Walking into the racetrack at Santa Anita on Saturday was more like walking into a sophisticated Hollywood mansion party than a gambling venue.

Santa Anita went ‘all in’ by throwing one heck of a horse racing celebration aimed at attracting a young, stylish group of fans. There was a thrilling three-horse photo finish in The California Crown $1 million stakes race, but the crowd was there to party and mingle first, cocktail and dine second, and maybe add in a bit of old-fashioned horse race gambling too.

SGG Media, the leading sports social media marketing agency, was one of the selected advertising partners to ensure the word got out about this ‘must attend’ L.A. event.

SGG’s young CEO, Troy Paul, (age 27) knew just what to do – by arranging seating and private boxes for six of his top L.A.-based social media Influencers and their 10 million social media followers. The value of SGG Media’s in-depth understanding of how to interact with younger fans certainly came to the fore in the run-up to the race, with the company’s clever strategic planning creating one million event-focused social media impressions that helped draw fans into the action.

SGG Media has a strong track record for promoting top sporting events by using its extensive network of 2,500 sports micro-influencer content creators and their 75 million sports fan followers – and Troy is certainly no stranger to the racetrack either, having begun attending races with his dad at the age of four before going on to visit major races such as the Derby and the Belmont.

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Troy Paul, Chief Executive Officer at SGG Media, said: “Santa Anita threw one great race day party, bringing guests food from L.A.’s trendiest restaurants such as Funke and Wally’s while also giving them the chance to dance to first-class entertainment from star artists including Shaboozey.

“From SGG’s perspective, we’re thrilled to bring younger fans to events like this by showing them the excitement and beauty of horse races in stunning venues like Santa Anita, so we’re happy with the buzz we could create around what was a stunning party and an exciting day at the races.”

Peter Rotondo, Senior Vice President at 1/ST Racing, said: “California Crown was a huge success that featured top quality stakes horses, drew over 21,000 fans and generated total national wagering of nearly $24 million dollars”.