Ryan’s treat for punters: RaceForm back in time for the new season
By Barry Lichter • 7 July 2020
Punters will rejoice with the news that RaceForm will be back in time for the start of the new racing season.
After many months of trying to re-establish the country’s only weekly news and form publication, Editor Dennis Ryan today confirmed the first issue will be published on Thursday, July 30.
RaceForm will be back to an A4 configuration and feature 30 pages of gallops and harness editorial and another 100 pages of double column Best Bets form.
It will cover the weekend’s domestic gallops and harness meetings as well as feature Australian cards, with full, broken out fields and form.
Ryan said it had been planned for RaceForm to resume in time for the first post COVID-19 gallops meetings but there had been complications with the supply of data provided by the TAB.
Dennis Ryan … first issue will be published on July 30.“The support of RITA and the TAB is essential for RaceForm’s viability and we now have a package in place as well as strong support from the codes which recognise the need for a weekly form publication.
“Some people might say that everything in the new age needs to be digital but I dispute this and it’s not just because I’m a long time print journalist.
“I hear from big and small punters who all say they still want a hard copy of the fields. Whether they’re at the pub with their mates or going racing they want an easy form reference they can hold in the hands.”
Ryan says RaceForm will provide news, expert form analysis and tips, trackwork and trial pointers from a nationwide network, latest news on the stud and stable scene and insight into the people and horses that make racing the great sport that it is.
RaceForm will be available through an ever-widening retail network as well as to subscribers who will receive their copy by courier on Thursday or Friday morning at the latest.
Ryan said the publication had enjoyed a big increase in subscriber numbers before lockdown and he hoped to quickly return to a circulation of at least 4000.
RaceForm will soon launch a website on which it will provide a full list of retail outlets.
It will cost $7.50.
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Lisa’s comments
Saturday at Ellerslie
Race 9: Platinum Attack
4.34pm
“He is a lot more forward than he usually is at this time of the year and he worked super going reverse on the course proper on Tuesday morning. Twelve is not an ideal draw for him but we will look to tuck him away somewhere and get cover. Hopefully he will be able to switch off and do his best work late, which he usually does with Bruno Queiroz. We will need a lot of favours but providing he is finishing it off strongly we will definitely be happy.”