Yalwen Posted June 20, 2022 Share Posted June 20, 2022 On Saturday the Daily Mail announced, in a very low key manner, that Nigel Taylor’s FORMCAST would be ending after 43 years. Now, I know that there have been many systems and methods based around the Top Rated 78 horse and also that some of them were quite successful, particularly in the non-handicap races. So, this morning I opened the paper to see what the replacement ‘private handicap ratings’ would be like. Unbelievably, in this day and age, there was no replacement. Just a list of runners for each race together with the usual betting forecast and they haven’t even printed the number of declarations per race. What a shambles! What used to be one of the country’s leading formcards now becomes a shadow of its former self. Talk about back to the drawing board. A very disappointing start to the week and my subscription to the rag will cease at the end of the month. alexcaruso808 and MCLARKE 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valiant Thor Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Just use the racing post ratings (RPR) top rated for the 78 rated you wont be a million miles out ? Yalwen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yalwen Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 I'll do that VT, but I used to enjoy sitting down with a coffee and a pen and going through the runners and riders, marking the paper and making notes before I made a selection. Can't do that on T'internet. Plus, of course, at his peak Nigel Taylor was the very best. Some of his ratings, especially in the lower grade non handicaps were almost a licence to print money. So, this is what we call progress, I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valiant Thor Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 7 minutes ago, Yalwen said: So, this is what we call progress, I suppose. I used to put up the RO78 (rule of 78) system selections on the now defunct Gummy Racing board Then when I first started up my blog I used to put up them up there too until I moved on to better things. I suppose we have to move with the times or else become a dinosaur, & we all know what happened to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry_rag Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 4 minutes ago, Valiant Thor said: or else become a dinosaur, & we all know what happened to them. They appear in a successful and long-running film franchise? Data 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopdog Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 I found Yalwen's post when I Googled the disappearance of Nigel Taylor, aka Formcast 78 and will miss it. I too had one or two successful little systems which used it. Daily Mail racing coverage was good for a quick look to decide which races to delve into further. It seems all the newspapers are "fading" racing coverage. I heard the Telegraph are no longer printing all racecards. A sign of the times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm BAKER Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 How sad to see what used to be the best racing pages out of all the newspapers, now become one of the poorest. The Ratings used to be a tremendous help in finding winners, and a listing of the top five trainers and jockeys at the Course, plus jocks riding weight. I have now had to purchase a magnifying glass to read the print, now four or five Meetings are crammed into one page. I can’t see it being long before my subscription to The Daily Mail is terminated. Yalwen, alexcaruso808 and MCLARKE 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty63 Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 On 8/11/2022 at 4:17 PM, Malcolm BAKER said: How sad to see what used to be the best racing pages out of all the newspapers, now become one of the poorest. The Ratings used to be a tremendous help in finding winners, and a listing of the top five trainers and jockeys at the Course, plus jocks riding weight. I have now had to purchase a magnifying glass to read the print, now four or five Meetings are crammed into one page. I can’t see it being long before my subscription to The Daily Mail is terminated. yes and its just gone up to 90p you get less for more money now sign of the times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yalwen Posted August 13, 2022 Author Share Posted August 13, 2022 £1.30 for Saturday edition. £1.90 for Sunday’s paper. The rule of diminishing returns. The end is nigh for paper editions of newspapers, sadly. I don’t wonder at those prices. Most of the information that we used to rely on is now available on line for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.Tortkington Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 I found the Daily Mail "FORMCAST" an important tool in helping me select winners and at one time in the 1980,s I took the Formcasr ratings as set in stone but having purchased the Mail down south whilst on holiday and compared the ratings in the Mail which had been delivered to my home,there significant differences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcaruso808 Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 What is the rule of 78? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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