Category: Horses

Nowadays, Timeform is wholly-owned subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment plc, the parent company of brands including Paddy Power and Betfair, to name but two. However, Timeform was founded in 1948 by professional gambler Phil Bull who, in his heyday, was a familiar figure on British racecourses.

Born in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire in 1910, Bull studied mathematics at Leeds University. Following graduation, in 1931, Bull developed a technique for evaluating horse racing form based on the statistical analysis of race times. In 1938, while still teaching mathematics in London, he began selling information to the general public, by mail order, under the ‘Temple Time Test’ banner. In fact, so successful was the service that Bull abandoned teaching to concentrate on betting for a living.

Following World War II, Bull briefly joined forces with Dick Whitford, who had invented a system by ratings, which went hand-in-hand with Bull’s time figures to create Timeform ratings. Together, they created Portway Press, the publishing company responsible for the first Timeform annual, ‘Racehorses of 1947’, which included an essay and numerical rating for every horse that ran on the Flat during the season. Bull and Whitford parted company in 1949, but Timeform continued, adding National Hunt racing to its repertoire with the publication of the first ‘Chasers & Hurdlers’ annual in 1975/76. Bull remained at the head of affairs until his death in 1989.

To avoid any confusion, the ‘King George’, in this case, refers to the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which is run over a mile and a half at Ascot in July. Since 1980, a total of seven Derby winners have won the race in the same season as their success in the Epsom Classic; interestingly, since 2000, just two have done so.

In 1981, after winning the Derby by a record 10 lengths, Shergar, trained by Michael Stoute and ridden by Walter Swinburn, made short work of six rivals at Ascot, winning by 4 lengths at odds of 2/5. Reference Point, trained by Henry Cecil and ridden by Steve Cauthen, and Nashwan, trained by Dick Hern and ridden by Willie Carson, justified favouritism in both the Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, in 1987 and 1989, respectively.

In 1991, Generous, trained by Paul Cole and ridden by Alan Munro, won the Derby by 5 lengths and the King George by a record 7 lengths. In 1995, Lammtara, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, returned from a 302-day absence to win the Derby under Walter Swinburn, breaking the track record in the process, and followed up in the King George, under Frankie Dettori.

In 2001, Galileo, trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Mick Kinane, beat a strong field, headed by 2,000 Guineas winner Golan, at Epsom and justified odds-on favouritism at Ascot. After a lengthy hiatus, in 2021, the Frankel colt Adayar, trained by Charlie Appleby, became the latest three-year-old to complete the Derby – King George double.

At the time of his death, at the age of 23, in July, 2021, Galileo had sired 91 individual Group 1 winners and been crowned leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland every year, bar one, since 2008. Bred and owned by John Magnier and his Coolmote associate Michael Tabor, won the Derby, Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes during his three-year-old campaign, in 2001, and was named Cartier Champion Three-year-old Colt.

However, it was as a sire and, indeed, as a sire of sires – 20 of his progeny went on to sire Group 1 winners – that Galileo would make his name. Sired by Sadler’s Wells, from the family of Northern Dancer, out of Urban Sea, who won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1993, Galileo was described by John Magnier as ‘a very special horse’.

Of course, Galileo was the first Derby winner to be trained at Ballydoyle, Co. Tipperary since the days of Vincent O’Brien, but his progeny also included five Derby winners. They were, in chronological order, New Approach in 2008, Ruler Of The World in 2013, Australia in 2014, Anthony Van Dyck in 2019 and Serpentine in 2020. The crème de la crème of his offspring, though, was Frankel, unbeaten in 14 races, including ten at Group 1 level, and the highest rated horse of all time, according to World Thoroughbred Rankings.

Approximately 60% of all horse races run in Britain each year are handicap races, in which the weight carried by each horse is determined by the race conditions and by the official handicap ratings of the participants. Official handicap ratings, which are awarded after a horse has won a race or, failing that, has raced at least three times, represent, numerically, its level of ability in eyes of the handicappers at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

The highest, and lowest, weights to be carried are specified in the race conditions, along with a range, or band, of handicap ratings within which eligible horses must fall. Obviously, the horse with the highest handicap rating carries the highest weight. Thus, in a hypothetical 0-60 handicap, a horse rated 60 would carry the highest weight of, say, 9st 7lb, and so on down the weights. If the minimum weight was 8st 7lb, the lowest-rated horse in the handicap proper would be rated 46.

Of course, horses rated 45 or lower can still be entered, but are required to carry the minimum weight, so are said to be ‘out of the handicap’. Likewise, horses rated 61 or 62 can also be entered, but can only be accommodated if the number of entries rated 60 or lower is below the safety limit for the race in question. In this example, such horses would be required to carry 9st 8lb or 9st 9lb or, in other words, 1lb or 2lb more than the specified maximum weight.