As anyone who has played Simulated Sports Horse Racing for any length of time can tell you, this can be a very complicated game. The complexity is part what makes it fun and it to the realism of the game. But because it is so complicated, it can be intimidating for those new to it. These instructions are intended to help you understand the game.

Don’t expect to master the game in a few hours, or a few weeks. Players who have played the game for years are still learning. If it all seems overwhelming, ask for advice on the Message Board The experienced simsters there are usually more than willing to help out a newcomer in distress.

These instructions are intended to cover nearly every aspect of the game. I can’t promise to address every question that you may have, nor that the information contained will be still be correct in three months. The game is a work in progress, and Mike is constantly making changes. But I can promise that as of the time this was written, this is how the game works.

Due to resource limitations, stables inactive for more than 3 months will be removed at my discression.

A lot of factors go into determining the outcome of a race: pace, distance, surface, and post position are some of the race factors. Other things include the horse’s condition, his form, and how well it takes to the trainer. Also a horse’s maturity can affect its performance. Some horses mature sooner, others later. Some may reach maturity quickly and stay there for years, others will decline quickly after age 3 or 4. A horse may run the race of its life, or it may throw in a dud for no apparent reason. Be patient in learning about your horses. You won't know all about them after just three or four starts. 

The schedule for key sim happenings is Sim Game Time : Queensland Time : GMT

• Wed 6 p.m. : Thu 8 a.m. : Wed 11 p.m. : Entries drawn. All entries must be submitted before this time or they will be rejected. All jockey selections are taken at the same time. This deadline will not be extended for any reason, even if the site is unavailable for any reason during the sign-up period.
• Wed evening : Race cards are posted
• Thu 6 p.m. : Fri 8 a.m. : Thu 11 p.m. : Jockey instructions must be submitted
• Sat 12 noon : Sun 2 a.m. : Sat 5 p.m. : Claims and wagers close
• Sat 12 noon : Sun 2 a.m. : Sat 5 p.m. : 3-Man team entries close
• Sat 12 noon (approximate) : Sun 2 a.m. : Sat 5 p.m. : Races posted
• Sun 9:00 a.m. : Sun 11 p.m. : Sun 2 p.m. : Breeding, training instructions must be submitted before this time to take affect this week
• Sun Afternoon : Mon Morning : Sun Evening : Newly bred horses appear in your stable
• Sun Evening : Mon Morning : Sun Evening : Breeding begins for the week
• Sun Evening : Mon Morning : Sun Evening :  Races for upcoming week open for entries. Horses may be entered in the auction

Note: while some of these times are approximate, deadlines should always be regarded as firm.
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The "Points Earned YR" and "Points Have" fields keep track of the number of breeding points you have earned and those you have available at the moment. Breeding points (or bps) are used to breed new horses (see Breeding), as the name implies. They are also used when claiming a horse from a race. See Claiming for more information.

You earn breeding points when your horses finish first through fifth in their races (or simply by running in stakes races). The precise number of breeding points earned in a race is likely to change soon, so the breakdown won't be given here. At the moment, the number of breeding points your horse can earn in a race depends on several factors. Here are the important facts about earning bps:

• You can never loose bps by racing a horse. If the total of the bp penalties is greater than the bps earned by the horse, you will receive no bps. You will not lose bps.
• Horses that win or run well in claiming races earn more bps than horses that win or run well in non-claiming races
• There is no bp penalty for shipping into a Graded Stakes race or any stakes race with a purse => $100,000
• For non-stakes races and stakes races with a purse less than $100,000, the greater the shipping costs, the greater the bp penalty:

Points Earned For Racing starting in week 2216

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Shipping Penalties :

Claim Drop Penalties:

If you purchased or claimed a horse within the last 120 days for more than the claiming price, and that price is $10,000 or more, the following penalty kicks in if the (Claiming Price / Purchase Price) < .70 :

Penalty = INT(100 * (.7 – (Claiming Price / Purchase Price))

The price then resets to the claim price you ran for (ie : if you dropped in for $15,000, and your purchased the horse originally for $30,000, your "purchase price" would be reset to $15,000, but your 120 day expiration date would not be reset (if, however, it were claimed, the price would obviously be set to $15,000 but the purchase date would be reset)

For example: If you purchase a horse for $40,000 and enter it in a $25,000 claiming race in less than 120 days, the penalty is:

If the penalty exceeds the amount of points earned, you will receive 0 points. After the race, the horses "purchase price" would be reduced to $25,000.

Maiden Penalty:

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Maiden in a non-maiden, non-stakes race	-10	-10	-10	-10	-10

 

Bonuses

These apply to ALL non-password protected races when your shipping BP Penalty is 3 points or less :

These apply only to non-password protected, non CPU Value claim races when your shipping BP Penalty is 3 points or less :

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Final Bonus Modifiers

These apply after all other bonuses are figured, and only to races that are not password restricted, and when your shipping BP Penalty is 3 points or less :

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Below the stable statistics are the stats for each of the horses in your stable, including the horse’s ID number, name, gender, age, and race record. The Non MCOS column keeps track of the number of wins the horse has in allowance or stakes competition. "Earned" shows the amount of purse money the horse has earned in its race career. "Cond" indicates what condition your horse is in this week. The possible conditions are:

• Sharp - the horse is kicking down the barn to run
• Ready to go! - the horse should run great
• A little groggy - could run, but prefers rest
• Needs rest - the horse needs rest
• Lay-Off! - the horse isn't ready for the track
• Injured - the horse is hurt
  

Sharp is a very small range. A horse may or may not go to Sharp with rest. Experience with the horse will help you learn if Ready to go! means the horse is nearly sharp or if it is closer to a little groggy. If a horse has been "sharp" for a week or more and hasn’t raced, it may go to "ready to go" at the next update. This so-called second "ready to go" means exactly the same thing as the first.

