DAILY RACING FORM PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT: O'Leary & Cosentino Communications
Tim O'Leary (914) 592-5020 or occgroup@aol.com
Scott Cooper (609) 391-8166 or occcooper@aol.com

STEVEN CRIST'S BETTING ON MYSELF GOES ON SALE AUGUST 15
Five-month, 20+ City Book Tour Launches August 16 at Saratoga Racecourse

NEW YORK, N.Y., August 11, 2003 -- In Cambridge, Massachusetts in May, 1977, a longhaired student of Renaissance literature at Harvard College and editor of The Harvard Lampoon experienced an unlikely epiphany on a whimsical trip to a local greyhound track: After falling for the idea of a life of literature after reading James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Steven Crist stared in wonderment at the soon-to-be life-altering miniature numbers of the past-performance lines in the Wonderland Greyhound Park program. Before long, studying the mysteries of seventeenth century metaphysical poets was replaced by a fanatical devotion to finding the winner of the next race from the mysteries hidden in the agate type printed in the Daily Racing Form.

Now, more than 25 years later, Crist, chairman and publisher of Daily Racing Form, chronicles this unlikely introduction into Thoroughbred racing and his unique adventures that follow in racing journalism, politics, high finance and, closest to his heart, betting on horses in Betting on Myself: Adventures of a Horseplayer and Publisher (DRF PRESS). Betting on Myself ($24.95) officially goes on sale on Friday, Aug. 15 at major national booksellers, local bookstores, racetrack giftshops and directly through Daily Racing Form at 1-800-306-FORM and www.drf.com.

Crist's third book (Offtrack and The Horse Traders) explores his personal journey through racing: From his days at Harvard and his introduction to the world of pari-mutuel wagering, to his tenure as an iconoclastic reporter and horse racing columnist at The New York Times, to launching a new racing newspaper with legendary publisher Robert Maxwell, to living as a professional horseplayer betting $1 million a year and earning the title "King of the Pick Six," to his days advising New York Gov. Mario Cuomo on racing policy, to helping operate New York's Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga racetracks, and, finally, to his audacious bid to buy Daily Racing Form for $40 million in 1998.

Nearly five years to the day since acquiring Daily Racing Form with Alpine Capital Group, Crist will commence a five-month, 20+ city book tour in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. on Saturday, August 16 with a book signing at Siro's Restaurant (11:15 a.m.), with the official kick-off event scheduled for Sunday, August 17 at the track following the day's racing card in the Paddock Pavilion Tent (6-9 p.m.). Crist will conduct book signings Travers Week in downtown Saratoga Springs at Barnes & Noble (Aug. 19, 1 p.m.) and Borders (Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m.), and on Travers Day, August 23, at Siro's (11:15 a.m.) and the on-track Pony Tales Bookstore (12 noon).

Crist will head westward a week later to racing's other summertime hotspot, Del Mar, on August 30 for a handicapping seminar and book signing, as well as another signing that night at the nearby Earth Song Bookstore. The Betting on Myself tour also includes scheduled stops in such horse racing markets as Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Toronto. Crist will also make scheduled appearances at casinos in Atlantic City, Connecticut and Las Vegas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steven Crist, chairman and publisher of Daily Racing Form, successfully put together a group of investors who purchased "America's Turf Authority since 1894" from Primedia, Inc. for $40 million in August, 1998. A renowned journalist, horseplayer and gambler, Crist first caught the racing bug as an undergraduate at Harvard in 1977 and the former editor of the Harvard Lampoon has dedicated his life to Thoroughbred racing ever since. Crist was a New York Times reporter and columnist from 1981-90 and editor-in-chief of the short-lived but critically-acclaimed daily newspaper The Racing Times, the Robert Maxwell-owned publication launched as a competitor to the then-Rupert Murdoch owned Daily Racing Form. He subsequently served as a member of New York Gov. Mario Cuomo's Commission on Racing in the 21st Century and as a vice president of the New York Racing Association from 1994-1997. He is the author of Offtrack and The Horse Traders and a co-author of Champions and Bet With The Best. He's had articles published in Esquire, New York, Playboy and The New York Times Magazine.

ABOUT DRF PRESS

DRF PRESS is the imprint of Daily Racing Form, the 109-year-old "bible" of Thoroughbred racing horseplayers and the only daily newspaper in the United States devoted exclusively to the coverage of a single sport. In January 2003 it debuted its "Elements of Handicapping" series of titles with the January release of Handicapping Contest Handbook: A Horseplayer's Guide to Handicapping Tournaments by Noel Michaels and Nick Borg's Off The Charts: Turning Result Charts into Profitable Selections at the Track in March. Since its inception in 1999, DRF PRESS has released Finished Lines: A Collection of Memorable Writing on Thoroughbred Racing (2002); From the Desert to the Derby (2002) by Jason Levin; its bestselling title Bet With The Best: All New Strategies From America's Leading Handicappers (2001); Win, Place & Show: An Introduction to the Thrill of Thoroughbred Racing (2001) by Betsy Berns; and Champions: The Lives, Times and Past Performances of the 20th Century's Greatest Thoroughbreds (2000). DRF PRESS also re-issued Tom Brohamer's Modern Pace Handicapping (2000) and Jim Quinn's The Handicapper's Condition Book (2000) and publishes Thoroughbred racing's annual almanac, American Racing Manual, which debuted in 1906 but whose roots trace back to the late 1890's as the American Sporting Manual.