Daily Racing Form Extortion

[LemonSoupKid]

It was $6 at most as recent as last month. $4 increase?

Why would anyone buy the digital to have to also print it out then?

This seems like a bad, bad move.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by LemonSoupKid

Why would anyone buy the digital to have to also print it out then?

Before Formulator, databases etc.. I used to have 2 years worth of paper copies of the DRF in my basement so I could look back at the PPs of horses that were in a particular race and get to the older races that weren't among the 10 race lines in the current PPs.

If you don't print and/or like to store back copies, that would be the main reason I can think of.

[Tom]

With a $4 increase, I'll look back at my BRIS PDFs. That price is just plain ridiculous.

[Robert Fischer]

There is nothing like holding The Form in your hand...

folding and unfolding

marking it up with a little pencil

Trying to 'read between the lines...

[cj]

Originally Posted by Tom

With a $4 increase, I'll look back at my BRIS PDFs. That price is just plain ridiculous.

You can get PDFs way cheaper than the digital editions. I've seen as cheap as $1300 for the unlimited, annual subscription. That comes out to about $3.50 a day and you get every track, every day. The less you buy, the more the price goes up.

Just trying to keep it real. I don't know why the digital edition went up in price, but there are much better options from DRF available and you get all the same stuff. DRF+ gives you all the news and stories and as noted, there are lots of PP options.

That said, I'd personally go with TimeformUS!

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by cj

That said, I'd personally go with TimeformUS!

I agree a 100%...….Now send me my check.

[GMB@BP]

Throw $25 bucks in a drf bets account, make one $2 bet a month and you get drf+ with access for the next month.

[Track Phantom]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

Before Formulator, databases etc.. I used to have 2 years worth of paper copies of the DRF in my basement so I could look back at the PPs of horses that were in a particular race and get to the older races that weren't among the 10 race lines in the current PPs.

If you don't print and/or like to store back copies, that would be the main reason I can think of.

I used to have stacks of forms in the mid to late '80's for the very same reason. I caught a few really strong plays using this angle. I remember a runner moving to the turf. He'd run 4 times on the turf (none of the turf PP's were showing as they were too far back in his career). His record on the turf was 4 starts, 0 1st, 2nd or 3rd but earned $30,000. I thought that was a lot of money for never hitting the board. I spent an hour digging through all the forms I had until I had his entire career PP history. He had been 4th in a 100k stakes on grass and he actually won a turf race at long odds and was DQ'd to 4th. I drew the conclusion that he actually liked the grass and played him and he won.

That was real handicapping

By the way, I experienced the same things others on here did with chasing the racing forms around when they were set to arrive. I think I had a Super America gas station phone number memorized calling to find out if forms had arrived. Nothing more disheartening then arriving to get a form and find out they just sold out.

[cj]

Originally Posted by Track Phantom

I used to have stacks of forms in the mid to late '80's for the very same reason. I caught a few really strong plays using this angle. I remember a runner moving to the turf. He'd run 4 times on the turf (none of the turf PP's were showing as they were too far back in his career). His record on the turf was 4 starts, 0 1st, 2nd or 3rd but earned $30,000. I thought that was a lot of money for never hitting the board. I spent an hour digging through all the forms I had until I had his entire career PP history. He had been 4th in a 100k stakes on grass and he actually won a turf race at long odds and was DQ'd to 4th. I drew the conclusion that he actually liked the grass and played him and he won.

That was real handicapping

By the way, I experienced the same things others on here did with chasing the racing forms around when they were set to arrive. I think I had a Super America gas station phone number memorized calling to find out if forms had arrived. Nothing more disheartening then arriving to get a form and find out they just sold out.

I had a deal with the 7-11, they always kept one aside for me. Even if I missed a few days they knew I would buy the back copies when I made it in.

[Tom]

I used to have the news guy save me a copy every day. I promised to buy them and he was happy to do it. I traveled a lot back in the 80s-90s so it was hard to get a form everyday.

Then went to Formulator when it first came out - bought an unlimited plan every quarter for $99. It was a good deal at the time. Then Formulator changed and I stopped that, too.

[NickWA]

Originally Posted by GMB@BP

Throw $25 bucks in a drf bets account, make one $2 bet a month and you get drf+ with access for the next month.

Not anymore.

July 1 email from DRF:

"Please be advised, the DRF Bets Rewards program is changing. Starting July 1, 2019, a player will need to wager $500+ within a calendar month to receive access to FREE DRF Plus Basic. Players that wager $1,000+ within a calendar month receive access to FREE DRF Plus Pro."

[cj]

Originally Posted by Tom

I used to have the news guy save me a copy every day. I promised to buy them and he was happy to do it. I traveled a lot back in the 80s-90s so it was hard to get a form everyday.

Then went to Formulator when it first came out - bought an unlimited plan every quarter for $99. It was a good deal at the time. Then Formulator changed and I stopped that, too.

Who here had the microfiche reader and subscribed to the charts in that format?

[metro]

Originally Posted by LemonSoupKid

It was $6 at most as recent as last month. $4 increase?

Why would anyone buy the digital to have to also print it out then?

This seems like a bad, bad move.

I most always go digital but don't print out every race, more often than not just scan through the pps on my tablet until I get to a race or series of races I want to dig deeper into and play, then I'll print them out. The printed out digital is a lot clearer than the Midwest version of the DRF I get too.

The printed version of the DRF will likely disappear going the way of so many newspapers. The digital version, if they can get to a price point that doesn't drive away their base, should still keep them going as long as the sport of horse racing warrants it

[Tom]

I stopped printing out digital or PDS - just use Foxit to annotate, underline, add figs, etc.

My real preference, though,is a fresh paper copy. Old habits, but opening a crips new Form, the smell of the ink, the clean pages, a fresh start for the day.....gotta love it. Drawing circles, arrows, x's, check marks......half the fun of handicapping.

Just so much info not in the printed editions.

[Red Knave]

Originally Posted by cj

Who here had the microfiche reader and subscribed to the charts in that format?

Not quite that but in the early 1980s I did send Xerox (who had purchased the OCR software developed by Kurzweil) a page of charts from the DRF to see if it could be scanned and the data captured to a file. It actually created a file but had difficulty with sub- and super-scripts (i.e. lengths +/-) and fractions. They didn't want to pursue it.