Cable cam, drone to provide dramatic difference in KY Downs video
Published 10:07 pm Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Christian Barba tests Kentucky Downs’ new cable camera, shown at top of photo. (MIKE KANE)
FRANKLIN — Those watching Kentucky Downs’ races through the all-turf track’s simulcast feed should notice a significant improvement this meet with the addition of a cable cam running the length of the stretch, a drone camera covering much of the backstretch and additional fixed cameras.
“We are really grateful for the owners’ investment in new, upgraded simulcast products and technology,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs vice president for racing. “We know that 99.9% of our audience is watching our racing on television and want to make sure that we recognize their support of our meet by improving the quality of our production.”
David Loignon is Kentucky Downs’ simulcast production point man, with a background that includes working for TVG, FOX, X Games and Formula 1 after years spent working in the video presentation for Churchill Downs Inc. and for Louisville television stations.
“It’s going to be a completely different look at the races,” Loignon said. “It’s going to be much closer, much better visuals. You can actually see what’s developing throughout the race.”
The video challenges over the unique Kentucky Downs course are many for creating a cohesive production that allows horseplayers to see where their horse is during a race. Kentucky Downs is not flat or asymmetric. There is no grandstand upon which to fix cameras. The course has changing elevations, an unusual right-hand bend that becomes the sweeping left-hand far turn, along with a slight dogleg in the stretch.
But Nicholson and Loignon believe technology has provided the solutions.
Kentucky Downs is using a cable camera produced by Defy Products out of Tempe, Arizona, which Loignon said is the same company the New York Racing Association uses at Belmont and Saratoga. Its span is 3,000 feet, running throughout the Kentucky Downs homestretch — starting at the tree line beyond the far turn and finishing on the other side of the paddock — making it the second-longest cable camera in North America behind Belmont Park, he said. The cable cam is capable of speeds up to 70 miles an hour.
“We’ll use it coming out of the last turn, so I think it will be a pretty amazing shot with the horses sweeping out of that turn on the cable camera,” Loignon said. “We’ll run it just past the eighth pole, roughly, then we’ll pick it up with the normal finish pan camera. It’s not logical to use a cable camera to finish the race. It’s always going to be a little in front or a little behind, so you can’t be exactly on the wire when the horse hits. You need a stationary camera positioned right at the wire to shoot the finish, or people might have a misconception of who won the race.
“What this is going to do is eliminate those head-on stretch shots that people are used to watching here, where you can’t see the side. With this, you’re going to see every horse, exactly when they’re making a move and how they’re making a move. You’re going to have a really great view of what’s happening in a race.”
Loignon said similar dynamics will be in play on the backstretch with a drone, whose pilot will be stationed on the roof of The Mint Gaming Hall at the top of the stretch. The drone will be operated by San Diego-based Pony Chasers, which shoots horse racing for NBC Sports and FanDuel TV, among others.
“It’s going to actually be the live production pan camera for the backstretch and follow the horses above and right next to them,” Loignon said. “That’s going to take the horses from just after gate break through the beginning of the far turn. At which point, we’ve added another camera to the outside of the track at the half-mile pole in the corn field. That’s going to take them through the far turn, then we pick up the cable camera.”
Kentucky Downs will be utilizing a total of 10 cameras, including two in the paddock. Loignon’s video crew increased from 19 to 25 for this meet. Directing the production will be John Powell of International Sound. Loignon said Powell and he will spend Thursday’s opening card working out the best way to use the cameras.
“I definitely have an idea in my head how I think it’s going to go,” he said. “But you can’t really tell until you start seeing horses running on a track and the camera angles and what works best. By halfway through the first day, we’ll probably have it down.”
Simulcast viewers also will notice a new graphics package created in cooperation with FanDuel TV’s graphics team.
“They redesigned with our input,” Loignon said. “I think it’s going to be really amazing.”
Steal Sunshine shoots for first grass stakes win in Tapit
Michael Iavarone — best known as one of the principal owners of 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown as well as a prominent character in the Netflix docuseries “Race for the Crown” — likes a stage. So after purchasing 100% interest in Steal Sunshine, the plan turned to running the 6-year-old horse in Thursday’s $500,000 Keeneland Sales Tapit Stakes on Kentucky Downs opening card.
Iavarone became enchanted with Kentucky Downs when he owned part of Next Shares, whose first stakes victory came in the 2018 Old Friends, the forerunner of the Tapit Stakes.
“Mike Iavarone — who I’m training for now, really nice guy, knows the game, has had a lot of success out here — likes to point his horses for this meet,” Florida-based trainer Bobby Dibona said Wednesday morning after Steal Sunshine trained over the Kentucky Downs course. “He had bought out the primary owner recently, so he’s been targeting this meet for quite a while. Especially, we wanted to see how he turfed. And when he turfed so well, then we were targeting this.”
Steal Sunshine was second by a neck in a June 15 Gulfstream Park allowance race, his first turf start since he was eighth in his racing debut 29 races ago. It also was his first start since finishing fourth in Dubai’s Godolphin Mile (G2) 2 1/2 months earlier.
“I was looking for a prep race for the summer, just to set the stage,” Dibona said. “I always thought he would turf. He debuted on the grass, and then had never seen it again for years.”
Why?
“Well, I was winning everything on the dirt,” he said. “I didn’t really see any reason to go back. When you win a stakes, I wasn’t looking to change it up. But I thought this was the time to see. And he ran so well, and I didn’t really have all the screws tightened down. The horse that beat me a neck (Beach Gold) came back and won the $250,000 stakes at Ellis Park and is a really nice turf horse. So I wanted to keep him on the turf, and we’ll see where it takes us.”
The Tapit at a mile and 70 yards is for horses that have not won a stakes in 2025. Luis Saez will ride Steal Sunshine, who races in the name of Iavarone and his wife, Jules.
Steal Sunshine might be 20-1 in the morning line — the 9-2 favorite in the field of 14 is Cameo Performance — but not in Dibona’s mind.
“It’s a nice race. We both looked at it pretty closely,” Dibona said, referring to Iavarone. “I wouldn’t want to trade places. We’re very optimistic.”
Steal Sunshine has raced against some of the best dirt competition in America and beyond. His seven wins out of 29 starts include winning last year’s Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile, a stakes in which he was second this year behind top older horse Mindframe.
“He hasn’t dodged anybody, faced some of the best,” DiBona said. “Mindframe, we almost had him. Sometimes he compromises himself at the break, but we’ve been working on that. His last start he broke real well. Hoping he’ll break clean. But he’s been with White Abarrio, Mindframe, Raging Torrent, all the top guns.”
If Iavarone is familiar with Kentucky Downs, it’s Dibona’s first time at the undulating turf course.
“I feel like I’m in the movie Field of Dreams,” he said. “The corn’s across the street. But it’s nice. The people have been nice, the weather is beautiful. I think we’ll have some fun (Thursday) and enjoy our time here.”