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Today I am talking with Fraser Smeaton who is the brains behind a brand new web site - YourHorseRacingNews.com - which promises to revolutionize the way we access leading news stories from the world of horse racing. PW: Hi Fraser, I hope you are well? FS: Hi Paul, I am good thanks. PW: How long have you been interested in horse racing and how did you get involved? FS: I first became interested when I was about 8. Our whole family went to Musselburgh for the day and I was allowed a one pound bet on each race. Applevine won at 17-1 and I was ecstatic and hooked on racing. Although the joy didn’t last long as my parents, terrified that I would become addicted to gambling after my beginners luck, made me treat the family to dinner on the way home, leaving me with about 50p! PW: What is the story behind your most memorable bet? FS: That first win has to be the most memorable. 17 pounds was a huge amount to an 8 year old. However short lived it was. PW: Do you have any horse racing heroes? FS: I wouldn’t say hero but the figure I respect most is Frankie Dettori, for what he has done to raise the profile of the sport outside the usual circles. He gave racing a great boost at a time when interest was waning. PW: Which race-course do you visit most often, and why? FS: Epsom because it is near London, where I live, and one of my best mate’s parents have a house within walking distance. PW: How did you get the idea for YourHorseracingNews.com? FS: I was working in internet marketing and saw first hand how successful social news sites like digg.com and delicious.com were becoming, due to how easy they made it to see what the most important news was at any given moment. When you are betting on racing you know how vital it is to have the best information. So I took the idea of social news and moved it into the racing niche. PW: Can you tell us a bit more about the web site? FS: YourHorseRacingNews.com has a Front Page and an Upcoming Stories Page. Any user can post a link to any racing info they have found on the web along with their opinion of why it is interesting and it will go straight on the Upcoming Stories Page. If it gets enough votes from other site users who rate it as interesting or useful it will move to the Front Page. This means that when ever you look at the Front Page it has all the stories that our users think are the most interesting on the web at that moment - we call it ‘the knowledge of the many’. PW: What will my readers gain most from visiting your web site? FS: The site can be used in two ways. The big benefit for the majority of people is just checking the Front Page for all the latest top stories and info as voted by our users. Or if you are more passionate about your racing you can get more involved and post stories and comments on the site sparking discussion with other users. PW: Have you had good feedback from visitors and contributors so far? FS: We have had loads of positive feedback and this will hopefully only increase as the number of users increases and therefore the range and quality of information on the site continues to grow and grow. PW: Do you have any further projects on the drawing board? FS: At the moment we are simply concentrating on making YourHorseRacingNews.com the biggest and most useful racing site on the web. PW: Everybody is an expert in this game, and that’s what makes it so appealing, but is there any advice you can give my readers when it comes to making money on horse racing? FS: There are no secrets, the only way to win is to have better information that the bookies so you can spot when the odds present an opportunity. Too win consistently you need quality information and at the risk of plugging myself this is what sites like ours can give you. PW: So... what does the future hold for you and YourHorseRacingNews? FS: My future is closely linked to the site at the moment as it takes up a lot of time. The current project is to launch a button that website owners can put next to the racing stories on their sites and which will allow their visitors to submit the story to our site with one simple click. PW: Fraser, thank you very much for your time, and we wish you and your innovative site all the very best.
Article Source: http://www.horseracingarticles.co.uk
Paul Whelan is co-founder of SkyBlueKangaroo.com which is a horse racing portal web site. Today he has been talking with Fraser Smeaton from YourHorseRacingNews.com
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