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Training Your First Horse (Member Post)

Initial Training to assess your horses   The entire game is built around understanding how to a


Initial Training to assess your horses

The entire game is built around understanding how to apply the information that is provided.  There's almost nothing secret about it.  The fundamental basis for skill is how a player uses that information to make decisions.  Hence, the game is not here to tell you how to do that but rather that is the point of the game.  It is competitive by nature and skill is by far the governing factor. 

To help new stables to get started in the learning process three of the more established stables have submitted their methods of undertaking the initial assessment of a horses ability and preferences.

You will see they are all different as each player has developed their own ‘method’. There are no rights and wrongs in this game and it is down to each player to develop their skills and methods in ways which work for them.

Method 1

Method 2

Method 3

 

 

TRAINING YOUR FIRST HORSE – Method 1

Submitted by Nemesis Stud

2yr old bought from the sales ring. On the first day you have 8 farm trains and 2 public trains . Farm trains only you can view, Public trains the whole community can see.

 

 First 4 trains

 Go to Horse Page go to train horse.

 2 headings Farm Workout (private) and Track Workout (public)

 Farm train is default so keep at that, directly underneath you have 3 titles, Surface + Condition, Distance, Runs.

 Keep Surface + Condition as ALL.

 Distance, change to 1m (1600)

 Runs, change to 4, then press train

 You will now have 4 trains completed over 1m (1600) on fast,good,soft and firm.  Now look at the times and notice which surface produced the best time.

 

5th train,

 Change Surface & Condition to best surface

 Change Distance to 1 ¾ (2850)

 Run keep as 1 , now press train.

 

6th train

 Do exactly the same as above but change distance to 5f (1000), then press train.

 You now have 6 trains completed with 3 being on best surface and over sprint, classic and stayer distances.

 Now to see which distance is better for your horse you have 2 choices

 1 Horse page, directly under View Growth you have recent runs, upcoming races, training, event history and qualifier standings.

 

Click training, and you will see 6 trains, 4 over 1m (1600), 1 over 5f (1000) and 1 over 1 ¾ (2850), next to those hopefully you will see coloured stars, yellow 1 star means it’s train is within top 50% of site, 2 blue star trains means  it’s within 25% of site and 3 green star trains is within 5% of site.

Hopefully you have 3 green star trains against one or more of the trains, whichever is better then this could be it’s best distance.

The other way to check your times is under STABLE, PREMIUM FEATURES then GLOBAL WORKOUT STATS. Here it will give you the options to view all farm workouts times over all distances for your age group.

 

Once you have found best going

And surface, you now need to workout which accessories will give the best results for your horse. You have 3 to choose from, Ear Muffs, Tongue Tie and Blinkers.

Go to the Horse page, on the right hand side you have Train, Race, Geld, Equipment, press Equipment. Here you have the option to add one piece of equipment at a time. Alternatively you can use MASTER TRAINER, this will either cost $2 or 2 BC’s. and this option allows you to ask the master trainer about one of the pieces of equipment.

I always ask the master trainer about Ear Muffs, however other players will ask about Tongue Tie, not often they ask about blinkers. If you decide to ask about Ear Muffs, the trainer will offer a positive or negative comment, if positive then add that piece of equipment to your horse.

Assuming you have chosen Ear Muffs, there is no need to train the horse with this piece of equipment added as the master trainer is always correct.

 

Now go and add the blinkers, now train the horse over the best surface and distance and 1 run. You should now see an improvement in the horse's time, if you do not then it might not like blinkers, if it has improved keep blinkers on and add Tongue Tie. Again train over best distance, surface and 1 run. If you see an improvement then keep the item attached, if not remove it.

 That is a brief summary of equipment, however it is not as simple as testing once. If you have used the  Master Trainer and one piece of equipment improves the horse then that will always stay attached, and that is eliminated from further checks. With the remaining two accessories you will need to check more than once to get a overall picture of how the horse performs with them attached

 That concludes the first 8 trains. You now have 2 Public work options. These two workouts will give you a better understanding of the potential quality of your horse.

 

On the train page, change to Public Train, then change Surface + Condition to best going, change distance to best distance, leave Runs as 1 and press train.

 

Now to view how good the time is compared to other horses on the site, go to hover of NEWS, then look to the left and under LEADERBOARD you will see PUBLIC WORKOUTS,  to view the train you have just ran, change the surface to either dirt or turf and press age 2 then press filter. You will now have a view of the top 100 public trains and hopefully you will see yours in the top half.

