Global Symposium on Racing Speaker: Steve Andersen
Steven J. Andersen founded The Defender™ with a personal mission: to help defend the dedicated racetrack superintendents he has come to know as colleagues and friends, providing objective data to demonstrate their good work and help lift the lingering shadow of doubt surrounding racing surface conditions.
A Thoroughbred owner for more than 50 years and a former breeder, Andersen has maintained a lifelong passion for horse racing. Today, he enjoys participating in racing partnerships, with three horses currently in training under Paulo Lobo.
Andersen spent 11 years with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) before launching Equine & Ranch, a business dedicated to serving the horse industry that subsequently expanded into the cattle and ranching markets.
Through longstanding industry relationships and his involvement in coordinating racetrack superintendents' events, Andersen repeatedly heard the same message: surface professionals needed more comprehensive, reliable data to understand and document their racing surfaces.
He listened, recognized the opportunity, and launched The Defender. Developed through Defendable Data, The Defender is a patent-pending surface intelligence system designed to collect objective measurements during routine track maintenance, creating understandable maps and a historical database for meaningful comparisons over time. Andersen believes this technology can help validate the excellent work already being performed, identify emerging surface variations, and preserve valuable knowledge for future generations of superintendents.
Born in Connecticut and raised in Vermont, Andersen moved to Kentucky following a visit that convinced him to make the Bluegrass State his home. He has resided there for more than 26 years.
His philosophy is simple: Better information for the superintendent ultimately benefits the horse, the athletes, and the entire racing industry.