The Daily Racing Form

Every serious horse better is familiar with the Daily Racing Form, otherwise known as DRF. Founded in Chicago, Illinoise by Frank Brunell in 1984, the paper publishes performances of past horse races for kentucky derby bettors in the USA. This service provides beneficial statistics for betting on future races.

The Daily Racing Form cooperates with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the National Turf Writers Association to select the winners of the Eclipse Awards annually. The Eclipse Awards are viewed widely as a national standard for Thoroughbred Racing in the United States but isn’t official because the sport has no governing body.

In 1922, Frank Brunell sold the Daily Racing Form to Triangle Publications, Inc. eventually purchased by former US Ambassador Walter Annenberg. Walter Annenberg eventually sold the company to Rupert Murdoch’s News America in 1988. When K-III Communications purchased the DRF in 1991 the company decided to modernize the paper and solidify production spending a reported $180 million in the process. In 1998 in order to end a feud between the Daily Racing Form and another rival company called Equibase the two companies merged their data gathering and storage systems. The same year Alpine Capital Group purchased the Daily Racing Form for $40 million. In 2004, the DRF was purchased by The Wicks Group of Companies LLC for a short stint. In total, the Daily Racing Form has only had seven owners including the current owner Arlington Capital Partners which purchased the DRF in 2007.

The Daily Racing Form publishes up to 2,000 pages of unique statistics and editorial columns. There have been as many as 30 daily additions every day of the year excepting Christmas.

DRF’s publisher is Steven Crist who formerly edited the Harvard Lampoon. Crist joined the DRF with Alpine Capital Group’s purchase and has been the publisher with throughout each successive new owner. Not surprisingly, Crist has written several books on the art of horse racing, betting on horse races and his own autobiography.

The DRF also provides its own betting service along with handicapping guides, blogs, racing news, events and has its own merchandise store. It’s betting services are secure, licensed and US-based. XpressBet is the betting platform for DRF and maintains its own licensing, compliance and contracting. What this means is that though DRF provides betting, it is XpressBet that allows you to place your wager.

While there are other handicapping and bettor guides, the Daily Racing Form’s longstanding delivery of statistics has placed it at the top of the food chain for information on betting horse races. The DRF is a quality site with many ways for new bettors to learn about horse racing while leaving experienced betters to delve into the raw numbers.

Published On Apr 7, 2012