Phil Bull. The legendary founder of Timeform.

A fascinating insight into one of racing’s most brilliant minds.
 
In my old office, we had a printout pinned to the notice board.

An A4 sheet of paper. On it was a year-by-year breakdown of the betting record of Phil Bull.

I’ve probably still got it. Filed away somewhere.

This was in the mid-1990’s, when Bull’s work and legacy were fresh in the mind of racing enthusisats. But even today, 35 years after his death, his place among the great thinkers, innovators, and bettors, that UK horseracing has seen in the last 100 years is without question.

Born in 1910, a proud Yorkshireman, Bull, a maths graduate, would go on to revolutionise betting and form analysis. Laying the foundations upon which subsequent generations of backers have built (and occasionally lost!) their own fortune.

Along the way he founded Timeform way back in the 1940’s – a name which still resonates loudly within the betting world to this very day.

Here is a documentary, made towards the end of Bull’s life. A hugely interesting insight into the great man’s life and work, and one well worth sharing.

Enjoy…
 

 
We take for granted things like starting stalls, and overnight declarations. Just two innovations which Bull campaigned to bring into racing. Along with his regular run-ins with the Jockey Club, Bull was a driving force in shaping the way in which we see modern day horseracing.

And as a hugely successful bettor himself, winning millions at the game by modern equivalents, he stated “there is no secret to it, it is a matter of knowledge and skill“.

Well, few applied such traits better than the great man himself.

 
OPINION: Watching and listening to Bull is a great lesson to all bettors. And an inspiration as well. True, he was born into, and bet during, a time before endless amounts of computerised form analysis and highly analytical market-making (which he in part was the Godfather of) came along. But his principles remain cast in stone for any would-back successful backer. Master your craft, and apply it professionally. Therein lies success.