Dan Metzger.
Finley noted that many comments on Johnson's posts were by people in the 18-26 age range stating they had watched the Derby for the first time and had their parents watch with them.
"When you look at those figures, what was the one thing that was different? It was the social media explosion that was far and wide and deep," Finley said. "I think it's the first time that we truly have a case study that we can present to people and say, 'Look, we're not guessing, we're not hoping. We're showing you the results.'"
Although praise was hurled at Derby day, both Finley and Bond expressed that the sport still needs to see that success spread to standard race days at lower-tier tracks to be sustainable into the future. Some of the issues discussed by the panel as causes for concerns included the declining foal crop, decoupling in Florida, a decrease in operating racetracks this century, and states like California falling behind in purse money competition due to having no extra support from alternative gambling sources.
"To me, it's not a sustainable business model," Bond, who breeds and races horses as Song Hill Thoroughbreds in New York, said of the current state of racing. "Very few of the horses make a profit. It's very costly to do business in New York. It's wonderful on the big days, but (it takes) all the little owners and trainers that feed this wonderful sport to help get us to this point and grow the sport."
Finley called the current ecosystem, in which some race days see growing success while other tracks struggle to stay open, "complex," but said he was encouraged by the passion of all industry members.
"When you have that, you have a future," he said.
Should racing utilize social media and the internet properly, it could be a path to a brighter future. Finley stated that he believed the digital realm is the most important, cost-effective, and wide-reaching focus of the sport's marketing.
In a later panel titled "Marketing Racing in Today's Competitive World," Jimmy Chaffin, who works for Bond's promotional "The Heart of Horse Racing" initiative, called the creation of fans "the first domino" that would lead to larger-scale involvement in horse racing.
Bond hopes that this increase in exposure of the sport to a larger audience will translate to on-site attendance at tracks. She emphasized the importance of the in-person experience turning spectators into fans and participants of the sport for life. In order to keep that experience possible, the industry needs to solve it's declining foal crop, which would help keep a larger number of tracks open.
"I think to build true fans, you have to get them interested, but they have to have that experience at the track," Bond said. "If they're not close enough—they're in Northern California or they're in Florida when the tracks are gone—where are they going to go to get that experience? We have to bring people in, but we have to build the sport. Not only do we need owners and foals, but we need bettors. You have to have the experience to want to be part of this. If you don't see it live, it's different."
In the leadup to the Derby, Johnson partnered with TwinSpires to offer promotions for wagering on the sport. Five days after the Derby, the link is still displayed on his TikTok profile.
"That's a way to put it in someone's hands so they can bet or they can learn about a horse," Finley said. "Of course you want them to get to the racetrack. Just as important—I'd say more important—is to get them signed up to bet."
The more money that is wagered, the more money will be made to support higher purses. The higher purses, the higher an incentive to own. The higher incentive to own, the larger demand for horses to be bred.
"Getting them to bet this past Saturday is a lot easier than getting them to bet today," Ziegler said. "If our TwinSpires team—in conjunction with the Griffin Johnsons of the world—are doing their jobs correctly, we can keep people who sign up for accounts over (Derby) weekend sticking to the game. If we can get any small percentage of them to stick around, then we're successful."
That increased exposure through gambling could lead to interest in ownership and breeding as those joining the industry learn more about it.
Bond and Chaffin were joined on the marketing panel by Light Up Racing board member Price Bell of Mill Ridge Farm. Light Up Racing's mission is to be a united voice for the industry to counter misinformation about the industry being spread online, a mission that Bell believes influencers like Johnson can also help accomplish.
"(The sport) has been playing a no-communication/reaction-response game, we're trying to transition more into a proactive, preparation, and preventative awareness campaign," Bell said. "Making sure people like Griffin, who have these influencer campaigns, know the facts about racing. They can quickly say to their followers, when they say 'Horse racing kills horses,' you say, 'No, actually horse racing has never been safer than it has, in the history of horse racing, than it was last year.'"
Chaffin showed a study in which people were asked who they were most likely to believe when receiving information. Seventy-four percent of people said they would trust information from people they believe to be like themselves, the co-highest percentage along with scientists. That supported his reasoning for why using influencers to promote racing was an important step.
"The authenticity, the genuine emotional response, unscripted, letting people be people," Chaffin said. "It's one of the reasons influencers do so well. I love everything that Griffin was doing this past weekend. We need 10 more Griffins. Guess what, there's a hundred more Griffins, a thousand more Griffins out there."
