We’ll admit it: The more TimeformUS moved forward with our vision of modernized racing PPs that “happen in real time,” the less we prioritized coming up with a full-card PDF version of our product. Well, we have surrendered. Full Racecard PDF PPs are now available to all customers. Let’s go through the plusses and minuses of these things, as well as some instructions on how to use them.
PLUSSES:
- If you don’t have an iPad or similar tablet, or you’re not sitting in front of your computer or laptop, you can now print full Racecard PPs and take them with you.
- If you DO have an iPad or similar tablet but are going someplace where wifi access is sketchy, you can save the full card PDF PPs to your device before you go to this terrible wifi-less place, and then access the full card while “offline.”
- If you like using apps like GoodReader, GoodNotes or good ‘ol Adobe Reader to save, write on or otherwise annotate the heck out of PPs, you will now be able to do that with TimeformUS PPs.
- Once the PDFs are available for a racecard, your experience will be fast (by jumbo PDF standards, that is). We’re seeing load times of 5-10 seconds per racecard, and printing a full card takes about 10 minutes on the not-particularly-awesome printers we have here.
- In a single scroll PDF such as this, you can scroll all over the entire racecard document just using your finger on Ipad or your preferred scrolling method on your PC or laptop.
MINUSES:
- TimeformUS Full Card PDFs are, for now, available only after a racecard goes “final” with Morning Line odds. Example: A Belmont card goes final at 11am on Thursday for a Saturday Card. For now, PDFs of that full card will be available within 3-4 hours of going final.
- For now, we’re not including features such as Pace Projector in the PDFs. Pace Projectors can be dramatically affected by scratches and are designed to update whenever those scratches occur. They also really slow down the time it takes to print.
- Our online PPs are remarkably flexible and customizable. Our PDF PPs are standardized–no more than 7 running lines per horse, with the pace figures for the horse in place of the fractions. For now.
- There’s some lovely stuff in TimeformUS PDF PPs; they’re cleaner and more readable than the competition. If you notice that one of your favorite features from the online version of TimeformUS is not in the PDF version, feel free to drop us a note. But please keep in mind that it is going to be impossible to duplicate the advantages of our online PP experience in the PDFs.
- Racing happens in real time, PDFs don’t.
HOW TO USE:
- At the top of any horse’s PPs, you’ll see two icons. The one on the left is for the full racecard; the one on the right is just for that particular race. Tap or click, and the PDF will launch in a separate browser instance.
- If you’re printing PPs out, and if you don’t want to burn out your color ink on your printer (if you have a color printer, that is), we recommend you change your print settings to “grayscale” or “print color as gray.” Every computer is different, but typically, under the printing menu is an option to turn color off.
- You will also see this icon to the right of the two old school print icons:
It’s the Condensed Card version. To learn more about Condensed Cards, click here.
Any questions? Please contact us at support@timeformus.com
TimeformUS 
I have been using DRF Formulator all my handicapping and find it very useful. One of the most useful thing is it allows me to print the full card with all my settings in place (fraction times, this horse time, etc). I used TimeFormUS before, it’s good if you are on a computer with an internet access, but I have to say the print edition is no where near DRF Formulator.
1. It takes out too much space for a full card. (for condensed, it’s missing too much information)
2. Missing work out informations
3. Always print with the default settings. No options to print with what I currently set in TimeFormUS.
I would love to start using TimeFormUS again, but because of the lack of features in the print edition, it sways me away to stick with DRF Formulator.
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We agree with your assessment on the deficiencies of our PDFs and are looking to update in the next few months.
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You guys do a great job, but my only criticism would be that I want your information in a much more condensed format when entries are out. I am a “younger” handicapper (30s) but still like to mark up my forms. Your figs are second to none, but I go elsewhere because I can’t print and handicap on Wednesday (or sooner) for a Saturday card. Just trying to give some legit feedback. I would buy your forms every time if it was not the digital format.
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Might you be able to code the resulting PDF’s title to include track name and date, please?
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sure, we’ll do that. bug us in 2 weeks if it’s not done.
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