Taylor Made’s OpenRing App Aims to Streamline the Sales Inspection Process

Wandering Eyes · Thursday at 02:02 PM

Horse racing is notoriously slow to embrace change. Take yearling inspection, for example. Walk up to the consignment, get a paper card and a pen and fill out the horses you want to see, and get in line to wait your turn. That's how it has always happened. But if the Taylor Made Sales Agency has anything to say about it, pretty soon, everyone will arrive with their pre-made selections, hold their QR code up to a scanner, and get ready to see their horses, courtesy of their new OpenRing App.

The idea was born when Katie Taylor, the Vice President of Operations at Taylor Made, was looking at horses herself for bloodstock investments on behalf of the farm.

“That's when I got to wear the shoes of a buyer or shortlister,” she recalls. “And I wished there was a better way to make a card for myself ahead of time or to get myself organized. I'd get back at night and be like, `man, I missed one vet report, or didn't get to see one horse, or whatever.”

From that experience was born OpenRing, named after the popular OpenTable app which has transformed dining out.

The OpenRing app allows buyers to make their card up ahead of time. Each of their choices is accompanied by the catalogue page, photos and videos, and, after you have seen the horse, vet reports. The app ensures you don't go to see your horses at Barn 2 when they're really in Barn 31, and, before you head to the barn, you are told how long the approximate wait time is, so you know if you should head over now, or see other horses in advance. When you do arrive at the barn, you scan the QR code, and are immediately put in the queue to see your horses. Push notifications let you know if there is an update on any one of your selections.

Users can see the horses available on the app as soon as they ship in. You can also choose all colts, all fillies, and at mixed sales, all weanlings, in-foal mares, or all show. You can also make a card for someone, text it them, and once that person checks in with the app, the two people will be connected going forward. In that way, a shortlister can create cards for someone else who will automatically have the QR codes. Notifications also let you know if a horse you have been waiting for has shipped in, particularly useful at a horses-of-racing-age sale.

Emily Csenar, Taylor Made's Boarding Operations Assistant Manager, said that traditionally, “lookers come up to the welcome center and will read off their short list, request the Taylor Made short list, or ask for an all-show. Our welcome center employee will enter their list, ask their name and possibly a spelling. They are then in our sale queue to be placed with a sales person for their show.” Vet reports are also requested at this time from an employee.

Now, said Digital Sales Coordinator Maxine Pina, “I'd say it varies depending on the person, but anywhere between 10-15 minutes is saved from scrolling/sorting out the lists on the iPad or reading off the catalog. You also no longer need to find anyone for a vet report and are able to see it at your leisure.”

Taylor said she felt that the green light-yellow light-red light functions were going to be one of the most useful features in the app. “You'll know if it's, `hey, they have some open rings right now, so I'm going to head that way, and the wait won't be very long,' or if it's red, I'm going to kind of steer clear. If it's green, `come on down and we will get you on a ring.' So that's kind of what we're shooting for, and I think we'll get more sophisticated with that as we go forward. But right now we're just getting started.”

The app debuted at the Fasig-Tipton July sale, where it got top reviews from the people who tried it.

“It's a new technology and process so I can understand the hesitance and reluctance to jump right into it,” said Csenar, “but our team has spent months working on the app, testing it, and working out bugs and are constantly making improvements and changes. The people that did use the app were excited and enjoyed it. They especially liked being able to access the vet reports after looking at the horses.”
Said Pina, “We had 121 users download and register by the end of the July Sale. The first couple of days we spent mainly getting people registered and familiar with the app and by the second/third day we had lookers checking in with the app.”

“We kind of wanted to get a couple of sales under our belts, but really a lot of the feedback we got at July was that the people that used it loved it,” said Taylor. “And then there were some other people like, `well, I don't really need it until September. I'll wait and download it then.' But we're really trying to encourage people to try it and use it at Saratoga and New York Preferred, just so that they're totally used to it when it comes to September, because September, November is where it's really going to be helpful to people.”

At the end of the day, OpenRing is another way for Taylor Made to put the customer first, said Taylor.

“I think the real goal of it is to eliminate frustration,” said Taylor. “I know people look at Taylor Made and they say, `oh, they're so big. I go there and get lost.' We want it to be as personalized and user-friendly. We want our size and our scope and our resources to be something that makes their lives easier, not more difficult. What we're trying to do is to make the whole process a lot easier and a lot more simple, and cater to the fact that everyone's tired and worn down and it's hard work out there and long days. So if you forget an X-ray report or whatever, it's just at the tip of your fingers. White-glove service is what we're trying to go after for our sellers and for our buyers.”

The app is currently available for iOS, and is available in the App store by searching Taylor Made OpenRing, or by clicking here. An Android version is in development.

To watch a demonstration, click here.