HOT SPRINGS, AR- ThoroCap, established in 2004 as a Thoroughbred handicapping service, will relaunch on Thursday, April 25, 2019. ThoroCap will continue to provide a wide range of handicapping products, but has expanded its focus to include providing news, analysis, and commentary on Thoroughbred racing and the Thoroughbred racing industry.

Commenting on ThoroCap’s plans to become a destination site for racing fans, publisher Chris Robbins said, “We believe that informed racing fans are central to the success of our industry. It is an industry that is often described as ‘dying’, but the facts belie that.”

According to the U.S Equine Economic Impact Study, the horse industry generates approximately $40 billion in direct economic impact annually and has a total economic impact of more than $100 billion, approximately $30 billion of which comes from the racing sector alone. Over all, the horse industry generates the equivalent of 1.4 million full-time jobs and pays almost $2 billion per year in taxes.

In January 2019, Equibase reported that pari-mutuel wagering increased by 3.3% to $11,265,519,563 in 2018, the largest single-season increase in 18 years. “That does not speak to a dying industry,” Robbins said.

In addition to its primary focus areas- news, analysis, commentary, and handicapping products, ThoroCap has also launched ThoroCap Supports, a program that provides free advertising, promotion, and a public forum for the non-profit organizations that support those involved in the industry: backside workers, jockeys, the horses themselves.

Speaking about ThoroCap Supports, Robbins stated that, “ThoroCap is proud to be a part of the Thoroughbred industry, and we recognize our responsibility to the animals and to the people who work in our industry. The charitable organizations that ThoroCap Supports was created to assist perform an invaluable service that helps meet the needs of those in the industry whose last race may have been run.”

Don Phillips, a long-time sports writer and analyst based in New York, who serves as CEO of the ThoroCap division of DHHS, LLC., enthusiastically endorses ThoroCap Supports. Phillips said, “When Chris first mentioned the idea, I told him we almost had to do it. It’s a positive for the racing community, and just felt like the right thing to do.” Phillips, who suffers from profound Cerebral Palsy noted that philanthropic organizations, such as those ThoroCap supports was created to assist, play a vital role in meeting needs that would otherwise remain unmet.

Robbins, the owner of ThoroCap’s parent company Diversified Holdings of Hot Springs, LLC (DHHS, LLC), has been directly involved in the Thoroughbred racing industry for almost two decades, as a horse owner, writer, handicapper, and advocate for the sport.

With ThoroCap, Robbins has attempted to create a service that offers a forum for all sides when addressing issues affecting the sport, and one that makes a clear distinction between news and opinion. ThoroCap itself takes no position the issues, rather it offers a forum for civilized discourse and encourages readers to form their own informed opinions.

“ThoroCap also strives to offer a wide range of innovative handicapping products appropriate for beginning, intermediate, and advanced racing fans, who are the lifeblood of the sport.” Robbins said.