Claudia Spadaro fronts Miami-based YouTube channel, which enjoyed breakthrough viewing figures at the Breeders’ Cup – as Jon Lees reports
USA: Amidst all the stats and data released after the recent Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, one figure stood out - 684,000.
That is the total number of views the two-day championships attracted from a hitherto under-served community – racing fans whose first language is Spanish – via the YouTube channel, Hipica TV.
It is the highest figure yet for a live horse racing event on a social media platform in North America.
The success is not purely down to the racing content, but also to its on-screen talent, the Venezuelan-born presenter Claudia Spadaro who has been the face of Hipica TV since it was established by producer Guillermo Burgosin Miami five years ago.
“Latin and Hispanic people are really passionate about horse racing,” says Spadaro, 28. “For us it is like the Super Bowl. In Venezuela the number one sport will be baseball and then it’s horse racing.
“In 2017 the Clasico del Caribe, which is the biggest race in Latin America, was held at Gulfstream and they needed a Spanish-speaking channel to broadcast that.
“It was like a three-month trial,” she adds. “The race was in December and we started in October that year. The response was incredible. The audience really loved watching the racing in Spanish with us. We saw an opportunity and we kept going.”
HIpica TV started from scratch but received a significant helping hand from 1/ST Racing, part of the Stronach Group, which owns five US racetracks.
Spadaro goes on: “We started at Gulfstream with zero subscribers, but after getting a lot of attention we talked to 1/ST Racing about helping us to grow.
“They gave us the rights to all their tracks so right now we broadcast live from Wednesday to Sunday from Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Pimlico, Laurel Park and Golden Gate Fields – all the 1/ST tracks from the east to west coast.
“At the beginning I wasn’t getting paid at all but I had faith in Hipica TV as I knew one day it was going to blow up. Now we are one of the biggest racing channels on Youtube and I am so proud.”
Hipica TV now serves over 150,000 subscribers four days a week – and Spadaro and her team of five are no longer working for free.
The Breeders’ Cup has been shown on Hipica TV once before but this year was the first time Spadaro had presented the event live from the host venue, accompanied by retired Hall of Fame jockey Ramon Dominguez, another Venezuelan.
“The first time we did it for free to show the Breeders’ Cup what we could do for them but we weren’t on-site,” Spadaro explains. “The show was basically run from our studio in Miami.
“This year we were paid to be at Keeneland and our numbers were crazy good. It was the most viewed social media live event for a horse racing event in history. It was really incredible and we were really happy with the numbers.
“It’s great to know the audience is loving it and that people in the United States are realising there is a hole in the market which we are filling.”
The audience, nearly 50% of which is US-based, also come from Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain.
Spadaro, who works as hard on her social media as she does on Hipica TV, has built her Twitter following to over 60,000, one of the largest of any US racing TV presenter
“The Latin people are so passionate,” she says. “They are looking for horse racing tips and news 24/7. I think that’s why I get so many followers. I really try to do my best for them by creating content that makes them feel like they are in the first row at any track.”
Spadaro’s interest in horse racing developed in Venezuela where her family bred and raced horses successfully. However, they decided to leave the country when the presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro rose to power.
“My dad Domingo had a Triple Crown filly in Venezuela but because of the government and the dictatorship we moved to Miami 13 years ago,” she explains. “Little by little he started buying one or two horses and right now we as a family have a small stable at Gulfstream Park, but it was really hard for us to leave everything to come here.”
Spadaro hopes to take Hipica TV overseas. “One of my dreams is to go to Paris for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Royal Ascot,” says the presenter, whose next big showcase event will be the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream on January 28.
She adds: “It’s been a long journey to get this far but it is so rewarding to know so many people want to follow us.”
• Visit HipicaTV on YouTube
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