A horse will run better when it is "Ready to go!" or "Sharp." A race will also take less out of a horse if it is in good condition going into the race. The more unfit the horse, the harder the race will be on it.

Some horses will run a race and come up sharp the next week. Should you run the horse again or let it rest? That’s your decision. Some trainers run their horses every time they come up sharp, even if it means running 3 weeks in a row or more. Others always give their horses two or more weeks rest between races. It’s your horse, you have to choose what you think will work best.

Before race entries are drawn each week, each horse that has been entered in a race must pass a vet check. Horses that are Ready to go! or Sharp will always pass the vet check. If the horse is in any other condition, there is a chance that the vet will scratch the horse from the race and place it on the vet list. The worse the horse’s condition, the more likely it is that he/she will be scratched and vet listed. When this happens, you will be penalized 10 breeding points and a monetary penalty of $1,000 or 1% of your stable’s money, whichever is greater.

When a horse is vet listed, a v- will appear in front of the horse’s name on your stable page. While vet listed, a horse cannot race, cannot be used for breeding, and cannot be entered in the auction. Vet listing because of a vet scratch lasts at least 60 days.

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CPU value is usually quite generous and does not reflect a horse’s potential. If a horse is misplaced or runs badly, its CPU value will lower. If it runs well, it CPU value will increase.

If a horse is purchased from the auction for less than its CPU value, it’s CPU value will be lowered to the price paid for it in the auction. After its next race, the CPU value will be determined exactly like any other horse's.

You should not use a horse’s CPU value to determine where to place a horse. A horse with a $35,000 CPU value should not necessarily be placed in a $35,000 claiming race. If it has been misplaced, it may be competitive at a higher level. If it has been properly placed, a $35,000 claiming race is probably too difficult for it.

CPU value is not worth spending a lot of time and energy worrying about. It is used in two situations: to determine eligibility for *CPU restricted races and when determining taxes for claim purchases. For more information on *CPU races, see Race Restrictions.

If a horse is claimed from a race for a price higher than the CPU value, taxes will be charged. See the Taxes for more information.

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An unraced horse may make its first start at any track without incurring travel costs. After that, travel costs become a consideration. Shipping a horse from one track to another always costs sim dollars. If the distance is far enough, there can be an associated bp penalty which will range from 0 to 13, but the penalty will never be greater than the bps earned by your horse. You CANNOT loose bps by racing a horse.

A horse that has raced is stabled at the track where it ran most recently. Travel costs will be charged based on the travel distance from that track. When looking up races for your horse with the "Find Races" tool, select the track where your horse is currently stabled. When the list of available races comes up, the column one from the right will be headed "Cost from …" and give the code for the track you have selected. This column shows the cost in sim dollars and bps (the number in parenthesis is the potential bp penalty for shipping).

If your horse earns more bps than the bp penalty, the bps you are awarded will be reduced by that amount. If it earns fewer, than you will receive no bps. Again, you can never loose bps by racing.

For example:

Your horse last raced in California and you enter it this week in a race in Ohio. You are charged $1,960 for shipping the horse. The horse earns 15 bps in the race (see Breeding Points for more information on how bps are distributed). Because you shipped from California, 5 bps are deducted, and you receive 10 bps.

15 bps earned - 5 bp shipping penalty = 10 bps awarded.

Note: New stables (those with 50 starts or less) will not be charged travel costs as long as those costs would be less than $300. Travel costs of over $300 will be charged.

Note: Mike’s map is unique, and costs do not always reflect the actual distance between two places. For example, you can get from Australia to England for less than $300. For a complete chart of costs from and to each track, check the Travel Matrix, available under the "Misc" section. This is a large chart, so you may need to be patient waiting for it to load.

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You may select up to 20 jockeys that you would like to ride your horses. To see which jockeys are available at any given track, check the "Jockey Pool" link (under the "Misc" section) then the track name. Jockeys are listed in order of their career win %. You will request a jockey by his/her ID number, so make a note of it when you find a jockey you want. Jockeys will be assigned at the same time that races are carded, so jockey selections should be entered before 6 pm Eastern time on Wednesday.

You should enter the ID of your most preferred jockey first, and less preferred jockeys lower on the list. Please note that the matrix is numbered vertically, number 2 is directly below number 1, not to the right. If you hit the tab button, the cursor will go from first choice to eleventh choice then to second choice.

Jockeys will not always ride your horses even if you request them. They are allowed to reject mounts!

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When carding a race, the CPU will rank horses according to the ratings (or CPU) points earned over the last 52 weeks. In case of a tie, horses will be ranked according to earnings per race. Earnings of greater than $99,999 per race are treated as equals. A horse that has earned $125,000 per race will be treated the same as a horse that has earned $100,000 per race. Similarly, earnings of less than $1,000 per race are treated as equals. A horse which has earned $999 per race will be treated the same as an unraced horse.

If horses are still tied, the CPU will rank them according to odds, low to high.

If a race has been bid or bought, any horse’s from the stable the race was bid for are automatically put at the top of the list, regardless of any other consideration. A person who bids/buys a race will always get the jockey or jockeys of their choice.

After the horses have been ranked, the computer will go through them one at a time. If the owner of the top ranked horse has selected a jockey at that track, the horse will be assigned that player’s first selection of jockey. If the player has not selected a jockey at that track, the computer will assign a jockey randomly.

