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Racing Books

Q

Quixall Crossett

Apprentice
Joined
Apr 29, 2024
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295
Location
Ings Farm
This is my first time posting on Chit Chat. I didnt even know it existed. I've had a quick look thru and i cant believe how many threads Ian has started.

Or can i ????? :)

Anyway, back to the thread title. I dont know how many of you read or collect racing books. Or whether you would like to and need a helping hand to get started. Or maybe you just want to add to your collection.
But i have bought and collected them for many years now, probably going back to the 70's , but now i feel it is time to move them on. I have given a load away to a few mates who wanted particular ones but i still have around 75 on my shelves. These include Chasers and Hurdlers from the early noughties, Weatherbys Hunter Chasers and Point To Pointers, old Raceform and Superform books and many, many books about individual horses, trainers, jockeys etc.

If anyone is interested in having some, or all, please let me know. Preferably someone in the Northern part of England so i could drive down and meet and drop them off. Trying to post them would be an absolute nightmare and would cost a fortune.
I did think about taking them to a charity shop but an old colleague i know took some Chasers and Hurdlers to his local shop and they were selling them for £1. I would much rather give them away.

Anyone ?

Have a good day all.
 
I've got a load of old racing Superform books my best friend gave me.

I only took them because I'm hoping to meet a billionaire tourist one day, convince them they're rare artifacts and flog them at a grand each to fund my Chocolate Hob Nobs habit.
 
I’ve got lots of hardback books, many of which I’ve never actually read. I’ve just obsessively bought racing books for decades. I do love them but I’ve got to an age where I have to think about clearing them out. I’d hate the thought of my daughter just throwing them out. The only one that I read properly was Julian Wilson’s 100 greatest racehorses which I bought when I rediscovered my childhood love of racing and had so much back history to learn. I thought that, when I retired I’d have time to read them all but it never happened. Find it a bit sad to be honest.
 
Can people just stop offering to give books away please?

It's killing the market for people like me who want to sell Superform 1990 for a grand based on an unverified claim it was once owned by Queen Victoria.
 
I used to have quite a few Timeform annuals, but I kept only two of them as I read somewhere that charity shops were unlikely to find anybody wanting to buy any.

I've been flicking through one of the books I bought in the secondhand equestrian bookshop JA Allen which was near Victoria Station in London and closed in 2001. It's Brown Jack by RC Lyle, published in 1934 and not in the best condition. Juvenile hurdle races of a mile and a half ( in the autumn of 1927) were something I hadn't heard of before.

Below is one I haven't read, but it emerged from reading Little Englanders - Britain in the Edwardian Era - by Alwyn Turner where one of the topics was music hall. Bernard Dillon was married to Marie Lloyd.

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When I downsized three years ago nobody wanted any of my 40-odd years' worth of form books, form annuals and Superform books and annuals.

Plus about 10 years' worth of form, Flat and NH, Weekender pullout compilations.

They ended up going to the paper dumpster at the local recycling centre.

One of the saddest days of my life.
 
Desert Orchid said:
When I downsized three years ago nobody wanted any of my 40-odd years' worth of form books, form annuals and Superform books and annuals.

Plus about 10 years' worth of form, Flat and NH, Weekender pullout compilations.

They ended up going to the paper dumpster at the local recycling centre.

One of the saddest days of my life.
Click to expand...
Its a sign of the times my friend. Go back 15, 20 or 30 years ago and people would have snapped them up straight away. They would not have lasted five minutes. I would be certain that if i had someone or maybe two or three people who wanted them, they would all be of our age. Chasers and Hurdlers, Weatherbys Point to Point annuals, Superform and Raceform books dont mean a thing to the younger generation.
You remember the younger generation DO, the ones that the BHA , Apiafi and all the other clueless clowns are trying to entice into the sport. They are JUST NOT INTERESTED in the game. A day on the piss at the races in the summer, yeah. But a freezing cold afternoon like at Sedgefield today and they are nowhere to be seen.
This "Friday Night Live" nonsense will go the same way as the Racing League, the Jermaine Jenas farce etc etc.

But back to the books. I always remember John Oaksey saying that we should always buy two editions of the Chasers and Hurdlers each year. One for reference and the other to wrap up and keep clean and safe because in years to come they would be valuable :D
I know of a charity shop that sold them for a £1 each and i cant even give mine away.
 
Edgt very kindly relieved me of a couple of Timeform Annuals when I met him in Dublin earlier this year.

Pleased that they were heading to a good home.
 

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