DAILY RACING FORM
125 years, one new form
The Daily Racing Form is one of the world's oldest horse racing media and wagering companies, America's turf authority and the most trusted name in horse racing since 1894. For its 125th year in business, the company approached Ruckus to create an unprecedented digital experience that would blow its customers away.
The assignment: re-imagine DRF's entire web experience as the ultimate digital resource for horse race wagering players, combining news coverage, handicapping and analysis, notes, and online wagering in one modern interface. Ruckus brought user research, UX and product design, web design, and creative development.
Too many races at once
The original site carried multiple conflicting user experiences across a plethora of content. News, tools, and wagering competed for the same screen, leaving handicappers to navigate the noise on their own. The redesign had to unify the ecosystem and drive a logical funnel, turning research and reading into a confident, frictionless bet.
One surface for the whole race day
Ruckus consolidated news, dashboards, handicapping tools, and wagering into a single modern interface, so every part of a player's day lived in one connected surface. A personalized dashboard follows saved tracks, races, and articles, the race of the day and top stories surface above the fold, and integrated and virtual wagering travel anywhere the player is.
The interactive Bet Now pad rides along the whole page, toggling between handicapping and wagering views so the research and the bet never lose sight of each other, and guiding players through a clear purchasing funnel: read the news, handicap the field, build the wager, place the bet.
Interior templates carry the same system through every pillar: track news and event hubs, past performances and handicapping products in one storefront view, and My Notebook, where horse and article notes save and sync to the player's account. A location-aware Form Finder connects the print edition to the digital product, mapped and listed for desktop and mobile alike, all built to the DRF brand, DRF Red and black set in Titillium Web.
News and wagering, finally one game
For its 125th year, DRF's entire web experience was rebuilt as one integrated platform, news, handicapping, and wagering finally reading as a single game, rolled out across drf.com on desktop and mobile in staged releases. Tight integration between betting and news features increased sales, the custom wager pad drives a logical purchasing funnel from reading to bet, and every experience is personalized to the player.