The computer will then move on to the second ranked horse. The horse will be assigned the jockey that the owner rated highest. If the owner requested the same jockey as the first ranked horse, then the horse will get the owner’s second jockey selection. If the owner did not make a second selection or did not sign up for jockeys at all, the computer will assign a jockey at random.

The process will continue until all horses have been assigned jockeys.

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BP Cost = INT(Claim Price * .002), Maximum of 150 BP

For example, a $10,000 claimer would also cost 20 BP to claim. A $150,000 claimer would cost 150 BP.

The additional cost for claiming a first time starter is 15 points.

Note: If a horse is claimed for more than its CPU value, taxes will be charged to the previous owner. See Taxes for more information.

To enter a claim on a horse, eith click on the "Enter Claim" link from the Upcoming Races page after races are posted, or click on the "Claim Horse" link is below the "My Stable" link. Be sure to enter the horse¹s ID number in the first field, and the race number in the second. Claims will be processed in race order, not the order you enter them in the claim matrix. Races from California will always be processed first, and races from tracks with the higher numbers will be last.

Note: You must use the whole 8-digit race number, including the week, when entering a claim.

If the horse was not claimed by anyone (which you can check by clicking "Recent Claims" under the Misc menu), you probably made a mistake in filling out the form or tried to claim a horse from a non-claiming race. Horses cannot be claimed from starter allowances, allowances, stakes races, or from Maiden Special Weight races.

If that is not the case, it is likely that you did not have enough money (you must be left with $2,500 after a claim) or enough points (you can only go to -20 BP when claiming a horse). If you have negative BP to begin with, you cannot enter claims until you have earned more BP.

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Horses entered in the auction without a reserve are treated as open slots in your stable. If you have 10 horses in your stable and enter one in the auction without a reserve, you will be able to bid on one horse in the auction. If you enter two horses in the auction, one with no reserve and one with reserve, you will still have only one open slot in your stable even if someone bids more than the reserve price on the second horse.

Your horse will appear in the auction in the order of ID number. (To see it, click on the "Auction Results" link from the Misc menu). The computer will randomly assign a close date to the sale of your horse. There is no way to influence this date. If your horse is bought, the money will be credited to your stable and your horse moved to the buyer’s stable during Saturday¹s update.

If you sell a horse for more than its CPU value, taxes will be charged. See Taxes for more information.

To bid on a horse, you must have at least one open slot in your stable. If you do not have an open slot, the computer will give a message telling you that you do not have any open slots.

The computer keeps track of proxy bids. This means that if you are the first bidder on a horse with a $0 reserve, and you bid $50,000, the computer will only show a high bid of $1. If someone else comes along and bids $1,000, the computer will increase the "high bid" to $1,001 and you will still be high bidder. You will be the high bidder until someone bids more than the $50,000 you originally bid for the horse. It is a good idea to bid the maximum amount of money you are willing to pay for a horse when making your first bid. If you get outbid, you may go back and increase your bid or bid on a different horse.

Note: If you purchase a horse in the auction for more than $100,000, the horse will be Vet Listed for at least two weeks. Vet listing of a horse is indicated by a v- next to the horse’s name on your stable page. While a horse is vet listed, it cannot race, cannot be used for breeding, and cannot be entered in the auction.

Note: If horse is purchased from the auction for less than that horse’s CPU value, its CPU value will be lowered to the price paid for it in the auction or $5,000 whichever is greater. The CPU value will remain in place until after the horse’s next race.

When bidding on a horse that already has bids on it, you must increase the current high bid by 10% or $50,000, whichever is less. For example, if the current bid is $2,000, you must bid at least $2,200. If the current bid is $600,000, you must bid at least $650,000.

Also, if you are selling one or more horses in the auction you may use no more than $500,000 of the money you will get from the auction when bidding on any other single horse. For example:

I have $1,000,000 and am selling two horses at auction. If both of them are selling for $400,000 (a total of $800,000), I would only have $1,500,000 I could use on any given bid, even though I will have $1,800,000 coming to me. If I bid $200,000 on one horse, I could still bid up to $1.5 million on a different horse.

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Taxes will be charged when a horse is claimed for more than its CPU value, or is purchased from the auction. The tax for selling a horse at auction is a flat 15% tax. Taxes will NOT be charged if a horse is claimed for less than or equal to the CPU value. Only the original owner is taxed, not the purchaser.

The amount of taxes charged on a claim is determined by the difference between the price paid for the horse and the horse’s CPU value. The greater the difference, the higher the tax. The tax percentage is on a sliding scale, and can reach up to 95% in extreme cases. Here are a few examples:

CPU value: $10,000

Purchase Price $0 - $10,000 - No Tax

Purchase Price $20,000 - Tax $1,030

Purchase Price: $50,000 - Tax $11,374

CPU Value: $15,000

Purchase Price: $200,000 - Tax $147,489

CPU Value $20,000

Purchase Price: $256,427 - Tax $256,427

As you can see, if a horse is purchased for an amount dramatically higher than it’s CPU value, very little of that money will end up in the hands of the original owner.

Under "Jockey Instructions" the drop down menu lets you tell the jockey how hard to ride your horse from the gate. You may choose anything from 1.00-Lead to tell the jockey to grab the lead early and try to win wire to wire to 0.00-From the Back to tell the jockey to take back to last and try to run them all down late, and everything in between. You may also leave it on "Jockey Select" if you want the jockey to use his/her best judgment.

This will apply to loosing efforts only! Setting the instructions to 0.9 - More of a Work does not mean the jockey will not try to win; a jockey will always ride out a horse that has a chance for a win, regardless of the instructions. A 0.90 is merely telling the jockey not persevere with a clearly beaten horse.

