Super Six Racing (SSR) is a radically different format for horse racing, fusing sport, entertainment, and digital innovation to deliver truly ground-breaking sporting theatre. It’s an innovative horseracing format, specifically aimed at a new generation of fans. A game changer that is the definitive non-gambling horse racing product uniquely merging live and digital elements into a fast-paced, exciting product.
Super Six Racing integrates the high-octane world of real horse racing with a 21st century, immersive, virtual horse racing experience.
The Super Six Racing concept has been in development for a number of years. The first live trials were run in KwaZulu-Natal in 2020 with a mission to reignite horse racing through a radically entertaining racing format and to bring a diverse new audience to the sport.
The team driving Super Six Racing is a blend of international and South African individuals, each with an impressive track record in the horse racing world. Locally, we have hand-picked an elite team of passionate experts who bring years of experience to the mix.
Angus Campbell, founder of Equinity and head of Campbell + Campbell, has spent more than 10 years creating racing events which are specifically aimed at bringing an entirely new audience to the sport. An innovative Social Pioneer programme and the hugely successful reimagined Gauteng Summer Cup have brought a host of new fans to the horse racing world. Campbell’s goal has evolved beyond attracting a new generation of punters to glamorous, high profile racing events to fostering a genuine love for the sport through an intimate understanding of horse racing.
“The modern sporting landscape is undergoing significant change right now, the modern consumer is much more demanding and with so much competition from other sports, leisure and entertainment offerings, it’s a case of adapt or die – Standing still is not an option.” says Campbell.
Research has shown that successful sporting innovations need to be built around three key elements:
- Modern audiences are attracted to fast-paced events (especially for new events)
- New sport products need to be easy to understand (e.g. sevens rugby or T20 cricket)
- Fans want to be entertained in new and exciting ways.
In response to this evolution in how fans consume sport, Super Six Racing has introduced something that has been taboo in horse racing: a change to the format of racing itself. This fast-paced, technology driven and exciting product is built around a comprehensive and cohesive monetisation approach to diversify revenue streams and keep them flexible for the future.
Since the initial concept soft launch, the team has been steadily working on the concept and logistics with various focus groups, testing various formats and strategies. Two live trial events were staged in the second half of 2021 at the Summerveld Training Centre in Outer West Durban, KZN. Super Six Racing has partnered with the operator Gold Circle, and are planning an additional trial event that will be staged at the Greyville Racetrack in Durban on the 26th November under lights.
Campbell maintains that the team based concept is critical to a re-imagination of the sport. “The key to SSR is having a fast paced, two hour racing event and broadcast which is easy to understand and entertaining from start to finish.” he says. This high energy format is driven by cutting edge technology: using augmented reality, and building on the use of drones, and GPS trackers, and looking to the future where jockey mics and cams will become standard.
One of our biggest challenges has been getting the existing racing industry to understand why these changes are necessary. Change is challenging and can be uncomfortable. Cricket is very similar in that it was an age-old product, but it needed to adapt in order to start appealing to a new market. So we use T20, the IPL, and, most recently, The 100 to show how innovative concepts can be implemented. Even though many cricket traditionalists are not in favour of the new formats, the fan base is growing exponentially.
While the Super Six Racing team tweaks the live event locally, the UK team are developing a complementary digital horse racing product (meta.horse) powered by blockchain technology and NFT’s. These innovations merge the live with the digital, creating an entirely new animated virtual horse racing industry and a digital Champions League. Players can breed, buy, race, sell and trade digital racehorses. Blockchain gaming is still in its early stages and as an early adopter Super Six Racing is leading the charge.
Our UK founders are determined to unlock value from a host of new digital and tech platforms and the way to achieve this mirrors how we built the Summer Cup. Fans of both our Live events and Digital platforms want to be part of a community of their choosing. They want to choose for themselves how to engage with a product or business (which is why we empowered our social pioneers to build and host their own sites at the Summer Cup). And finally, they want to be incentivised which could mean building their brand and their following whilst making money.
It’s no longer an option to simply create a sport or entertainment product and then ask people to buy into it. Now, fans want to be part of the process and part of the product itself, which is why you will see SSR engaging more directly with fans throughout its development and growth.
The difficult thing about building a product directly with your fans is that sometimes they will be clear in their dislike for something and this can be hard to take especially if we are passionate about our product (as most racing people are). However, any negative feedback we’ve encountered has invariably resulted in a favourable outcome for our business and our product development and we are increasingly positive that we are on the right track with SSR.