Now for the final public train, you can do it over the same distance but change the surface, so if your best surface was GOOD, then change to FAST, then press train and see how it compares, or you can can train again over good but choose a different distance within the category of Sprint, Classic, Stayer. So if you trained first public over 1m (1600) good, then do either 1 ⅛ (1800) or 1 ¼ (2000), press train and then see how they stack up with other public trains.

The 2 public trains will not remove any stamina, and this is only for the first 2 times. After that any public trains removes the stamina. If your horse is training over a distance which is too far the stamina will show less than 20%, the lower it is the further away from the ultimate trip your horse requires, if it is over 20% then your horse will be running too short a distance.

Now after these 10 trains, you can now race your horse without any penalty,




 

TRAINING YOUR FIRST HORSE – Method 2

Submitted by Anfield Road

 

There are 2 ways to obtain a new horse; sales ring and breeding.

They are quite different in how to approach training, in this instance I will concentrate on the Sales Ring.

 

When you purchase from the sales ring, you have no control on what horse you will get. No control over distance or ground preferred. These come from a large pool and are generated randomly.

So you have dipped in and bought 1 horse. It has no name, so give it one 😊, makes it more personal. Click on the change name tab.

With any new horse you get 8 trains in that day. If you leave it until the next day, you only get the standard 2 days, so work it on the day you buy it.

So what do we want to find out with these works?

Best Ground

Best Distance

Any Adds required

I always work at 2850 when testing, purely because any difference in times is increased over this longer distance and makes it easier to read. You won’t get weird results if it’s a sprinter and you work at 2850.

Best Ground

Another trick is look at the growth on each surface, if dirt has more growth than turf, it will be a dirt horse. Also, any sire that is marked as Irish, it will be a turf horse. So, you should be able to know the preferred surface. However, to check using trains:

1 2850 Fast

2 2850 Firm

 

Which time is fastest? This will be preferred surface. However, some like both and you may not get much difference, so I would keep working on all 4 surfaces.



So we now know the surface, lets say DIRT. So from now on we will work on dirty fast, keeping variables the same as much as possible.

 

3 2850 Fast, Ear Muffs added, is this time faster than work 1? If so the horse needs EM on, if slower, it doesn’t

4 2850 Fast, Tongue Tie added, is this time faster than work 1? If so the horse needs TT on, if slower, it doesn’t

5 2850 Fast, Blinkers added, is this time faster than work 1 If so the horse needs B on, if slower, it doesn’t

So, you will now have 3 adds tested against the naked fast work. Any adds that gave a faster work with them added, place them onto the horse. It may need none or all 3.

As a further point, if any times are close to the naked one, you could work again and test over the coming weeks and take an average. So if B were close to the naked time, work 4 times over 2 days at 2850 fast with no adds and then 4 works over 2 days with B on. Take an average and see if the add is needed.

 

An important fact to remember is Tongue Tie can improve the stamina on a horse. So if you work it at 2850 without TT and it ends with 4% stamina, try TT and you may see 10% plus stamina. HOWEVER, the time may now be slower. It’s a trade off sometimes!!

 

SO WE NOW HAVE SURFACE AND ADDS.

Now, you get 2 public works. Public are like going on a track for an exhausting workout, so will be faster than a gentle farm work. This also gives an important bit of information; the STAMINA left after a workout. 

You can reset the stamina to 100% for the price of $1 or 1 Bonus Credit

If you think the horse is a stayer and the stamina comes back at 3% at 2850, this means the horse is exhausted and doesn’t get the 2850, so you need to check 2400. If that comes back at 18%, then this horse is a stayer that prefers only 2400. 

If, however, it comes back at 9%, it probably means you miscalculated and it’s a classic horse. So try a public workout of 2000

 

Conversely if you work it public at 1000M and stamina returns at 33%, then this is too short, try 1600M

We are looking at returning from a public work at no less than 15% in general, maybe 10% for a stayer.

 

After a race the stamina return will be lower than a public, so if it ends a public workout at 15%, it may be around 8% for a race, which is fine.







 

TRAINING YOUR FIRST HORSE – Method 3

Submitted by Black Cat Racing

 

Getting started – assessing your yearling or new 2yo

Before  beginning to assess your horse you need something to compare them with. On the main menu tab on News and then tab on public workouts. Select age of the horse you are looking for,  and the season number. Leave the ground selection at any, you can drill down to the going later.  I would suggest you print off a copy for each age group, you are looking at  for ease of making comparisons with the times your horse returns.



  1. On day one when you purchase or breed your horse you get eight training runs it is important to use them wisely to identify the sort of horse you  have. You should be able to identify favoured ground and goings, add ons and be able to compare your horse with the general horse population. If you fail to use the eight training days on Day 1 on subsequent days you only get only two trains which makes the whole process more time consuming.

 

  1. On the horses details page tab  on the growth icon. This will show you the level of maturity your horse has on the two grounds and each of the two goings. Make a note of the greatest level of maturity on which surface and which of the two goings on that surface. 

 

  1. Tab on the training tab and choose farm training,  select  1600 on the best surface and ground and choose one training run and go. Repeat in turn with each add on leaving in place if improvement in time is recorded. That concludes your first four training runs and you will have established the add on preferences. If you are unsure you can make a note in the notes  to revisit later to recheck

 

  1. Now tab on training again and run over 1200 and 2850 to conclude your Fifth and sixth training runs. Now tab on training on the left hand side of the page below upcoming races. Then tab on view records and you will see the results of the training runs you have undertaken. 

 

  1. Now compare your horses times over 1200, 1600, and 2850 with the charts to establish whether sprint , classic or staying distances suit you horse best. It is important to note that whilst the time against the best is interesting it does not at this stage define your horses potential. All you are doing is establishing best distance grouping.

 

  1. Return to the next training run page and select all goings on the favoured ground and the favoured distance grouping . Run your final, two training  runs for the first day.

 

  1. You are now in a position to run two trainings each day going forward. Once you have established your horses best going and best specific distance with its favoured distance grouping you are one in a position to run a Public Work. This must be done before you horses can run in their first races.

 

  1. On a two year old’s page if you tab on the growth icon you will see there is a overall maturity line in addition to the four lines on ground and going that you saw on a yearlings page. This is a very important indicator of your horses potential for maturity growth and likely improvement prospects. You do not see this on the yearling page only being evident when your horse tuns two therefore you cannot fully evaluate your horses ability potential until the current maturity level is known. 

 

  1. Additionally there is no point in gelding a yearling in the search for improved times. Indeed personally I would not geld until a decision can be made regarding racing at Senior level. It also needs to be weighed against breeding potential



Player Driven FAQ

Some senior players have generously given their time to collaborate and piece together a secondary F

Some senior players have generously given their time to collaborate and piece together a secondary FAQ.  Please find their helpful tips below.

New Player Resources:  https://www.sportofkings.us/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=2

 


How to best use the first ten training runs

On the first day of purchase there are 10 training runs (8 farm trains and 2 public works) which should be used to determine horse’s distance, ground and adds preferences. Afterwards there are only 2 farm trains per day. Hover on VIEW GROWTH: boxes with the most green will often be the horse preferred surface (either turf or dirt) Also click on the horses sire near the horses head and you will be able to see all the progeny records of that sire which will show if it normally produces for instance dirt stayers or turf sprinters. These are big clues where to concentrate your training. Click on TRAIN and you have the option to farm work or public work your horse (default is farm work) When you have found your horses best trip do a public work to make sure it stays that trip. Generally speaking stamina remaining should be at least 10 % else it needs a shorter trip. 20%+ means it should be tested at a longer trip. As a precaution its advisable when you are happy with trip, going and adds that you give it a run on its best going over opposite surface just to confirm you have its dirt or turf preference correct as some horses can be dual surface.

 

You should refer to the New Player Advice section of the forum and the posted note entitled ‘training your first horse’. This outlines the training routines of three established stables – these should be used as a guide to structuring your own training routine.

 

How to check out adds

A. Train over 1600m with no adds followed by 3 more farm trains with each add, blinkers  tongue tie and ear muffs, one at a time. Using first train as a baseline any big improvements i.e. running more than 0.5s faster indicates that the horse probably wants that add and any big decrease indicates that it doesn’t like that add. Where there is no clear indication either way Tongue Tie can be checked by running two public works over the horse’s best trip. A horse generally will not require use of tongue tie unless stamina increases. Master Trainer can then be used once to check either blinkers or ear muffs. Click Equipment to visit Master Trainer.

 

How to assess your horse within the general population

A. (Premium access needed) Click on TRAINING then VIEW RECORDS. You will see colour-coded stars 1 star-orange 2 star-blue 3 star-green which signify top 50, 25 and 5% times respectively over the entire site. No stars is outside top 50%. These refer to training times only and is no guarantee of how  a horse will perform in a race. Another indicator of a horses overall standing is the public workout lists accessed via NEWS then LEADERBOARDS



How do I pay and find Premium Access?

