Commenting on the closure of the last elements of their mail order operation and with that the ending of the publication of their series of Racehorses annuals, Timeform’s publishing editor Geoff Greetham hoped that “innovation will find a way of continuing this Timeform tradition.”
Whether Geoff had something specific in mind or not one thing was for sure, the loss of the eagerly awaited collection was much mourned by racing enthusiasts, for whom it had become a kind of racing bible. Not only a punter’s guide in helping to formulate their opinions for the new season but also an indelible record of a horse’s ability and racing characteristics. It became an indispensable and globally recognised reference work for the racing industry.
Of course, Timeform continue to produce their commentaries and ratings but there was something more lasting, satisfying and authoritative when the words were printed on the page, luxuriantly bound and collated into that weighty tome that’d arrive with a mighty thud through letterboxes each spring.
Meanwhile, just as we bemoaned the loss of the Timeform annual, some of the innovation that Greetham hoped for had already taken place.
In Ireland, Dr Sieglinde McGee, who happened upon racing by chance and was instantly enraptured courtesy of the 1982 Grand National, had published a book called ‘European Group 1 Winners of 2018’. She followed it up the following year with a 2019 version.
She was already well on the way to completing the 2020 version when she heard that the Timeform annual was no longer going to be produced and decided to extend her recording of the flat racing year to include Group 2 and 3 winners. ‘I wanted to have a thorough record of the year so figured I’d just have to write-up those horses myself too.’
With the Group 1 winners book already formatted Dr McGee decided the best solution was to compile two volumes, volume 1 containing the European Group 1 winners and volume 2 the European Group 2 and 3 winners.
Renaming the books ‘Best Racehorses of 2020’ volumes 1 and 2, they were published earlier this year.
Amazingly, given their quality, their publication was relatively unheralded. I read about the books courtesy of a thread on The Racing Forum, a respected source on the forum recommended them, but after reading them I feel, late though this review may be, they are deserving of a much wider audience and profile.
The premise is straightforward. Volume 1 contains an essay, roughly four to four and a half pages in length, on every individual racehorse that won a Group 1 race in Europe or were a British or Irish-trained winner of a race at an equivalent level on another continent. 69 horses completed that feat and each is subjected to a similar examination of their racing season and pedigree.
Volume 2 provides a similar summary for each of the horses that achieved the same feat at Group 2 and Group 3 level. That is another 148 essays (the total Group 2 and 3 winners is 174 horses but 26 of those are featured in volume 1, having also won at Group 1 level). The essays in volume 2 are shorter at around two and a half to three pages on average, but are still comprehensive.
The first thing to say, on knowing that Dr McGee wrote and compiled both volumes singlehandedly, is that they constitute an amazing achievement. The number of hours that must have gone into the research and writing of the books is impossible to guess but is surely staggeringly large and the books come across as what I guess they undoubtedly must be – a labour of love.
There are several obvious differences to the Timeform annual. The focus is only on Group winners rather than every individual racehorse and there are no ratings ascribed to each horse. As such it doesn’t constitute the complete record that Timeform offered nor does it allow for a level of objective comparison between the respective abilities of each horse. In addition they are available only in paperback so perhaps may not have the durability that their Timeform counterparts managed.
The focus on Group race performers only is, I suppose, partly because it would be practically impossible for one person to cover every single racehorse and partly because the top level is where the interest of Dr McGee and the majority of her prospective readers is keenest.
The second of those differences is relatively easily handled as Dr McGee regularly references official BHA and HRI ratings with occasional references to Timeform ratings. This is more than enough to provide context regarding ability levels and the ratings for these horses are readily available elsewhere from specialists in that field in any case.
The summaries of the racecourse performance of each horse are accurate and objective. They are a very readable and accurate summation of each horse’s racing season. They differ from the Timeform summations in that they contain less analysis that may inform betting (going preferences, physical make-up of the horse, etc) but that is not, one assumes, Dr McGee’s purpose.
For me, though, it is the pedigree analysis that is the book’s tour de force, the thing that really sets it apart from being simply a re-hashing of what one can find in the form book.
Dr McGee started off in racing by compiling her own racing and pedigree databases in 1983. Five years later she worked for The Sporting Life in their Irish office, covering bloodstock sales and doing some tipping pieces. In the 1990s her enthusiasm for compiling her own record of the racing year was such that she wrote and produced her own Timeform-style annuals purely for her own appreciation, solely driven by an abiding interest in the sport. That work paid off as a copy she sent to Val Lamb, then editor of the Irish Field, eventually resulted in her writing for that publication, something she’s continued to do since 2000, Dr McGee has been widely published on racing and breeding since 1990.
In 2005 she received a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin, her thesis based on four years of post-graduate research into Behavioural Reactivity and Ensuing Temperamental Traits in Young Thoroughbred Racehorses (Equus caballus).
Dr McGee’s racing and breeding knowledge allied with an academic rigour shines when she writes on pedigrees, you can almost physically feel the enthusiasm and passion she has for her subject when you read each essay.
Even in the book’s introduction I began to learn many interesting facts. Do you know, for example, the 5 Group or Grade 1 winning mares that themselves produced Group 1 winners during 2020? Or the fact that, of the 69 individual Group One winners, none had won a juvenile contest before the start of May? Or that there is an ‘International Code of Suffixes’ upon whose guidance the suffix which appears behind a horse’s names to denote its country of breeding is based?
The pedigree analyses are absolute gold. The analysis of each horse’s pedigree picks out the most salient points in each ancestry, neatly summated. The diligence and authority with which this aspect of the book has been compiled ensures that the work will become a lasting reference. Meticulous research coupled with an easy to read style providing fascinating and informative pedigree insights.
The final section of both books provide an array of indexes which are, once again, diligently compiled and highly interesting. You have comprehensive lists of Group winners by Sire (freshman sires indicated), Grandsire, Great-Grandsire, Dam, Broodmare Sire, Maternal Grandsire, Grandam, Third Dam, Breeder, Owner, Trainer, Auctions (including vendor and purchaser detail), Month of Birth, Date of earliest career win, Distance of Group wins, Going description, by winners of two or more Group races, by Country of race, those outside Europe plus a full index of every horse mentioned in the book – not only those who have an essay but all the horses referenced in the racing and pedigree analyses. Phew!
The best advert/recommendation for the book is to show one of the essays, I’ve picked out Mac Swiney (Ire) – for no particular reason other than that it is broadly representative of what is offered for each horse. This extract is published with permission of the author and you can read it below.
I thoroughly enjoyed the books and I am sure will revisit them often, as I do the Timeform annuals. Dr McGee has said of next year’s book – ‘The 2021 edition will be in a single volume covering all of the European Group 1 winners plus the winners of Ireland’s and Great Britain’s Group 2 and Group 3 races and any horses trained in those two countries that win a group/graded race anywhere else. There will also be the same array of indexes at the back of the book.’
I can’t wait for that, just as I can’t wait to now go and buy her previous books on European Group 1 Winners of 2018 and 2019.
We may lament the passing of the Timeform Annual but we should also celebrate the arrival of this new record. It is a remarkable work.
Best Racehorses volumes 1 and 2 are available on Amazon
Volume 1 – £22.50
Volume 2 – £25.00
Or from Book Depository –
Volume 1 – £22.50
Volume 2 – £25.00
