 Admiral Rous established the handicapping process for horse racing , including the weight-for-age scale, while in the 20th century, form expert and some time administrator of the sport, Phil Bull established Timeform whose ratings are often used to assess the all-time great horses.Key data for 2004, 2005 and 2010 extracted from the British Horseracing Board's annual reports for 2004 and 2005, the 2010 annual reportfrom its successor organisation, the British Horseracing Authority and the 2011/12 British Horseracing Fact Book

The Chief Executive of the BHB stated in the 2005 annual report that "Success was achieved in an environment of great uncertainty.