A. Firstly click on my account(top right of main screen) and then the little icon to the right of your stable name(underneath Racing Data),you will then see your account details page. On the right is your Account Options and the Purchase Premium Access link is about half way down.
This page will appear:
Purchase Premium

 

So now you have it for a month what do you get for it?

A. I will go through the main if not all benefits for you. On the main screen top left, click the Stables icon you will see a new choice, Premium Features has appeared. When you click on it you should see this: Premium Page

  • Auto Trainer Settings--you can set your horses to train automatically every night instead of you training manually, they will train to the preferences you have set on each horse’s page.
  • Horses Potential--you can see the growth and potential of your horses without going to each horse individually.
  • Top Training Times--your top training times by all your horses together for your pleasure.
  • Stable Race Time Report--your horses race times altogether.
  • Global Workout Stats--all horses that have trained not just yours have records here, you do not know which horse but you will see if your horses training compares to other players by AGE and DISTANCE. The GOING is not included so Turf and Dirt cannot be judged separately.

 

How does maturity work and impact upon potential

A. Horses will mature randomly over time both overall and on the different goings. When the boxes are full green then no further growth is possible. The faster a horse is able to race on a lower maturity the greater the  potential of that horse to excel on the track. To check maturity hover on VIEW GROWTH (below horse picture)



How to place your horse to good effect

 A. Every horse should run in a maiden first time out, the value of which (either free or token) should correspond to how good you think the horse is. The training times/stars will give you a clue as will previous results over trip and going from the same age group. Bear in mind that some horses can run green first time out and especially if starting out on low maturity so second run will be a more reliable gauge of how good your horse is. Find your horses level and race it there. Championship, stakes (high or low) or claimers. 

 

  

Efforts lead by: Jim, Graham, and Lloyd.

Season 15 Updates

Season 15 is just around the corner (May 15, 2019) and we've seen some dramatic events and features

Season 15 is just around the corner (May 15, 2019) and we've seen some dramatic events and features unveiled for the upcoming year.  We continue to see new stables come and make their respective marks on our leader-boards, many are competing for championships in their very first season!  Here is a list of important changes that have made their way to the game for the upcoming season.

  • Introduction of breeding awards and bonuses!
    • Breeding Awards / Bonus - this will be multi-factored. We are going to look at awarding a bonus equal to a fraction of the purse (paid in BC for now) to the breeding stable (non sales ring horses). We are also going to have a season long leaderboard that will begin season 15. Starting season 16 we will implement a cash prize to the stable that produces the most earnings as a breeder. [Note this will not impact purses or payouts but is an additional payout]
  • Complete schedule overhaul and revamp
  • Season long schedule rolled out at the beginning of the year!
  • Significant improvements on the cadence of opportunities for horses and improved earning potentials for horses.
  • Official introduction of Divisional racing which will allow for far more winning opportunities for older horses.
  • Championship finals have been renamed to Champions Cup

 

Subscription Based Virtual Horse Racing

As season 7 winds down we conclude our first season of racing where every race is FREE to enter. &nb

As season 7 winds down we conclude our first season of racing where every race is FREE to enter.  We have seen a significant rise in field size competitiveness.  As we prepare for season 8 now is a great time to get involved in virtual horse racing and training at Sport of Kings.  

Come join the action and get our limited time bonus for first time depositors.  We are offering a 100% matching bonus up to $200 along with 3 free horses!  That means you will have 4 horses to start your virtual stable and begin racing.

Breeding Virtual Horses (Part 1)

Breeding is one of the most asked about features here at Sport of Kings.  Our system is a compr

Breeding is one of the most asked about features here at Sport of Kings.  Our system is a comprehensive and in depth one that allows the bloodlines of the virtual race horse champions to be carried on for generations.  It was developed to reward research and pairing compatible blood lines.  

How does breeding work?

Breeding begins by identifying and selecting an eligible sire and mare that will be paired to create the foal.  In order to be eligible the sire and mare must be at least three years old and retired.  Sires (ungelded males) have a maximum of 20 covers (breedings) per season while each mare is limited to 2. Additionally, owners may allow their horse to be publicly bred and set a fee for their service which will be paid directly to their account.

If an owner is having trouble choosing a pair, or would like a little guidance, we offer a breeding evaluator who will grade the pairing and return a report card for a nominal fee.

Once a pairing is selected the breeder simply needs to click on the 'Breed selected pair' button and the foal will immediately arrive!