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If your horse’s condition is "needs rest" or worse, you should leave the box blank. The computer will rest the horse until it is ready to resume training.

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Clicking on this link will bring up a list of tracks, sorted by track number. If entries have been set for the week, clicking on the track will show the conditions of the race and track and the field for the race. If entries have not been drawn, clicking on the track will show only the race number and conditions. Clicking on the race number will show the entries for each race.

After entries have been drawn, this is where you need to look to find out whether the track has been effected by rain. Possible track conditions are:

Dirt:

Fast - no rain

Wet fast - track is wet on top, but dry underneath.

Good - a little moisture, but track still in good condition

Muddy - track is thoroughly saturated with water

Sloppy - track has standing pools of water

Turf:

Firm - no rain

Good - a little moisture, the turf has a little extra give

Yielding - the course has a significant amount of give

Soft - course has absorbed a lot of water and is very soft

If rain is particularly heavy, a turf race may be moved to the main track.

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Clicking on this link will take you to the race look-up screen. Here you can search for races for this week and the next three weeks. Use the drop down menus to specify the week to start the search from, where the horse will be shipping from, the type of race, age restrictions, sex, distance, and surface. You can also specify the claiming price for claiming races, maiden claiming, and starter allowances. When you have entered the information, clicking on "Submit Query" will return all the races that fit the description you gave.

Claiming and allowance races frequently have other restrictions on them. The kinds of restrictions that can be placed on a race are:

• nw1x - restricted to horses which have not won one race, other than maiden (either maiden claiming or straight maiden), claiming, starter allowance. This is tracked as non M/C/O/S wins on the horse screen and stable screen. (O refers to optional claiming. At the moment, there are no optional claiming races in the sim). The number can range between 1 and 4.
  
• nw1t - restricted to non-winners of one race of any kind in the past three months. The number can range between 1 and 4.
  
• nw1s - restricted to non-winners of one race of any kind in the past six months. The number can range between 1 and 4.
  
• nw1n - restricted to non-winners of one race of any kind in the past nine months. The number can range between 1 and 4.
  
• nw1y - restricted to non-winners of one race of any kind in the past year. The number can range between 1 and 4.
  
• nw2l - restricted to non-winners of two races of any kind lifetime. The number can range between 2 and 4.
  
• (T) - restricted to horses whose last race was at the same track as this race.
  
• (H) - restricted to player created horses
  
• (C ) - restricted to computer created horses
  
• *15 - restricted to horses who have a CPU value of $15,000 or less. Can range from a low of 15 to a high of 4 million. A horse's CPU value is shown on the stable screen.
  

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Note: The number of allowance (non MCO) races a horse has won is tracked on the horse and stable screens. The number or races a horse has won in the past 3, 6, 9, or 12 months is tracked on the individual horse screen.

The results are updated every Saturday at the same time races are posted. The results page will show the payoffs, complete order of finish, and running lines for each horse in the race. The previous week’s result will be available until the current week’s races are run.

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Credits can be used to bid or buy a race or to breed a horse. Credits can be bought by credit card by clicking on the "Buy Credits w/CC" link, or through Paypal, or you can send a check to the address listed in the "Buying Credits" link. Currently (as of December 2003) you can also earn credits by writing for the Sim Racing Form.

To check how many credits you have available, click on the "My Credits" link and enter your credit ID and password. The screen will show the credits you have available, as well as the "live credits." These are usually credits that you have spent to bid races in upcoming weeks or to breed a horse which has not yet arrived. If those races are bid over and not carded or if the horse cannot be bred for some reason, the credits will be added to your available credits. Any credit transfers you have been involved in will also be shown here.

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If you want to make sure that a certain kind of race will be run on the week and at the track you want, you can buy the race using credits. You can set the conditions, distance, and surface of races you buy or bid, within certain limitations. You must bid a race three weeks in advance. You can buy a race for a week until the upcoming races are set for that week on Sunday.

Only the week three weeks away is open for bidding, and will be indicated by the phrase "Bidding Now Open" next to it. To bid a race, click on the Bid/Sponsor link then enter the week and track you are interested in and click "Submit Query." The next screen will show the races that are currently scheduled to be run that week at that track. The "bid" number on the left side indicates the number of credits the race cost. The second column indicates who bid the race, either *CPU or a player’s name.

Be sure to check the "Bid or Buy" box on the form to bid a race. Leaving the box unchecked tells the computer you intend to buy the race, which is much more expensive. You can check the "public display" box have the name of the stable you are bidding the race for to be displayed the week the race is run. This can be helpful if you bid several races, or tend to forget which races you have bid, or if you just want everyone to know you have bid the race. Choose the kind of race and the age of horses eligible. If you are bidding a claiming race or starter allowance, choose the price from the drop down menu, from $2,000 up to $150,000. Set any restrictions you wish the race to have and choose whether the race will be restricted to female horses only. Finally, set the distance and surface you desire. Enter your credit ID, password, and the name of the stable you are bidding the race for. Click "Submit Query."

Note: Players are not allowed to bid claiming races for 2 year olds. This is to prevent players from bidding excessive number of claiming races for 2 year olds for the purpose of claiming horses from the CPU.

