Portway Press Ltd was formed in 1948 by Phil Bull, who wanted to establish a mathematical link to a horse's performance, based on the time the horse recorded. At a time when such data was virtually unheard of, Bull started publishing a racing annual, which evolved into the "Racehorses Of.." series. The company was purchased for a reputed £15 million by the sports betting exchange Betfair in December 2006.
Data system
According to the publishers, a Timeform rating represents "the merit of the horse expressed in pounds and is arrived at by careful examination of its running against other horses using a scale of weight for distance beaten which ranges from around 3 lb a length at five furlongs and 2 lb a length at a mile and a quarter to 1 lb a length at two miles". The Beyer Speed Figure used in the United States is similar to a Timeform rating. The popular rule of thumb for comparing these two numbers is to add 12–14 points to the Beyer score to estimate the Timeform number. Timeform ratings for 3-year-olds and up are as follows:
Timeform maintains different scales for horses racing on the flat, over hurdles and over fences. The scores cannot be compared for the obvious differences between the race types. For instance, Arkle at 212, Flyingbolt at 210, Sprinter Sacre at 192 are then followed by Mill House and Kauto Star, both at 191, are the highest rated steeplechasers. The highest rated horses over hurdles are Night Nurse at 182, Istabraq and Monksfield, both at 180, and Persian War at 179. The table below lists scores for flat horses only starting with the highest, rated at 147 which is the British horse Frankel.
Publications
Annually in March, the company puts out its book Racehorses of...., which currently contains more than 1,200 pages and provides information and ratings on the top flat horses in Australasia, Dubai, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, North America and Scandinavia. Also, annually in October the company publishes Chasers and Hurdlers, a thorough review of every horse that ran under National Hunt rules in Britain, as well as the best National Hunt horses to have run in Ireland and France. Timeform publishes a number of other books. Its Horses to Follow: Flat Season is composed of short essays on fifty horses deemed worthy of following in the upcoming year's classics. The horses are selected by Timeform's own team of experts along with five leading broadcasters. The book also provides a guide to the most significant two-year-old performances from the previous year. Timeform also compiles a system based on speed and class which appears in the Daily Racing Form for all horse racing events run in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and the United Arab Emirates.
Top-rated Thoroughbreds on flat courses
The figures below are official all-time Highweights for horses who raced in Australia, Dubai, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, and Scandinavia as supplied by Neil O'Connor of Timeform. Until very recently, horses who raced exclusively in America were never given Timeform ratings, so they can not be compared directly to their European counterparts.
Top-rated horses on chase courses
The figures below are official all-time Highweights for horses racing under National Hunt rules on chase courses.
Top-rated Thoroughbreds on hurdle courses
The figures below are all-time ratings accorded by Timeform for race horses that competed under National Hunt rules on hurdle courses. * Timeform started compiling ratings for jumps racing in 1962; therefore Sir Ken's rating was retrospectively assessed by Timeform when Cheltenham introduced its Hall of Fame in the 1990s.
