How did you established players start out? How did you get from that original 50k and 2 horses to the amounts you have now? What hints would you give to a starting stable? Did you buy good horses, or did you make normal horses good? Any tips would be great.
Colorwar was what got me started… I got my first stakes winning horse from the end of that challenge who has won over a million $$. With that money i’ve been able to buy better horses 
When I started, all I had was that $50k and those two horses. Those two ended up being two awesome horses- one of whom was an unpredictable 2y/o colt, and the other a consistant three year old steeplechaser filly. I have to admit, I was probably one of the luckiest newbies ever.
That two year old had placed in a few maidens, and had kind of a random win when I got him, but had failed miserably in his first stakes start. Well, I took a risk and entered him in an ungraded stakes race. To my great surprise, he came home the winner by 11 and a 1/2 lengths. The same day, Pointed Remark ran in a SC allowance and won it easily. Somehow, the gods of horse racing smiled upon me, and I won three of my first four starts. That really springboarded my stable to where it is now. Who was that colt? The one and only Mistico Cigano. He now has 6 stakes wins, including 2 Gr. 1s this year, and has earned over 2 million in earnings.
I guess for me, the combination was the right horses, and taking risks. But, it all really depends on the luck of the draw- although I think Shanthi usually picks horses that will be consistant earners for you when you are just starting out. I suggest just using common sense and treating your horses right. Make good investments, and watch your money, and you’ll do alright.
Actually I believe starting horses are randomly generated now. That at least was where we were heading.
Racing your horses within your comfort zone is my first suggestion. Don’t get tempted by high dollar purses, they just mean high entry fees and more competition (Stakes races are filled to a minimum of 10 entries with FF horses, you’ve got a much better chance of bringing home a paycheck when you’ve only got to beat 2 horses to earn a profit). The FF Mixed Sale is coming up. That’s an excellent place to get a couple of good horses cheap. This year they’ll primarily be random horses so again, it’ll be more luck of the draw what you get. I’d suggest going for horses that’d be less popular, 3 or 4yo colts and geldings. Stay away from 2yos and yearlings, they’re not worth it. If you have money to gamble or just like gambling, you could try for a broodmare and sell the foals for a profit.
Also, see about getting onto a color war team (there’s always a monetary prize and usually horses as well to all participants). All it takes is time and energy. And make sure you handicap the races each week. It doesn’t matter if all you do is use a random number generator to pick which one’ll win, since any time you get lucky it’s free money. Better yet, take the time and research your picks. You’ll probably find some secrets that’ll be useful for you later. Maybe you’ll realize that a stallion throws great turf horses and find someone who’s selling one of his foals who’s been raced almost exclusively on dirt. Or maybe there’s a stallion who’s got great foals but has a really cheap stud fee.
And finally, don’t be afraid to ask people for leases or purchases of horses. Considering your obivous interest in the game, I imagine almost any established player would be happy to help you along. We love getting active, intelligent, interested members and do our best to help if we’re asked.
Good luck, I think you’re likely to do well in this game.
I have to say the most helpful thing i did was handicap the horses. It did several things for me. It taught me to be comfortable reading the horse pages, checking for siblings, and just plain ol’ navigating the site. When I first started to handicap, I used the formula on the Newbie Page to judge who was the better horse, and made decent money.
This taught me to judge horses, it also taught me which lines ran good and who to watch.
From there i started to approach people about purchasing a horse, and Thanks to Shanthi, I was able to purchase Gunningdownromance. I picked up a few claimers, that turned out to do well for me, also using the newbie guide as help.
other than that, make friends as questions, and stay on top of things as far as effort and research.
Btw. I started year ago Feburary with 1 horse and 50,000.
Morning Star Farm this year, is on the Top Winningest Stable and Top Money earning stable. A year really isn’t a long time.
So, it can be done!
GOod Luck!
For me, it’s been luck. Proper race management–keeping the maidens in the maidens, and sometimes throwing stakes horses into allowances for the sake of fitness and a confidence boost. But mostly, it’s been a whole lot of luck. Probably not what you want to hear–but there’s a lot of luck to go around in this game. I know that I’m not the only person who bought a $500 horse or $5,000 claimer who turned into an amazing money maker through proper race management. Even the randomly generated horses have been quite successful, and the people who claimed them had one thing to go on–their name. I mean, how is that not luck?
Read the Newbie guide on how to run your horses, and what running lines mean and how to mange them off of that. It may take a couple of gambles, and you may not get a monster money maker over night, but with proper management you can stay afloat. Just don’t be tempted to spend gobs of money until you HAVE gobs of money to throw around.
