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Does anybody buy this? I am thinking of buying the new edition, but at the price i thought i would ask what exactly you get for your money? I assume every race from last season gets detailed form analysis but you can get that in chaseform for much less the price, so what sets chasers and hurdlers apart? any opinions greatfully recieved.
Timeform Chasers & Hurdlers deals horse-by-horse rather than race-by-race and is an A-Z of all the horses who ran over jumps last season in UK (and many in Ireland and France). The better horses get extended essay treatment; there are many good photographs.
If you are looking for a get-rich-quick scheme you may well be disappointed. But if you are interested in being introduced to a way of thinking about racing analysis that is logical, considered and ultimately likely to be much more profitable in the long run then you should buy it.
The money I spent on my first Timeform Annual (when I was 16) was possibly the best investment I ever made. As Victor Kiam might have said: "I liked it so much, I joined the company (until fairly recently)"
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Just to add to what Prufrock has said above, Timeform’s annuals are to be viewed more as historical guides than tools for instant profit-making. I often pick up an old one when there’s little else to do, or simply when I feel like a trip down memory lane, to read up on favourite horses from yesteryear.
The only 2 books I buy from Timeform are the Steve Taplin 2 yo book which normally pays for itself and The Chases and Hurdlers book which is no help at all to finding future winners but well worth the price.
I used to be a regular subscriber but as I get older, and my eyesight gets poorer, I find the type that it is produced in makes it less of a pleasure to read………any chance they will bring out a LARGE-TYPE edition or perhaps even one in braille?:biggrin:
To my mind it is the definitive record.:cool:
Mind you, I’m not sure the writing is as good as it was and I’m not a fan of their recruitment policy, young graduates??………..what’s wrong with people who know something about horse-racing?;)
Colin
Always an enjoyable read and worth the money IMO. Bookcase creaking under the weight of many years’ copies.
The Timeform ratings are included for each horse along with qualifying suffixes (all explained in the intro) such as p – likely to improve x – poor jumper.
If your unsure about whether to buy it try looking for used copies at a second hand bookshop or the bookstalls at race meetings. The Flat version is essentially the same.
Quote: from seabird on 8:04 am on Aug. 30, 2006[br]I used to be a regular subscriber but as I get older, and my eyesight gets poorer, I find the type that it is produced in makes it less of a pleasure to read………any chance they will bring out a LARGE-TYPE edition or perhaps even one in braille?:biggrin:
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As the horse population gets bigger, I’d bet the text size can only get smaller!!
Quote: from davidjohnson on 8:58 am on Aug. 30, 2006[br]
Quote:
As the horse population gets bigger, I’d bet the text size can only get smaller!!<br>
Certainly need a magnifying glass to read that other great sporting annual – Wisden – these days. They toyed with the idea of splitting it into two volumes and/or changing the dimensions of the book but such a sacrilege was met with howls of derision from we stick-in-the-mud cricket buffs.
For two years in the ’90s the Timeform annuals became a two volume boxed set without the colourful dust jacket. Still find it irksome when glancing at the otherwise pretty yardage of annuals.
Quote: from Grasshopper on 9:30 am on Aug. 30, 2006[br]I’ve got the dust-jackets safely stashed, and have the annuals in all of their faux-burgundy-leather glory, lined up on a shelf in the hall.
<br>So do I!
One of the best moments of the year when this arrives!!…..signals the start of the jumps season for me. I now have a complete collection of these dating right back to 1975/76 when the first one came out, somehow I never felt the same about the Flat annuals.
The writing is superb and the writers tackle osme of the trickier issues from the previous season under individual horse essays…..in my opinion worth every penny.
Thanks for the opinions regarding Chasers and Hurdlers, i think i shall take the plunge and get a copy. does the statistical record still accompany it? if so, what imformation does this contain? In response to the views of goode and thompson, the former’s channel four commentaries of the late eighties and early nineties were what got be hooked racing and consequently i have a certain nostalgic fondness for him, despite recognising he is sometimes off the ball recently (didn’t catch the ripon commentary but recall a 5 runner race at musselburgh a few months back where he called the wrong winner past the post!) As far as ‘ho ho ho – that’s one for the judge tommo’ he does do his bit as a presenter, but i much prefer richard hoiles and some of the other more informitive and serious commentators but tommo does have his place, on channel four perhaps more so than in the commentary box.
I believe the statistical review can be purchased at a reduced rate if you order it at the same time as the annual. Basically that shows all the stats of the top 100 trainers broken down in terms of prize money, number of wins etc etc and analysed further when broken down in to records in bumpers/jurdlers/chasers/juveniles.
Quote: from Grasshopper on 7:54 am on Aug. 30, 2006[br]
I think it’s due out in a couple of weeks, and I can’t wait to get my mitts on it.<br>
<br>I’m awaiting the new Mackenzie and Harris with equal relish. Oh yeah, and the revised and expanded version of Chris Pitt’s A Long Time Gone, whenever that comes out.
gc<br>
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Quote: from EC on 8:48 pm on Aug. 30, 2006[br]
No one ever mentions Graham Goode on here
some of his commentaries over the last few months have been dire…he called the wrong side in front at Ripon the other week
<br>Calling the wrong horse as the winner in a four-runner Musselburgh affair earlier in the summer wasn’t a career highlight either.
I thought Racetech operated a one or two-strikes-and-out policy re: mistakes, but maybe someone else here can confirm that. I do know it’s about this time of year that they decide which commentators to retain and how many meetings to allocate them.
gc<br>
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Despit humming and harring about whether or not to order this years edition, i thought i would pick your brains again to find out what you actually get for your money. Compared to Chaseform for example, C and H is very expensive. Does Chasers and Hurdlers provide the same sort of form analysis or is it simply a list of horses with an write up about them (thus similar to Racehorse Record although far more in depth)
Essentially, do you get a full list of Uk racing results from last season or is it formatted differently?
Any other explanation about what is in the book would be greatly appreciated.
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Quote: from stolenhorse on 9:19 pm on Sep. 4, 2006[br]Essentially, do you get a full list of Uk racing results from last season<br>
<br>No, you don’t. If that is what you’re looking for, try elsewhere.
Each horse that ran last season is listed alphabetically, with its breeding and form figures given in Timeform’s own style (for example, a win in a two mile hurdle on heavy ground would be written as 16v* ). A rating is given and the better horses are dealt with in essay form.
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