The next screen will show your available credits and live credits (explained above) and the races currently scheduled for the track that week. Scroll down and you will see the description of the race you requested. Be sure to double check to make sure that you have entered the information correctly. Once you click "Accept" no changes will be made. The default bid is the minimum bid necessary to add your race to the card, or the minimum for that kind of race. The following races have preset minimum bids:

Claiming races (including maiden claiming) for fillies and mares - minimum bid of 25

*CPU restricted races - minimum bid of 50

You may increase this minimum bid or accept it. To add the race you want to the schedule, you will need to bid at least equal to the lowest number on the screen (if it is a CPU carded race) or 1 credit higher (if it is a player bid race). Races are carded according to the number of credits bid for them. For example:

The top race on the card is 23 credits, and the lowest 11, all *CPU races. A player bids a race for 11 credits, and his bid bumps off the lowest *CPU race. His race is now the lowest bid race. Another player later bids 20 credits for a different race. The first player’s race will be bumped off the card, and a 12 credit race *CPU race will now be the lowest bid.

Most tracks have several races bid every week. If you bid so your race is the lowest on the card, there is a chance that another player who bids a higher amount will bump it off the card. It is up to you to balance the desire to get your race carded against how much you are willing to spend to get the race.

Once you have clicked on the "Accept" button, your race will be carded. You cannot make any changes to the race after clicking the button, and the race will not be removed. Be sure to verify the information before accepting the race.

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Buying a race guarantees that your race will be carded. When you buy a race, you can also increase the purse increment or choose to make the race owner restricted. In addition, you can name a bought race and have special graphics associated with the race. If you want to purchase a stakes race, the race cannot be bid and must be bought.

A race may be bought for any week that is available on the drop down menu, including the week that is currently open for bidding. When you have chosen the week and track you want, click "Submit Query."

If the week is not currently open for bidding, the list of races will be restricted to "Locked" races which cannot be bid over (stakes races or races which have been bought by other players) and races bid by players for that week. If it is the week that is currently open for bidding, all races currently carded for the track that week will be shown.

Fill out the form as you would for a bid race, but leave the "Bid or Buy" box unchecked if the week is currently open for bidding. If it is not open for bidding, the "Bid or Buy" box will not be displayed. You must buy a race to add it to the schedule for any week other than the one currently open for bidding.

Note: Players are not allowed to bid claiming races for 2 year olds. This is to prevent players from bidding excessive number of claiming races for 2 year olds for the purpose of claiming horses from the CPU.

If you wish to make the race owner restricted, check the "password protected" box. It costs an additional 500 credits to make a race owner restricted.

You may also increase the purse increment, if you wish. Increasing the purse increment by +1 costs an additional 300 credits, +2 costs an additional 600 credits, and +3 costs an additional 900 credits.

When you have selected the conditions of the race, click "Submit Query." The next screen will show the conditions you have chosen for the race and how much it will cost to buy the race. You may not change this amount, it is determined by the choice of race and conditions you have chosen.

There will be a drop down menu that allows you to decide how many horses can run in the race, from 14 to 20. There will also be three boxes which will allow you to name your race, link it to your website, and include a banner for your race on the "Upcoming Races" link when the race is carded.

Once you have clicked on the "Accept" button, your race will be carded. You cannot make any changes to the race after clicking the button, and the race will not be removed. Be sure to verify the information before accepting the race.

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If you have bought a race which is owner restricted, information about that race will be available here when the race is listed under the "upcoming races" link. This will happen only when your race will be run on the nest Saturday. You can request passwords here. For more information about buying races, click on the "Sponsoring Races" link. To bid or sponsor a race, click on the "Bid/Sponsor Online" link.

Players may transfer a horse from one stable to another by clicking on the Manage Stable link, then on Transfer Horse. A list of horses that can be transferred will be shown. To be eligible for transfer, the horse must be a homebred and must be unraced. There must be an open slot in the stable you are transferring the horse to.

To transfer a horse between stables, click on the box in the "Transfer?" column, and then enter the name of the stable you wish to transfer the horse to. You must request the transfer before 6p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. When a horse has been assigned to transfer, it may not be raced and it may not be entered in auction. Horses will appear in their new stable after Saturday’s update.

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All wagers are placed from the betting screen, at the far right hand side after logging in. To place a bet, start by entering the complete race ID, including the four-digit week number. Enter the amount you want to wager, with no dollar sign, comma or period. To wager twenty dollars, simply enter 20.

To bet a horse to win, enter the horse’s post position number in the first column. To bet a horse to place, enter the number in the second column. To bet a horse to show, enter the number in the third column. You may bet a horse to win, place, and show by entering the same number in all three columns. When making a win place or show bet, enter only one horse. If you want to make win, place, or show bets on more than one horse, you will need to place your bet on the first horse then click "Place your wager!" then bet on the second horse.

Note: Wagers must be placed using a horse’s post position number, not the ID number. Using the ID number will not work and could result in your stable being charged for bets you didn’t make.

Note: If you enter the post position numbers of two or three different horses in different columns, you will be given an exacta or trifecta bet, not win, place, or show bets. You must submit the form multiple times to make win, place, or show bets on more than one horse.

To place an exacta or trifecta bet, enter the post position number of the horses you want to finish first in the first column, those you want to finish second in the second column, and the horse you want to finish third in the third column. You may have more than one horse in each column. A wager will be placed on all possible combinations of horses.

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Example:

You want to make a $25 boxed exacta bet with two horses, the number 2 and 7 in race 1943.3314. Enter 1943.3314 for the race ID and 25 for the bet amount. Enter the numbers 2and 7 in the first column and again in the second column. Click "Place Your Wager!" You have made the following bets:

$25 2-7

$25 7-2

You have bet a total of $50.

To bet a $25 three horse boxed exacta on the 2,5, and 7, put the three post positions numbers in both the first and second row and click "Place Your Wager!" You have made the following bets:

$25 2-5

$25 2-7

$25 5-2

$25 5-7

$25 7-2

$25 7-5

you have bet $150.

