Waking to the coldest morning in 2 decades here in Lexington,KY, it was welcome news to receive a gift. The Daily Racing Form has decided to go digital for the 1st time in their 120 year history and today’s download is FREE! See the link below.
The Form or the DRF was created in November of 1894 by the sports editor for the Chicago Tribune, Frank Brunell. He had been writing about trotters for some time when he decided that statistical information improved his betting on the Thoroughbreds. He decided to make a 4 page daily paper to include news stories and gossip about horse racing as well as charts. He got off to a very rough start and he even quit printing for 4 months. In March of 1896 he got back on track and by 1922 he was a millionaire for his publications in a time when millionaires were uncommon. His creation is now “America’s Turf Authority since 1894”.
The DRF now produces over 2 thousand pages of Thoroughbred related content each day, except Christmas. It is the only daily newspaper dedicated to a single sport. The DRF website receives more traffic for horse racing news than any other site. The success of the publication is the inclusion of information on past performances, which were reported from 1905 onward along with news and charts. The style of the charts hasn’t changed much. The publication is used by fans, trainers, owners, jockeys, handicappers, and betters nationwide. The publication helps all of these people get the latest news on entries, horses , workout statistics, tracks and results. Equibase, a horse racing database born of The Jockey Club and The Thoroughbred Racing Association of North America in 1990, joined forces with DRF in 1998. Currently it is published out of New York City.
In 2000 DRF gave its nearly complete archive of over 3,400 volumes to Keeneland library dating back to 1896. In 2010 DRF gave that same library more issues now totaling at over 5,400 volumes. In 2007 the University of Kentucky coupled with Keeneland to preserve this one-of-a-kind collection. Over 11 million pages of the DRF are stored in a climate controlled vault beneath this library. These antique pages of The Form are now in an on-line database. Watch the UK/Keeneland collaboration here.
If you need help with handicapping or wagering, get yourself a copy of the latest Daily Racing Form. I am inspired by Brunell. If I keep on blogging I might just become an authority!
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