Shanti or whomever may have
the power.
I believe that on May 11 Race 10, Battleship is illegally entered in the
race.
The race is a: NW2 Allowance and Battleship’s record includes two wins:
3/23 1st -
9f Dirt Allowance for 3yo+, $35,000
4/06 1st - 8.5f Dirt Ungr. Federico Tesio Stakes
for 3yo, $150,000
Thanks
For the record, that’s race
12, not 10. And while we appreciate people pointing out when there’s a bug in our code we
might not have caught, maybe next time try to do in a slightly less accusatory way 
No accusatory meant in my
post…mistakes happen I just wanted to let the Racing Secretary know…plus I dont think my
horse has a chance against Battleship :unsure:
chuckles Oh, now, nothing
ventured, nothing gained, MJM. Of course there’s always the chance that your horse will
get beaten by a better one…but if you don’t send them out there to try, where’s the
glory?
If you do notice such a thing next time, it would just be more diplomatic to say
something like ‘I think someone may have made a mistake entering this horse’…the words
‘illegally entered’ just bring to mind unsportsmanlike hijinks that the person who entered
the horse may not have intended. And do please remember that, just as it is unfair for
someone to try to exploit loopholes to get an ‘easy win’ for their horse, so it’s also a
bit unsporting to try to find said loopholes in the hopes of eliminating competition simply
because you think it might be too much for yours.
In all fairness, I do think that
Battleship’s entry might be an honest mistake, if it even is one. In the FAQ an NW2 race
is defined as [i]"Open to any horse who has not won 2 allowance races (may have
won a maiden race, and/or numerous claiming races)"[/i]. No mention is made there
of Stakes races, ungraded or otherwise. Therefore, I think I’d
come to the same conclusion as Battleship’s owner apparently has, that if my horse hadn’t
won 2 Allowances, that he could still be entered in an NW2 race. Given that Battleship
hasn’t had the best of fortune in the two graded Stakes he’s run since then, and given that
all the ungraded Stakes races for the 11th are much shorter dashes, and given that the only
other 10-furlong race on the schedule is a Steeplechase (for fillies and mares), well, I
would have to assume that he was entered in that race the same reason we all put our steeds
in certain races – that that’s the one he stands the best chance in.
Of course, we all
know what happens when we assume. I could totally be wrong.
In any case, please
accept this missive in the humble good intent with which it is given. I wish you and your
horse(s) the best of luck tomorrow. 
I know I’ve made some
mistakes before, accidentally entering over qualfied MSW in NW2 allowances or NW3, not really
noticing the allowance part. I think it is a common mistake, also maybe it would be helpful
in the FAQ to outline that with the NW allowances a stakes counts as much as an allowance in
qualifying a horse for those. Often a great MSW hasn’t won 2 or more allowances simply
because he hasn’t been entered in that many.
Also, maybe a better way to let Andrea or
Shanthi know about the entering error would be a simple PM to one of them, instead of perhaps
embarrasing the owner with what was most likely a simple mistake
First and foremost I would
like to apologize to
Sportsman Lodge for causing any unintentional embarrassment in the way
i presented this problem to the games administrators. I could have chosen a more diplomatic
approach and avoided any hard feelings that my directness tends to stir up at times.
I was
just handicapping the race where I had one of my boys running and said…gee that horse has
alot of earnings for this level of competition.
In response to Nan
I
must say 1) I do like your writing style…(that is a sincere compliment) 2) the condition
book is set up to make this game more exciting. I like to give my horses ample rest and pick
their entries strategically based on :condition, distance, surface, time rested…etc. If i
see that my horse is running against a horse that conditionally does not belong in the race I
do not think it is fair. Nor do I think it is unsportsmanlike to point this fact
out…
So in closing I must say i greatly enjoy this game and forum, my intentions were
not to stir any hard feelings, as noted above my sincere apologies to the Sportsman Lodge, I
do not believe that they meant any wrong doing… and to the Administrators of the game, my
posting was direct mostly because i wanted for you to receive it before the race began.
Oh, and I for one didn’t really
think that you were trying to be sneaky, or stir up ill-will or anything, and I’m sorry if
that’s how that came across. I suppose I just felt I had to tease you a tiny bit on your
comment of “I don’t think my horse has a chance against Battleship”; but all I meant by it
was some gentle ribbing and nothing more. 
I apologize to you, MJM, if I gave you or anyone
else the wrong impression that way.
The main reason that I did chime in was that you
raised an interesting (to me at least) point about NWx races, that being just what the ‘NW’
part means, exactly. I’d thought that Stakes races didn’t really count toward that, but it
seems that they do, and that does make sense, since Stakes are a
higher caliber than Allowances. If that’s the case, then I learned something, and I thank
you for it.
And thank you for your compliment on my writing; it’s a hobby of mine, even
though I haven’t had the guts yet to put anything out to show anybody, so whenever anyone
seems happy with it I always get warm fuzzies. Thank you.
Okay, I’ll stop beating this
particular subject now and go back to lurking. 
Yeah, NWX includes wins in
allowances and any level of stakes.
Honestly, I’d known about this problem a while ago
(thanks to the entering script allowing Jade to put a horse who’d won 9 stakes - and who
knows how many allowances - into a NW3). I’d just completely forgotten that, ya know, the
thing to do would be to fix the code. :rolleyes:
I’ll scratch Battleship now, since
Sportsman Lodge won’t end up getting a refund if he scratches now anyway, and then try and
fix the code later today/this week.
Oh, and thank you guys, for
not turning this thread into a nightmare one…having seen a few too many of those recently.
:huh: