I’m new. Trying to keep working horses who fit NW3 until I learn more of the game. So I’ve alot of horses who fit the low end races. Now, how do I fit the race to the horse? I’ve tried divide them to short vs longer races (NW2 7f vs NW2 10.5f). Results were good for 1st race, then downhill after that.
Can you train horses to like longer/shorter races?
Would a longer than expected race gallop help extend racing endurance?
Would a shorter 110% breeze help increase speed for shorter races?
Can a horse be A energy / A fitness and still be too sow to win a race? (I think so)
How can i tell how I am doing by the race results? (sometimes they show odd results like being 30 seconds behind)
How fast does a horse have to be to be competitive? (Is there a seconds per furlong calculation you experts do?)
Just trying to figure out how to figure out the game. At 4 races a week, I’ll be a half a year collecting data.
Not really. Each horse has a score for how much they like dirt, turf, SC. In addition, each horse has a score for how much they like each running style (on the lead, closer, etc). They don’t really “like” sprints vs. classic distances. If they have enough stamina for 12f, they’ll “like” it. If not, they’ll be exhausted and probably rather sad.
That said, training can boost stats temporarily, which can help. The boost is pretty small, though, and it goes away after the next race (so training for 6 months to improve a horse’s dirt liking will only help for one race), so it’s more useful to figure out what they like (as far as track condition and race style) and then figure out how much stamina they’ve got.
No, though it will increase fitness. An unfit horse will be very sad in any race, regardless of whether, genetically speaking, he’s got 5 or 15 furlongs’ worth of stamina.
Again, no, but it’ll increase fitness faster.
Yes, definitely. There will always be the Haru-uraras of the FF world. (She was a RL racehorse in Japan who won fans by losing 100 races in a row.)
Yeah, the times are funky. You can tell how you’re doing by the level of competition you’re against…if your horse just lost to a bunch of horses who are 50-0-0-0, you probably need to tweak something, and pray. If you just beat a MSW millionaire, pat yourself (and yoru horse) on the back.
Not really…I did a ton of calculations for writing the race code, but it has a mind of its own, so my calculations may not really help. Again, go by the other horses, not race times.
You can also “collect data” by looking at other peoples’ horses, and doing handicapping (which will get you free FF money, too, so bonus!). Find horses to claim that you think you can improve. Ask to lease a well-bred horse that hasn’t had much campaigning (assuming it’s because the owner has no time, and not that they’re purposefully giving the horse a light schedule).
Thank you for the kind advice. I see what you are working me towards- the genetics of the horse really set their capability and I have to figure it out?
So i would train short, middle, then long distance and see which they recover from fastest or like the most by comments? I would also have to train dirt vs turf? And some equipment changes? Ha! I’ll get my yearling to the track maybe in a few years! (I’m laughing at myself, I see the complexity you have intentionally set up)
Last, where’s the handicapping contest? I’d like to try make some FF$ at it and use it to learn more.
Figuring out stamina is best done with races (and, if an in-game bred horse, by checking out relatives). Recovery time will be based on how much energy has been lost, and of course the horse will lose more energy galloping 2 miles than galloping 3 furlongs (ceteris paribus).
Training dirt vs. turf, assuming you wait until the energy/fitness levels are roughly the same each time (and use the same jockey/equipment/etc), should give you a decent idea of what the horse prefers…if the times are drastically different, he probably prefers one over the other. If not, he may like (or dislike) both equally. You’ll probably have to run a few workouts and do averages, though, as workout times are a bit funky sometimes.
You can do the same with equipment changes, though they’ll have much less effect on workout times. Your best bet there is to keep working your horse out with one jockey until s/he gets to know the horse really well, and then swap equipment until the jockey comments on one the horse likes a lot.
I wouldn’t wait until you’re positive you know all these things before you send the horse out to the track. If the horse is really good, the right track will help (if he absolutely loves one or hates one), the right jockey might help (if he’s not being ridden by someone he hates), the right equipment might help (but it won’t turn him into a Triple Crown winner if he doesn’t have the talent)…but really, all those things are not going to dramatically improve your horse’s abilities. You may as well have some of the “experiment” time be in races, so that if your horse is good, you can earn some money while you’re figuring things out.
There’s a forum for it, called Weekly Picks/Handicapping, under the Racing section.