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If you wish to bet the same three horses in a trifecta, you would need to fill out the form separately for the trifecta wager. You cannot bet a trifecta and an exacta on a single form.

To make a trifecta bet using the 5 and 7 horses for first and second and all the horses in the race for third, enter the 2 and 7 in the first two columns and all the post positions in the third. The computer will register all possible combination of these horses. If the race has 8 horses, you would bet the following combinations:

5-7-1

5-7-2

5-7-3

5-7-4

5-7-6

5-7-8

7-5-1

7-5-2

7-5-3

7-5-4

7-5-6

7-5-8

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If you again entered 25 for the amount, you would bet a total $300 dollars for these combination. As you see, exacta and trifecta wagering can add up fast if you want to include several horses in your wager, so be careful when placing these wagers.

When placing bets, make sure that every post position number you enter actually has a horse assigned that number. If there is no horse with that post position number, you may be charged for a bet that can’t possibly win.

The maximum amount a stable can bet in a week is $2,500.

All bets made after the initial $2,500 is bet in a week will be ignored or will be losses.

If a player makes a bet that would put the total bet over $2,500 the bet will be scaled down. For example, if you

have bet $2,000 and try to make a $1,000 win bet, the bet will be reduced to $500. If a bet that has been scaled down wins, the payoff will be based on the reduced amount, not the amount originally entered.

The most a win, place, or show bet can payout is $10,000 over the amount originally bet, regardless of the amount originally bet.

The most an exacta or trifecta can payout is $50,000 over the amount originally bet, regardless of the amount bet.

The most a stable can make in a single week through betting is $250,000 over the original amount bet. Any winnings over this amount will be taken in taxes.

These limits were put in place because players were winning huge sums of money through betting and this was causing an assortment of problems in the game, generally referred to as sim dollar inflation. To reduce this sim dollar inflation, changes were made to make it harder to earn large amounts of money by betting.

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To breed a new horse, you must have enough bps to pay for the breeding you desire. You can breed a horse using an existing horse’s pedigree, using a retired mare, or you may breed from scratch.

However you choose to breed a horse, you will have to pay the full cost of the sire of the new horse. The cost and the ID number of available sires can be found using the Horse Ticker. To use the horse ticker:

• Click on Breeding
• Click on Horse Ticker
• Enter the name of the sire you are interested in

The computer will return a list of the first 10 horses matching the information you entered. The chart will show the horse’s ID number, complete name, and the current cost to use the sire, as well as the cost in 6, 12, and 24 hours. If breeding has not yet started for a particular sire, the chart will show ??? instead of an amount and the approximate number of hours until the sire is available. The mose expensive sires will start around 500 points and decrease through the week based on the number of runners by them which already exist in the game and their quality as a sire.

If you want to use a horse without waiting for it to begin breeding for the week, it will cost 1000 points.

The last column will indicate whether a sire is available for use as a credit breeding. A sire may be used for a credit breeding only once per week, regardless of position in the pedigree. If that horse has been used this week, you must wait until next week to use it for a breeding from credits.

Note: You may breed to an existing mare or a retired mare using credits, even if the horses in her pedigree have already been used for a credit breeding.

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If you wish, you can use an existing horse’s pedigree to create a new horse. Horses bred in this way will take on some of the characteristics of the parent. A well bred horse that has performed well on the track is most likely to produce an offspring that will run well. A well bred horse that has not performed well is less likely to produce a successful runner.

When you breed a horse, you will need to enter a name for it. The game does not allow multiple horses to have the same name, so you may want to check at Coker’s Utilities to see if the name you want to use has been taken. If the name you enter has already been taken, the computer will add a II or too or again, to the end of it. This can turn out some odd names, so it is always worthwhile to try to avoid duplicating names.

To breed this way,enter the ID number of the horse whose pedigree you wish to use in "ID of Horse to Eliminate" field and check the box "Use Eliminated Horse." Enter the number of the sire you wish to use and a name for the horse in both fields if you do not want to choose the gender of the offpsring. If you want to choose the gender, enter a name on only one line. Click "Submit form."

The next screen will show the names you have chosen and the name of the horse you are eliminating. Next to "Use Horse For Breeding" it should say Yes. It will also show the age of the horse to be bred, either 2 or 3.

Below that will be box showing the pedigree of the horse that you are creating. The first line will show the sire you chose, how much it will cost to use that sire, and the number of breedings still available for the sire this week. Below that will be the pedigree information from the horse you are eliminating. Note that there will be no cost or breedings available shown. This is because cost of the breeding is determined by the horse you are using, and this breeding will not count against the breedings available for these sires.

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The costs for breeding to an existing horse are determined by the age, gender, and number of races the horse has run. The horse's pedigree has no affect on the cost to breed using an existing horse. An expensive pedigree will not cost more and an inexpensive pedigree will not cost less. The costs for breeding are:

• Using a female: 50 bps (will change to the cost of the sire / 2, with a 25 point minimum and a 150 point maximum starting week 2328 - the week of December 4th, 2004)
• Using a male: 125 bps (will change to 250 points starting week 2328 - the week of December 4th, 2004)
• Breeding a 2 year old using a 5 year old existing horse with 6 or more starts: no extra charge
• Breeding a 3 year old using a 6 year old existing horse with 6 or more starts: no extra charge
• Pushing the envelope - Breeding a 2 year old using a 4 year old existing horse: 250 bps
• Pushing the envelope - Breeding a 3 year old using a 5 year old existing horse: 250 bps
• Using a horse with fewer than 6 starts: 100 bps

The cost of the sire of the new horse will be added to these charges. For example:

You want to breed a 2 year old sired by Thunder Gulch using the pedigree of an existing horse in your stable. The horse is a 6 year old mare with more than six starts. Thunder Gulch currently costs 225. Breeding this horse will cost you:

50 points (using a female) + Thunder Gulch’s cost of 225 = 275bps.

