- - This game is not overly complex but does take time to understand some of the nuances. Take it slowly or expect to pay a price for jumping straight in.
- - Be aware that the Sales Ring can swallow money unless you are very, very lucky. The ratio of poor horses is much greater than good ones. The best way to buy from the Sales Ring is by using Bonus Credits only.
- - Uncheck the 'Automatic Stabling Fee Deduction' on purchase or in the detail page for each horse when starting out, for horses of a low quality that may not be raceable unchecking this option will ensure you do not pay Stabling Fees if you don't manually retire them.
- - When training a new horse concentrate on working out it's preferred distance(s) before you change the Track/Going. You can concentrate on these once you have the distance(s) nailed.
- - A general rule of thumb is that for every extra 200m in Distance a horse should improve by ½l against the barrier horse. Anything more than this may indicate that the horse prefers the longer Distance, any less and it may indicate that the horse prefers the shorter.
- - 1000m, 1800m and 3200m are regarded by some as 'specialist' distances and the above does not necessarily apply to these distances.
- - A random factor is applied to both training and races. Training results should be averaged to try to minimise the effect of the RF in training to help determine preferred Track/Distance/Going.
- - When assessing tack items a methodical approach is best adopted, investigating one tack item at a time with trials both with and without over the same specification (going/distance).
- - It should be remembered that blinkers is the only tack item that can adversely affect a horse. Care should be taken when assessing their effect and if unsure further trials should be undertaken.
- - Racing a colt without first gelding it is inadvisable unless a specific strategy is being followed (e.g. setting up an Allowance run or sandbagging the rating down for Rated Racing).
- - You can determine the overall effect the jockey or random factor had in a race by looking at the jockeys used and their ranking in the Jockeys Table (Races->Jockeys). Winning a race with the best jockey used may not tell you much, but winning a race with the worst jockey used can tell you heaps.
- - Purchasing an older horse with a decent track record from a Claimer may give valuable information with regards Time Trials. It should be remembered though that the quality of horse being raced may have improved from season to season and these figures may be a little out of date.
- - Allowance races are generally for horses that have not won for a while or have been beaten by long distances. Unless a horse is very good or the opposition is particularily poor it will struggle in an Allowance race off a high weight. You can see what weight your horse is due to carry in a Stakes Race by using the "Calc Weight" link on the race nomination.
- - Generally the higher the nomination fee the better the opposition will be.
- - Look at the Conditions for any Stakes Race you are thinking of nominating your horse into. Weight penalties can be quite detrimental - again the "Calc Weight" can be used to see whether your horse will be running under a penalty in Stakes Races if you are unsure.
- - If you feel you have a good horse try and maximise it's profits by entering races with larger fields or higher nomination fees.
- - Unless you are ego-driven do not let your win/place percentages influence your nomination strategies.
- - Read as much info as you can from the Help sections and the Forums. Most questions that are asked can be answered by a little research. Whilst a lot of owners will gladly offer advice it can get tiresome if this resource is used as an asnwer to laziness.
- - Use the "My Categories" on your Stable page to group like horses together. You can decide how you want to group your horses (eg. CHAMP/GOOD G1/POOR G1/GOOD G2/DOGFOOD or SPRINTER/CLASSIC/STAYER).
- - Do not race a horse below 90% Fitness unless you have a specific plan in mind. Optimal fitness for racing is between 96 and 100%.
- - Use the "My Notes" for each horse. Whatever is typed will be visible whenever you mouse-over that horse.
- - Remember Auctions are a "buyer beware" situation.
- - Do as much homework as possible on a horse before buying from Claimers/Auctions.
- - Viewing the last 3 TTs of unraced horses in Auctions and then following their career (by adding them to your Horse Tracker) can be helpful in understanding the relationship between Trials and Races.
- - Remember to check/change the barrier horse age if manually training after a Maturing Age Change. Maturing Age Changes occur from 2-3 and 3-4 only. Once a horse reaches 4 subsequent Age Changes are regarded as Non-Maturing.
- - All horses improve at a Maturing Age Change when compared to the barrier horse. The margin by which they improve determines whether they have had a poor, average or good Age Change. Opinions vary as to how to determine what type of Maturing Age Change a horse has had - this is something that you need to experience and form your own opinion.
- - Remember that if your horse wins/places in a race you may see it gain up to 4% Fitness. Do not nominate too many races in advance or you may find that your horse will 'flip' back to 50% before all the nominated races are run.
- - Vitamins do not increase performance, they merely increase the Fitness of a horse.
- - Remember wins in Newbie races count when looking at nominating into Stakes races. Most Newbie horses are very poor, but if you think you may have a good one it is best to try it in a Class D Rated race. All Newbie horses are now Class D so do NOT enter them into G2 Stakes Races unless they are really good as they will have to be incredibly lucky to place/win. Performances in Rated races should give some indication as to how good or bad the horse really is.
- - Don't be sentimental. Once a horse has reached a point where it is no longer competitive either place it in Claimers or stop racing it.
- - The most cost-effective way to supplement a horse for a Challenge Series is to wait until you get one worthy and then pay the Late Supp Fee. Whilst this may appear much more expensive than paying the Supp Fee on purchase on balance it will cost a lot more if you pay for each horse on purchase.
- - Be aware of the difference between Rated Racing and Stakes Racing. Stakes racing is split into Grades - G1 and G2 horses - once a horse receives a Grade it should remain that Grade for it's entire racing life. For a horse to be competitive in Stakes Racing it should only race against horses of a similar Grade. Rated Racing is split into Classes - A, B, C and D - each horse will be initially assessed and allotted a Class based on it's purported inate abilities. As well as a Class each horse will also be allotted a Rating. This Rating will be compared to other horses in the same race to determine weights for that race. Initially each horse of the same Class will be allotted the same Rating. These Ratings may be adjusted after each Rated Race, thus moving the horse up/down the handicap. Results of Rated Races should have no bearing on Stakes Races and vice-versa.
- - Always race a G2 in Grade 2 Stakes races and/or Rated Races if you want it to be competitive.
- - Keep the free Newbie horses to Class D Rated Races (free or otherwise) as few can compete outside this sphere.
Some things to remember
- - You really must remember to change the Barrier Horse Age if manually training after an Age Change or you'll experience the real highs and lows of virtual ownership!
- - When looking at TTs with a view to buy an unraced Colt in Auction remember to check that the Barrier Horse used was in fact a Colt and not a Filly. When looking at TTs with a view to buy any horse in Auction remember to check that the age of the Barrier Horse matches that of the prospective purchase at the time of the trial.
- - If you are a non-US$ customer and are placing a maiden bid on a reserved lot in Auction always make your bid at least a penny/cent more than the reserve shown to avoid bid/reserve not matching due to different currency exchange formulae.
- - Check alumite stock levels at regular intervals. Nothing worse than a 'multi-shoe' horse in with a chance in a race running unshod.
- - It is a good idea to stock up on tack items before buying horses from Bonus Credit Awards. At the very worst at least you will have something worthwhile to show for them at the end of the day.
- - If you are a non-US$ customer a new exchange rate is usually accompanied by the need to double-check that there have been no adverse affects. A common occurrence is for the base Stabling Fee to be adjusted but the discount already accumulated for races run is not.