For the sixth straight year, HRU has increased its total number of subscribers and has shown growth in nearly every facet of its business thanks to our advertisers, readers and contributors.

Happy New Year! All of us at Harness Racing Update (HRU) send our deepest gratitude to our advertisers, readers and contributors for the support in 2021, particularly given the challenges posed by the second year of the pandemic.

This week marks six years since the new management took over HRU in January of 2016. Since that time, we have gained a little over 2,500 HRU subscribers, an increase of 42 per cent. In 2021, specifically, we increased our number of subscribers by 4.6 per cent.

We are extremely proud and thankful to continue to show year-over-year growth.

Even more important, HRU’s average click and open rates continue to greatly exceed industry standards.

In 2021, our average open rate exceeded 50 per cent. According to Constant Contact, our open rate is 29 per cent higher than the industry average and our click-to-open rate is 26 per cent higher than the industry average.

HRU continued to post steady growth in other areas, as well. In 2018, we launched our popular broadcast division (available here) with 2-year-olds in Training and sales coverage. In 2021, our YouTube subscribers topped 1,600, up more than 400 from the end of 2020.

Also, the number of people that like our Facebook page (available here) has organically grown (not paid) by over 750 (up more than 7 per cent) just in 2021 alone.

Finally, our number of Twitter followers increased by 555 in 2021.

All that means HRU is showing growth in virtually every category.

In 2021, the 10 most read HRU stories were:

10. How to score big at the betting windows

by David Mattia — May 22 — Full story here

9. My 10 best racetrack money stories

by Bob Heyden — May 22 — Full story here

8. Lawson resigned to the fact horse racing won’t return in Ontario until current lockdown ends

by Dave Briggs — Jan. 30 — Full story here

7. Tiger appeals Meadowlands Pace result, calls Charlie May “David” vs. Goliath

by Brett Sturman — July 21 — Full story here

6. Holding on

by Dave Briggs — Sept. 15 — Full story here

5. Luther expands “million-dollar experiment,” tops Meadowlands sale

by Dave Briggs — Jan. 18 — Full story here

4. Joe Bongiorno says he’s being punished by Gural for appealing NJRC ruling

by Dave Briggs — June 27 — Full story here

3. Super short Exacta payout at Northfield leads to question

by Garnet Barnsdale — Sept. 1 — Full story here

2. Court filing in doping case includes new revelations regarding Surick and Oakes

by Bill Finley — Sept. 12 — Full story here

1. Trotter saved from drowning in Northfield pond on Milstein Night

by Jay Wolf — Aug. 18 — Full story here