 

 

Advanced Breeding

Breeding is meant to be a reflection and simulation of real life breeding.  This means that, much like real life, there are very few if any certainties but the best practice is to breed to best to the best and it will increase your chances of getting a quality foal.  However, it is important to re-iterate that, just like real life, there are no guaranteed outcomes regardless of how great the pairing of horses.

 

 

Does on the track success mean it will be good for breeding?

Generally speaking on the track performance is a good indicator of the overall quality of the horse and it's genetics.  A horse can excel on the race track without having good genetics behind it but that is the exception rather than the rule.  This is how bad blood lines can produce a star horse on rare occasions.

What are certified Genetics?

Genetic certification is a feature that allows owners to get an unbiased certification as to the quality of the genetic bloodlines that run within their horse.  This is an expensive option that is generally used to verify the quality of the stallions that are up for public breeding.  The certification has two components: Genetic Ability, which is a rating of just how good the bloodline is at an overall level; and Genetic Strength, which is an indicator of how likely the horse is to pass on it's genetics to the foal.

 

How do I get a good horse? and what makes a good pairing?

In order to increase the likely hood of a quality foal you should begin by pairing two horses that have demonstrated ability on the track.  As previously stated the chances of producing a top offspring increase as the quality of the parents increases and the opposite is equally as true.  

Second, it is advisable to pair horses of similar preferences together in order to match the genetic traits.  A turf bloodline should be bred with a turf bloodline and dirt with dirt.  Crossing the two can work and you could end up with a horse that will run on both surfaces but the chances of that being successful are not very high. 

Third, understanding distance preferences are important when creating a potential match.  Each horse has a unique distance preference on a scale of 1-10 that is carried in their genetics. When the pairing occurs one of them is selected and used (with some variation possible up and down from that number). As an example if you select a sire who was a stayer and a mare who was a sprinter you could have the following result. Let's say for example the mares distance preference was used (which is a long sprint pedigree) and applied to the offspring, resulting in a sprint. It is possible to get a blended result as well (so you could get a middle distance horse from crossing a sprint / stayer) but you would never get a stayer from two sprints or a sprint from two stayers. Adding stamina in the form of a stayer to a sprint mare doesn't ensure that stamina will be passed on, but it is possible.

Can I get a good horse from a bad pairing?

Yes.  The chances of getting a good horse increase as the quality of the pairing does but it is still possible to receive a good horse from a bad pairing as it is also possible to get a bad horse from a great pairing (again, less likely).  The reward for creating quality pairings is in that the average ability level of the foal will be higher than those of poor pairings.  This is very much designed to reflect the realities of breeding in the real world and will keep the game and breeding viable for a long time.

What are breeding rights?

Breeding rights allow owners to privately sell breeding privileges to other owners.  This is a unique feature that gives our owners full control over the breeding of their stable.  These rights extend through the current season and will expire if they are unused by that time.

 

Breeding Page Overhauled

Breeding This is a key element to the long term success and enjoyment of this game and therefore we

Breeding

This is a key element to the long term success and enjoyment of this game and therefore we have dedicated much of the last 30 days working on improvement the interface and user experience when it comes to breeding and breeding related items.  We know just how important this area is and want it to be an enjoyable and engaging experience.

The first thing of note is that we have added a totally unique feature in that owners can now sell breeding rights to their horses privately to other owners.  This means they do not have to make their breeding stock publicly available in order to allow other owners to breed to them.

Breeding Page

We have updated the breeding page to not only include user selectable filters such as distance or surface preferences but very useful description and explanations of the basics.  Allowing users to search by the distance of the sire or broodmare allows for much quicker discovery of the desired horse.


Sire / Mare Standings Page


This is probably one of the most important pages we have when it comes to identifying a sire (we have a similar page for mares) for your breeding pairing.  There are all kinds of ways to filter this data and we expect players to spend hours combing through the data as the pools grow and breeding becomes a prominent feature of the game.  Each of these columns could be considered important and therefore they are each sortable.  We realize there is even more data that could be put on this page but we had to stop somewhere and the other information is available on the individual horse details page.  One feature that is brand new is the display of the surface (if it's been flagged as a turf horse you will see the turf symbol) and / or the distance preference badges.


Breeding Evaluator

This is often the final step before confirming a breeding and is one of our most popular features.  It has seen a tremendous amount of work go into redesigning the interface.  We have also added a number of filter options that make identifying a horse significantly faster.



We are constantly striving to improve the game and your experience playing it.  We look forward to seeing what you do with the updated breeding features and hearing your feedback.

Until next time,
Admin