Da Furry Rodent (nibbles at ya)

The type of horse required

In Rated Racing it is not always the best horses that are the most profitable. Whilst a level of ability is required (as it is in Stakes Racing) the very nature of Rated Racing is more geared toward horses that have the greatest range of difference between ability over various trips/goings and those that have a sizeable liking/dislike for tack items.

A very good horse in it's Class may well be more than capable of handing out a spanking to its' peers at level weights but if it is of a high enough ability over a large range of distances or most of its ability is innate and not due to tack items it is much more difficult to campaign effectively.

A slightly poorer horse with a much higher range in difference of ability (for example good enough at sprint distances but extremely poor over staying trips) or one on which tack items have a large effect may well struggle against the above horse at level weights but will be much easier to campaign.

The benefit of tack items

Whilst tack items are only looked at in terms of positive effects in Stakes Racing, both positive and negative effects are a boon in Rated Racing. Basically the larger the effect (whether positive or negative) of both shoes and blinkers the better as will be shown further down.

Campaigning a horse

Rated Racing was originally introduced as a response to requests from some players for a more realistic handicapping system in Stakes Racing. Prior to implementation it was decided by the site to introduce Rated Racing as a completely separate entity and as such the way a horse is campaigned in Rated Racing is completely different to Stakes Racing.

Following every Rated Race the rating of each horse is adjusted according to fixed table based on it's finishing position and the size of the field. With the winner receiving a penalty each time and those finishing down the field effectively receiving an allowance the system was originally designed to raise or lower each horse to a rating at which they were competitive but with little or no thought given to ensuring all horses must run to their true ability it was not long before shrewder owners spotted a way to manipulate the ratings system.

As such it was a natural progression that the majority of owners would eventually have to opt to run horses with the intention of either going for the win or conversely finishing as far down the field as possible (commonly known as 'sandbagging') in every race.

So basically there is very little thought required to campaigning a horse in Rated Racing. With each horse in a particular Class starting off at the same rating, the most effort needing to be put in to determine at what level each horse may be competitive even with a poor random. Once this has been calculated the owner then has to try to get the horse down to that rating or below before letting it race to it's true ability in an attempt to gain the win (or a second place).

The best (and least expensive) way to achieve this is to sandbag the horse as many times as required with the primary aim of dropping two ratings points each race although this can sometimes be hard to achieve as a number of other owners will likely be adopting a similar stategy in the same race. Sandbagging is performed in it's most simplistic form, which is to say the horse is generally raced at 50% fitness over an unsuitable distance and going with either tack fully removed or, if blinkers adversely affect the performance of the horse they are applied and the shoes removed. Only larger field races provide opportunities to drop more than the one ratings point in a race (see chart below) so finding these races before they fill provides another potential obstacle in the quest to drop the horse to the required level in the most expedient manner.

Once the rating has risen above the level at which the horse is deemed competitive the cycle starts again (with hopefully less sandbag races required to drop the horse back down to the required rating or below). The level at which a horse is deemed effective may require reassessment from time to time as the races become more and more competitive and a competitive rating for a horse at age 2 may well be a few points than the rating required at age 3 and even more so at ages 4 to 7.

When going for the win the tack is reversed and the horse is raced at a suitable distance at proper racing fitness (96%+).

To maintain cashflows (as sandbagging can drain resources prior to a win replenishing coffers) owners with a number of similar horses may choose to mix a number of sandbagged runs with a number of genuine racers in the same race.

In essence that's all there is to it!