Good luck.
Yep, they are. 
However, they seem to do very well, overall. Probably better than they should, as newbie starter horses. (I aim to give out allowance-level horses as starter horses, as a rule.)
Ditto to what everyone else said. Mix up some time/effort in researching bloodlines/how to effectively race your horses, pick good races for your horses (maidens for non-winners, claimers for non-allowance horses, etc), don’t be afraid to take a few calculated risks now and then, and hope for some luck.
I did lots of research and bought into solid performing lines. I also took a bit of a gamble on some horses. I think instinct has a bit to do with it. But I reccommend you do some research the game (all areas like racing and breeding), join a colour war team, handicap the races, and everything everyone else has said…
Good luck! You’ll get to the top one day!
Wow this took me on a trip back and it hasn’t been that long 
Color Wars(Shanthi is very generous) it’s fun, do it even though it takes a year to complete. Handicapping is a must do it’s a solid monthly income. Donate if you are able. It’s not necessary but everything you can do to give yourself an edge helps. As Jason said study(an educated guess is better than a shot in the dark). Don’t over match your horses. On the other hand don’t be afraid to take a calculated risk. Ask people if they’ll sell or lease(more likely a broodmare) a horse your interested in. Along with some luck I did all the above.
I started on 9-26-08 with 1 horse and 50k.
General Statistics
98 Horses
28 Racehorses 2 Stallions 30 Broodmares
7 Yearlings 31 Weanlings
I especialy agree with the Color Wars. You can get siblings of stakes level horses, and they often turn out to be stakes level themselves. I just realized this myself, but researching what bloodlines cross well and which stallions sire good broodmares and which one sire consistent allowance horses is a very important thing.
Also, alot of players on this game have been helpful to me. Make friends and keep them, the more experienced players will give you tips, deals on their stallions, and often lease/buy opportunities once they get to know you. This will all help you make money and save what you have.
If you see a horse you like that runs consistently in allowances and they belong to a big stables, don’t be afraid to ask to lease the horse for a year! Don’t go for the stakes level horses, go for those little allowance horses who always pay back what you put in to them. In fact, I’d rather I had more good solid allowance horses than some of my finicky stakes horses (not naming any names, but AP Executive 
)
Well, first, there’s the luck.
In my case, this has consisted of three things:
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Buying Stakes winner Black Light II from the foal/yearling sale for $500 because I liked his name. True, he’s finicky and inconsistent, but when he’s good, he’s very good.
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Being on the winning color war team, although I’m still waiting for something good out of my prize horse ;-).
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Putting in a claim in a 30k claimer on a randomly generated FF-owned mare…the wrong mare. I’d intended to claim a completely different four-year-old mare as a broodmare prospect, but once you’ve put a claim in… She placed second in that claimer, so I ran her in an allowance (no maidens over the same distance), which she won. Decided to risk her in an ungraded Stakes. She won that one too. Four races later, she’s totaled four stakes wins, one Grade 3 (Hard to find G1’s for older mares), one allowance win and $295,000 in earnings. I’m hoping to get her in some better races for the rest of the year…and then breed her to a really good stallion next year. I think she may be my best horse. Yay for mistakes!
On the non-luck side, here’s a few tips:
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Don’t buy every horse in sight, I know that there’s a bit of a horse shortage, but buy horses you like. Think about every purchase, although if there’s a horse at auction you can get for peanuts, then don’t be afraid to take a risk. Think carefully about how much is being asked for each horse you see. People do over-price horses fairly regularly.
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Don’t over-race, and pay attention to injuries (We all make mistakes, but if you race an injured horse before it’s fully recovered, it will be re-injured). At the same time, don’t /under-race/ if you can avoid it. A horse that hasn’t raced in too long is as badly off as one that’s tired. Training will probably help with this when it’s in.
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Broodmares and older fillies can be good investments. Think each and every breeding through carefully, look at what’s worked before, don’t breed to the first stallion you see. Don’t be afraid/ashamed to look at what experienced players are doing breeding-wise either. (Just don’t look at mine, my first homebred runs next year, so who knows if I know remotely what I’m doing).
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Be polite. Be nice. Take ‘no’ for an answer. Don’t spam people to try and persuade them to sell you a horse/give you help/whatever.
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When looking for horses, know what you want. Don’t just go around saying ‘I need a good three-year-old’…look for one somebody might be willing to sell and ask them. Pay attention to the sales and auction boards. Claimers can also be a good source of horses.
