Daily Racing Form Explained

Daily Racing Form
Owners:Affinity Interactive
Founder:Frank Brunell
Foundation:1894
Language:English
Headquarters:New York City, New York

The Daily Racing Form (DRF) (referred to as the Racing Form or "Form" and sometimes "telegraph" or "telly") is a tabloid newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of racehorses as a statistical service for bettors covering horse racing in North America.[1]

The first edition of the DRF was published in Chicago in November 1894[2] and publishes up to 35 regional editions every day but Christmas.[3]

In cooperation with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association, the Daily Racing Form selects the winners of the annual Eclipse Awards.

In 1922, the DRF publishing company was sold to Moses Annenberg's Triangle Publications, which would eventually be owned by Walter Annenberg.

In 2007, the Wicks Group sold DRF to Arlington Capital Partners for nearly $200 million.[4] [5] Arlington sold the DRF parent company, Sports Information Group (SIG), to Z Capital Partners in 2017 for less than $100 million.[6] In 2021, Z Capital merged SIG into a sister company, Affinity Gaming, to form Affinity Interactive.[7] In 2021, DRF released the DRF Sport website in September, and in October released the DRF Cash Grab free-to-plat sports prediction app. Together with Affinity Interactive, DRF released its first online sports book. The DRF Bets sports went live in Iowa in January 2022.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Corporate history at the Daily Racing Form official website . 2006-09-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060902045218/http://www.drf.com/about/about_history.html . 2006-09-02 . dead .
  2. News: 117 Years Of Race Stats Put To Pasture At The Track . en . NPR.org . 2022-10-26.
  3. Web site: Lambert . Craig . 2010-03-01 . Horseplayer Extraordinaire . 2022-10-26 . Harvard Magazine . en.
  4. News: Racing Form sold to Washington, D.C. company. The Blood-Horse. Claire Crosby. October 19, 2007. 2021-08-03.
  5. News: Bet on it: Wicks to sell Daily Racing Form for $200M. Folio Magazine. Dylan Stableford. August 23, 2007. 2021-08-03.
  6. News: Z Capital Partners bets on DRF. The Blood-Horse. Frank Angst. July 27, 2017. 2021-08-03.
  7. ZCG announces completion of merger creating Affinity Interactive. Z Capital Group. July 6, 2021. PR Newswire. 2021-08-03.
  8. Web site: 2022-01-27 . Affinity Interactive's Daily Racing Form launches first sportsbook in Iowa . 2022-10-31 . Gaming Intelligence . en-GB.