If the horse you wanted to use was a 4 year old male with only 4 starts, the cost would be:

125 (breeding with a male) + 250 (pushing the envelope) + 100 (fewer than 6 starts) + 225 = 700 bps

Note: If the horse you use for breeding is a mare 5 years old or more, she will not be eligible for breeding as a retired mare until the following year.

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Starting in week 1971, retired mares will be available for breeding. When breeding to a retired mare, you must always add a new horse to your stable; you cannot breed over an existing horse. You must have room in your stable for the new horse (have 9 horses or fewer) at the beginning and end of the week. You can only add one horse to your stable per week, this includes horses bred from scratch as well as horses bred using a retired mare.

There are two exceptions to the Previous active owner rule:

• If there are no Previous Active Owners, the horse can be bred by anyone for an additional 100 points

• If it is the year 2004 or later and it is October through December, anyone can breed to a mare that has not been bred during the current year, regardless of whether or not they are listed as a Previous Active Owner, for an additional 250 points.

To breed to a retired mare:

• Go to the Breeding link
• Go to the Retired Horses link
• Use the form to find the horse you want to use as a mare
• Click on the horse

Note: The historic grade of the mare is not directly factored into the ability of the of the offspring. The grade is a reflection of the mare’s on track performance and is useful as a searching tool but may not reflect the mare’s actual ability. If a mare is retired before being given the opportunity to run in a graded stakes, for example, she may have been a better racehorse than this grade indicates. It is the mare’s actual ability that is a factor in the ability of the offspring.

At this point you will see one of three things beneath the list of the previous active owners:

1. a button allowing you to breed to the mare,
2. a message that a breeding to the mare is pending, or
3. a message that your stable is not yet eligible to breed to the mare or that the mare has already been used for breeding

If you get a message that a breeding is pending, this means that someone has already used the mare for breeding this week. The mare will probably produce the offspring the following week and no more breedings will be allowed for the year.

If the message states that you are not eligible to breed to the mare or the mare has already been used for breeding, then the mare has either already produced a runner this year (which can be validated by checking under its Progeny section) or the stable you are logged into was not a previous active owner and it is not yet October (of 2004 or later).

If you are able to breed to the mare, clicking on the button will take you to a screen asking you to enter a name for the foal, both male and female, and the sire ID to breed to. There may also be one or two black boxes near the top of the screen telling you that breeding has not begun for the week or that breeding to the particular mare you have chosen has not begun for the week. The box will give you an estimated time that the breeding will begin.

Note: You cannot choose the sex of the horse by leaving a box blank.

When you breed a horse, you will need to enter a name for it. The game does not allow multiple horses to have the same name, so you may want to check at Coker’s Utilities to see if the name you want to use has been taken. If the name you enter has already been taken, the computer will add a II or too or again, to the end of it. This can turn out some odd names, so it is always worthwhile to try to avoid duplicating names.

After filling out the form, click the "enter" button. The following screen will give you information on whether or not the breeding you entered will be allowed to take place. If there is an error in the breeding, it will tell you what is wrong (for example: sire already used too many times, duplicat horse name, etc). If everything is good, you will be given the cost and a confirmation button.

Once you confirm the breeding, you will be given a final confirmation on if the breeding was able to take place. (There is a chance that someone else bred to the mare while you were waiting to confirm). If you are given the final confirmation, the mare will be changed to Pending status. As long as you have room to create a horse at the week’s end and enough points/credits to allow the breeding, you will be given the offspring of the horse on the following Sunday.

Note: Mares are available to Previous Active Owners on a first com, first serve basis. All the Previous Active Owners have an equal chance to use a mare.

Note: All breedings to retired mares produce 2 year old offspring. You cannot produce a 3 year old.

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When breeding to a retired mare, the cost is the entire cost of the sire, plus half the cost of the mare’s sire, plus one-quarter of the cost of the mare’s dam’s sire. This half of what it would cost for the dam’s sire and dam’s dam’s sire if you were breeding a horse from scratch. For example:

You want to breed to a mare whose sire is Theatrical(IRE) and dam’s sire is Red Ransom. Theatrical(IRE) costs 320 and Red Ransom costs 280. The sire you have chosen is Galileo, who currently costs 275. The cost of the foal would be:

275 + 320/2 + 280/4 = 275 + 160 + 45 = 480

Breeding the same horse from scratch would cost 735 points.

Note: The minimum cost for breeding to a retired mare is 100 points.

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If you breed a horse from scratch, you can eliminate a horse of any age or gender to create a new one at no extra cost. You must own the horse you choose to eliminate and it must not be in the auction. If you wish to breed a horse without eliminating one from your stable, you will have to pay an extra 50 bps.

To find out how much a sire costs, you can check the horse ticker. Enter all or part of the name of the horse you want to use as a sire, and the computer will list the first ten horses that match that name. The current cost of the horse is shown in the left column. The other columns show how much the horse will cost to use if you wait for a while before breeding. The number shown in the ticker is how much it will cost to use a horse as either sire or dam’s sire. The cost of using a sire as dam’s dam’s sire is half the amount shown on the ticker, rounded down. For example: you want to breed a horse with the lineage Real Quiet x Storm Cat x Seattle Slew. Real Quiet is currently 108, Storm Cat is 130, and Seattle Slew is 141. The cost to breed a horse with this lineage is:

108 + 130 + 141/2 = 108 + 130 + 70 = 308 bps

When breeding a horse, you will need to enter the number of the sires you are using. This is the number to the left of the horse’s name.

