The famed Preakness Stakes horse race gallops into the NFT market with the first real-time major sports collectible

An NFT up for auction during 2021's Preakness Stakes

Medium Rare

The Preakness auctions are listed on OpenSea, an NFT and crypto-collectibles marketplace. Another big item is a 1-of-1, 3-D animated likeness of the Woodlawn Vase, the silver trophy designed by jeweler Tiffany in 1860 of which a replica is awarded to the Preakness race winner. The bidding using the Wrapped Ethereum currency recently climbed to nearly $50,000.

That auction winner will not only take possession of the NFT but they will also receive a physical replica of the Woodlawn Vase — the only time that a replica will be given to someone outside of the owner, the trainer and the jockey of the horse that prevails at Preakness.

"It's a legacy sport that's been going on for generations and I think more and more, we've got to identify creative ways to really attract that younger consumer," said Wilson. The Preakness' NFT collection "offers some really rare value to our existing fans but also, from what we've seen at Zed Run, is they've done a great job at attracting younger, newer, curious consumers into the sport of thoroughbred horse racing."

Zed Run is a digital racehorse platform that Preakness Stakes worked with on the NFT collection. Preakness also teamed up with Medium Rare, whose work in building entertainment brands includes the recent NFT collection from the Golden State Warriors NBA team. Medium Rare was also behind an NFT collection with four-time Super Bowl champion Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski that raked in more than $2 million in sales.

"There have been a lot of NFTs that have come out over the last couple of months. Obviously, it's a hot sector both in sports and celebrities. Some are doing incredibly well, making millions of dollars, also raising money for charity. Some aren't doing so well. Some are jumping on the fad train," Joe Silberzweig, co-founder of Medium Rare, told Insider. With the Preakness Stakes, "what we worked on together … is creating a campaign that stands out and is first-to-market."

Wilson said the average age of its customers using its betting app and attending races is 60 years old. The average age skews younger for the audience who watches Preakness Stakes through its broadcast partner, NBC.

"I think the sweet spot for our sport is really 45 plus," said Wilson, noting that the Preakness and the Kentucky Derby feature infield music concerts. "We've made huge investments on the entertainment side to make sure there's an experience for everyone."

The auction for the Preakness' digital assets will end Monday and a portion of the proceeds will go to The Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.

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