I wonder if some of the more experienced players could help me with a racing question. I am still a newbie and lacking in experience but have been lucky enough to obtain two nice geldings who are running well. One is only a 2yo and i want to keep him running well for the 3YO season next year.
I never enter any of my horses unless their stats have shown either B A or even A A. i am aware that these are general indicators and there is variability in them. However the 2YO seems to recover very quickly between races. i have been entering him whenever his stats have hit A A and so far he has run well
My question is will I do him any harm by racing him so often? i would sooner forgo some races now and have him safe for next year. But if his stats are OK is racing OK? As a newbie I really need the money he earns so I don’t want to not race him if he is OK. Would giving him a “vacation” before next season be sensible or just lose him fitness to no real purpose? And if so how do I get him back to “home ground” so to speak.
I know it is good to work things out for yourself and I’m doing a bit of experimenting with the 4 not very good horses i have, but I don’t think I’ll get another horse as good as this in a hurry so I really don’t want to waste the opportunity of earning both enough money to get the stable on it’s feet and to enter some very good races. All advice welcome and listened to with care!
(I know they’re only pixels on a computer but i enjoy believing that they are real )
Generally, if a horse is running well, I like to keep them racing every two to three weeks. If you do a search, there are many threads on this topic, and the FAQs talks about it as well. But to summarize- Some horse’s energy levels rebound quickly, and others rebound slowly. I don’t think there’s any harm in keeping him running, as long as you don’t over-race (which would be racing every week or before his energy is back up). I remember someone once saying that extended “breaks” can be just as detrimental as over-racing, but I can’t really remember the logic. It makes sense though, to have a horse just sitting around, not doing anything, can be as bad as racing it too often. There is also the workout option, which you can use to keep your horse in shape. Further, it would be one thing to not race a 2y/o for a long period of time if he needed to mature more, but if your horse is consistant and seems like he is doing consistantly well, I don’t see harm in running him every two to three weeks or so. Just my $.02, good luck with him!
Actually, running every week technically isn’t “over racing” if the horse has a super high energy regain rate…horses can currently go from 0% energy to 100% energy in 5-25 days, depending on their regain rate. So if you’ve got one of the 5 day horses, racing every week makes sense.
This will be more of an issue in 2011, when natural energy is applied. Horses, while physically “fresh”, will gradually lose mental interest in racing (and, logically, the more they race, the quicker they’ll get sick of it), so that would be the main reason you’d send your horse home to the farm for a vacation. As Taylon pointed out, though, you’ll lose a lot of progress that way because you won’t be able to train on the farm, so your horse will lose fitness. So it’ll be a balancing act as far as giving your horse enough time to relax/unwind, and giving them too much time where they’re bouncing off the walls (so to speak).
Thanks for your replies. I did have a look through the posts but there were a lot of them and i ended up confused. I remember also a post about over racing and the risks to the horse that could have been permanent. I couldn’t re find the post to check it and i really don’t want to waste the oppotunity I have at the moment through newbie ignorance. I feel a bit better about running tham now
As an aside, i have just totaly re read all the FAQs and the newbie guide. How long is it since it was written? I ask out of curiosity because of the prices of horses used in the examples where 30,000 is made to sound like a lot of money. looking at the recent auction prices and on horses on the sales page, those prices woiuld not seem to buy so much as a single leg now! are there any ways to find out what is the average price for eg a brood mare or a gelding or whatever? it might be interesting to see how the prices are changing and if FF has above average inflation
^^Hey,
Those horses at the auctions were really NICE horses. Most were either stakes runners, producing broomares, broodmares with really good lines (1/2 to MSWs) or 2yos with good lines (again 1/2 to stake winning horses). These horses that will go for a good chunk of change.
Typically the ‘rule’ for selling horses is that they are worth about 1/2 of what they earned (shanti correct me if i’m wrong) UNLESS the horse has really good bloodlines. So if someone had a gelding that only made $30 000 on the track and had poor bloodlines then you could probably pick him up between 10000-20000. Broodmares (almost) always go for alot more money because everyone wants one! Sometimes their lines dont even matter and they go for a big amount… So I would recommend at looking at older racehorse fillies that you could race for a bit then retire, those you might get cheaper unless they have good lines… There is an auction mid-year where you will be able to pick up some horses for as cheap as $500. And as a newbie look at horses with potential to be allowance runners simply because you cant afford a big time horse. If you get a few allowance horses they can still bring in a good amount of money. Hope this helps!
Yes thank you, it does. As I only started in August, all I have to go on are the auctions that have been run to date so i have nothing to compare them against. To date almost everything that has sold seems expensive I just thought that they might be the standard sort of prices now. I knew the select auction horses would all go for big money, Shanthi did say that somewhere I clearly remember. I’m not complaining, I’m still learning so i need to ask questions that might sound stupid or obvious. i am glad of those of you who take the time to answer me.
I’m looking forward to the foal auction as I’m sure some of these will go for sensible prices (please ) and the limits shown will give everybody a chance. I’m sure it also helps to keep people in the game because you won’t want to leave or you won’t see how they progress (well that’s how I feel anyway)
Thanks again for your advice!
^^Yup the auctions with the $100 000 limit to spend are the more affordable auctions, so those are the ones to look forward to. You could also try looking through some of the other stables pages and see what horses they have. If any of them interest you and you think they may be in your price range then send them an e-mail or PM to let them know your interested
I tried that looking for a horse and PMing them thing… it took long with no results. That’s okay, I’m fine with the horses I have anyway… for now.
I’m excited for the foal auction so I can get a good yearling, maybe. I think that you’re right Wolfhound; since I have a chance in the auction, I’m looking forward to it.
My stable is based in Kentucky and I just bought a horse in England. Can I keep running the new horse in England or will I get charged Shipping from Kentucky to England every time I race him? What would I have to do to have him shipped to my stables?
That said, if the horse isn’t totally sucking you’re probably best off racing it until the European circuit ends (which I believe is the end of July), and then shipping home. You can race him in England as long as you want without paying shipping fees (until you move him back to the US, of course).
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I remember also a post about over racing and the risks to the horse that could have been permanent. I couldn’t re find the post to check it and i really don’t want to waste the oppotunity I have at the moment through newbie ignorance. I feel a bit better about running tham now
) and the limits shown will give everybody a chance. I’m sure it also helps to keep people in the game because you won’t want to leave or you won’t see how they progress (well that’s how I feel anyway)
That’s okay, I’m fine with the horses I have anyway… for now.