Note: If you retire a mare 5 years old or older by eliminating it from your stable without using it for breeding, it will be treated like any other retired mare. Previous owners could breed to that mare as early as the following week. If it is October-December or 2004 or later, any player can breed using the mare. If you want to breed to a mare that you are retiring, you should do so directly by breeding to an existing horse instead of trying to come back and breed later.

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If the horse you create costs less than 100 points to breed, whether breeding from scratch or using an existing horse’s pedigree, it is a "bargain bred." The cost of breeding this horse will be halved, to a minimum of 25 points.

For example: You want to breed a horse with the lineage of Cash Attack x Night Club x Smooth Stuff. The total cost would be

12 bps (Cash Attack) + 29 bps (Night Club) + 22/2 bps (Smooth Stuff) = 12 + 29 + 11 = 52 /2 = 26 bps

If the cost was even lower, the breeding would be:

2 bps (Cash Attack) + 9 bps (Night Club) + 11/2 (Smooth Stuff) = 2 + 9 + 5 = 16/2 (bargain breeding) = 8 bps Because the minimum cost to breed a horse is 25 bps, the cost is then adjusted upward to 25 bps.

You may breed only one bargain bred per stable per week. Credits may not be used to create a bargain bred.

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When you breed a horse, you will need to enter a name for it. The game does not allow multiple horses to have the same name, so you may want to check at Coker’s Utilities to see if the name you want to use has been taken. If the name you enter has already been taken, the computer will add a II or too or again, to the end of it. This can turn out some odd names, so it is always worthwhile to try to avoid duplicating names.

If you want to choose the gender of your new horse (only a colt or only a filly), you may do so for an extra 500 bps. To do this, enter the name only on the line of the gender you want your new horse to be, the top line to ensure a colt, the bottom line to ensure a filly.

When you have selected the lineage you want, gotten the numbers of the sires, and chosen a name for the new horse, click on the "Breed Horse" link to bring up the breeding screen. Enter the name of the new horse and the ID number of the horse you are eliminating (if any). Select the age of the new horse (2 year old or 3 year old). If you want to use the pedigree of the horse you are eliminating, check the box to "Use Eliminated Horse," otherwise leave it blank. Then enter the ID numbers for the sire(s) you are using. (If you are using the pedigree of an existing horse, you will only need to enter the sire’s ID, and leave the dam’s sire and dam’s dam’s sire blank). Click on Submit Form.

The next screen will show the name of the horse that will be created, the horse you are eliminating, whether you are using that horse’s pedigree and the age of the horse to be created. Below that will be a box showing the sires you have chosen and their cost.

If all the information you entered makes sense, below that box will be the cost breakdown and the total amount the horse will cost. Sire costs update every 15 minutes, so the cost may be slightly different than what you calculated earlier. This screen will also tell you if you currently have enough bps to create the horse you decide.

You have 15 minutes to accept the breeding you have selected. If you do not act within 15 minutes, the choices will be nullified and you will need to re-enter the information. If you decide to continue and you have enough bps, the horse you chose to eliminate will be removed from your stable along with the bps for the selected breeding and your new horse will appear in your stable. This typically happens on Sunday.

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So you submitted a breeding and got the message "Error Processing Request:…" What’s going on? There are several reasons why a breeding won’t be allowed to go through. The sire may not yet be available for breeding, you may not have enough bps or credits, or you may have tried to breed a horse the computer regards as too inbred.

Or you may have gotten the message: Dam Sire not eligible to use for selected sire. What does this mean?First, remember the game "thinks" the date is 3 years in the future. This allows horses that have just entered stud to have 2 year old offspring in the game. This also means that the game thinks the offspring of the dam’s sire and dam’s dam sire is 3 years older. Sim dams can only breed through age 23. Check the dates that the sires you want to use stood at stud, and you may find that the youngest possible result of the dam’s dam sire would have been too old to produce a foal by the dam’s sire you selected. Or the dam’s sire you chose may have been too old to breed to the youngest possible mare produced by the dam’s dam sire you chose. You can try rearranging the horses in the pedigree or replacing one or more of them to come up with a breeding that computer will accept.

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One of the most common questions asked by experienced players and newcomers alike, is how do I know what this horse will like? Turf or dirt? Sprints or routes? Off tracks or fast tracks? There is no easy way to answer these questions. Some players know more about pedigree and may be able to give some suggestions, but the only way to know for certain is to try something and see if the horse likes it. Pedigree does not always run true, in the sim as in life. Horses bred to for 10 furlongs sometimes want to sprint, and horses bred for the turf sometimes prefer dirt. Finding out the abilities of your horses is part of your job as a sim trainer.

You have probably noticed that there is very little in the way of "advice" in the instructions. This is by design. For many players, part of the fun is learning the game as they play, making mistakes and using what they learn to improve their play in the future. Besides, any advice would be purely my own opinion and other players often disagree with me. You will need to learn what works best for you and your horses, not what has worked for mine.

If you want to short cut the learning process as much as possible, click around on the "articles" links and on the links under Tipsheets/links in the Forums menu. You will find some good information here. Some of it is a bit out of date, but is generally still relevant to the sim as it is today.

Don’t be shy about asking questions on the message boards. Players are always willing to help out with opinions and advice.

  (Thanks to deltatiger for writing this quick start guide!)

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