Time and again
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Racehorses of 1975 (Portway Press £12.50) Timeform Computer Timefigures of 1975 (Portway Press £5.00) Ruff's Guide to the Turf (Mirror Group Books £7.00) Form Book 1975 (Sporting Chronicle £3.50) Horses in Training (Sporting Chronicle £1.50) Since Phil Bull began Timeform thirty years ago it has performed a unique function in English racing. The weekly, ongoing form summaries are consulted by all serious followers of the Turf, as the daily racecards are read by many more casual racegoers. The annual summary, Racehorses of [the Year] summing up all the horses of the Previous season is an outstanding work of reference. The final ratings—expressed in Pounds—are taken at least as seriously as the official handicapper's, and are more likely to be quoted by breeders.
The ratings are the statistical distillation of .descriptive sections, horse by horse, which constitute a complete history of each
racing season. The sections are compiled on 4,r1 appropriately degressive principle, so tn. at Grundy (rated 137) is given more than six Pages, while Cyclamate (which, at forty seven, would have to receive 90 lbs to rneet Grundy) gets three-and-a-half lines. As has become customary certain horses' entries are used as 'pegs' for discursive discussions of broader Turf topics: this year
!Ile entry for Mistigri makes a well-argued it not irrefutable case for an amendment to
rule 153 of the Rules of Racing, covering improper riding. Timeform is certainly right to point to the present ambiguity in the distinction between accidental interference and interference created by improper riding, but while their plea for a clear distinction between forms of interference which do and do not affect the outcome of the race is a strong one, it will be treated with reserve as long as it might tend to any weakening of the punishment of reckless riding.
The statistical basis for Timeform ratings is provided in the companion volume of Computer Timefigures. Phil Bull's introductory essay is a masterly explanation of the Timefigures, compiled on the principles of comparison with standard figures but modified by allowances for the going.
Last year Timeform made no mistake in choosing Grundy as their top two-year-old colt. This year's ratings have already exposed one difficulty in evaluating form, to which the Timeform method is no infallible answer. Even with objectively compiled Timefigures it is difficult to establish the comparative merits of horses trained in different countries until they have run against one another. Racehorses of 1975 makes Manado the Best Two-year-old colt, three pounds better than Wollownot a ranking borne out last week at Newmarket. But Bull and his colleague Reg Griffin are nothing if not flexible. If they were wrong about the Guineas, and wrong presumably in placing Wollow only 2 lbs ahead of the other English two-year-olds where the Free Handicap makes it 5 lbs (otherwise the two ratings tally closely), their words explain the present ante-post Derby betting: 'Should Wollow beat Manado and win the Two Thousand Guineas, the Derby barring incidents, will be as good as over.'
Racehorses of 1975 contains more than 800 lavishly illustrated pages and given today's book prices it would be cheap at the price, even if the price were not, at least in theory, recoverable by close study.
None of the Turf annuals gets any cheaper, but Ruff's with the Form Book and Racehorses in Training are all essential and all have the agreeable feature of the best reference books that they can be read for pleasure in idle moments when you are not consulting them to find who won the 1926 St Leger, who was fourth in last year's Gimcrack, or the telephone number of a trainer who has inconvenienced you.
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