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On the subject of claimers. Don’t run a horse in a claimer that you aren’t prepared to lose. I lost I.C. You that way and have regretted it ever since. A high percentage of horses do get claimed.
Don’t even consider the possibility of establishing a breeding operation within the first six months. Broodmares and fillies are way way way more expensive then colts and geldings…
Wow, that helps even me. (still on waiting list) Thanks guys.
I know my first horse Ready Set Go is great, and I can’t wait to see what type of foals she’ll throw. Also look for sales of stables that are leaving. I got my best horse The Fighting Fifty for 10,000 at one of these and now he’s won the Preakness and is a millionare. Sometimes the least expensive horses can turn out to be your biggest winners.
Yeah I got Almost A Star for only $500[thank goodness for auctions] as a yearling and now he’s earned half a million dollars. Sometimes the horses who have a not so good pedigree turn out to be excellent stakes runner but like real life racing it takes a lot of luck and a really good horse.
I got my first stakes winner, and by far my favorite horse from Holly for $50,000. Since I bought him in mid-December of last year, he’s raced for me ten times, has won five times, all of which are stakes wins, and has earned over $400k for me. He could never win again and I’d still love him, though I hope he’ll continue to be the uber cool stakes winning SC’er that he is.
Hi to all - as a very new newbie i (only 4 days old!) have read this thread with interest, it has been very helpful. But I also need to ask some questions that may sound very stupid, please have patience.
i see the experienced people recommend handicapping, I have looked at the handicap post and I’m not sure i understand what is going on. To me handicapping is done by someone who decides how much weight a horse should carry in a handicap race (you must call them something else in the US, but I don’t yet know what). But handicapping here looks a bit like betting without losing money - have i missed something? Please could someone explain - as if to an idiot! - how this works? I am quite keen to get a bit of funds
Also I have a 2 yo filly that i want to enter in a maiden race but they all seem to be full. I read in one of the posts that the entries are opened at 7pm on the evening - sadly for me that is at least 11pm here and possibly later (my knowledge of your time zones is a bit wooly and I dont know which one this 7.00 is in) I am asleep by then and work full time so i can’t log on until about 7.00pm here, about 3.00 pm east coast time and suspect they will always fill up before I can enter. What is likely to be the next easiest type of race to enter her in? i dont want to enter her in a claiming race but certainly don’t want to over face her. Any advice or recommendation will be gratefully recieved!
The handicapping for now is basically you the player posting which horses you think will come in first second and third. You get $250 for picking the winner of each race, $100 for picking the second place horse, $50 for picking the horse that comes in third, $500 if you can pick the first two finishers in the exact order, and $1,000 if you pick the first three finishers in the exact order. Next year I think their will be an actual handicapping system with odds and you will have to risk your money, but for now it is free and you get money if your right, and it also helps recognize what horses do good, bloodlines, etc.
Entries open after the races of the particular day are run, for example, when the races on the 9th are run, the races on the 16th will open for entries. Times vary depending on when Shanti can get to running them, eventually they will run themselves at a certain time.
All 2yo races are hard to get in if you don’t try entering within a few hours of entries opening. The fervor for entering is starting to wind down now though, if you really want to race your 2yo you can try entering her in a NW1/2/3 allowance. Word to the wise though, unless you have an uber cool 2yo you will most likely lose money than win money so enter with care.
In real life, a handicap race (yes, that’s what it’s called) is when you put different wights on horses to attempt a dead heat (exact tie), to give each horse an equal chance of winning. This person is called a handicapper (how clever 
). I was slightly confused about it too, at first, when I decided to start handicapping to gain a bit of cash but I didn’t think to ask about it. This does seem like betting without losing money. So, if Final Furlong is supposed to be as realistic as possible, why does handicapping have a different meaning? I have no idea about that.
Handicapping races is simply picking how you think the race will finish. It begins with the person who creates the morning line odds for the daily racing program. This person looks at the Daily Racing Form and, based upon several variables, assigns initial odds. Mintano is doing that right now with her pre-race stakes programs. Then the betting public “handicaps” the race and sets the final numbers you see on the tote board. I guess for the purpose of Final Furlong, you are not actually betting as there is no possibility of losing cash, but you ARE handicapping the race. This is entirely different than the concept of assigning more weight to a standout horse in order to even the playing field. Not all stakes races feature this. More common is to give, say, a filly a lighter load if she is competing against colts. You also can catch a weight break when using an apprentice jockey. Make sense?