Jewels65 Comprehensive Racehorse Guide
Evaluation sheet vs testing
---------------------------------
Somebody created a spreadsheet that would allow you to enter a horse's stats and would then tell you what the horses best competitions should be based on those stats. Well that doesn't work. Sure it's nice to see that your horse has a racing potential score of 82+ or whatever. Perhaps it's the highest potential score you've ever had -- doesn't matter.
When I first started out, I would religiously enter all my colts info into that spreadsheet. I think the highest I ever evaluated was an 82. That horse couldn't outrun a turtle. In frustration, I left the game for six month--but the lure of the horses could not be ignored.
I had horses with Secretariat comments. I even got a horse with a "outrun a racecar" comment, which I had never seen before, and haven't seen since. I got a horse with a 67 speed conformation but to no avail.
I got tired of training horses who continually disappointed me with their speeds. I began to wonder if I could test them before I trained them. Let's face it, training a horse is tedious, time-consuming and dull. If you hire someone else, it's expensive and can take days to get the horse back.
I began testing all my colts. I'd train and race the fastest ones, determined I was going to eventually breed a horse that would break the world record.
However, a colt is the product of two horses, not just his sire, and I realized I had to test my fillies too.
For colts, I'd only keep the ones that tested the fastest regardless of their stats and it's a good thing too -- this stallion https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/2698771 sired my second RH Winter Snowflake https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/2699631, and that stud gave me Fabulous Marmalade https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/2708893
For fillies, I only kept the ones that were faster than or at least equal to their dams speed.
The most important thing for a racehorse is their tested racing speed - not their breeding report, and while conformation can help a little, the horse's natural talent is what matters most. There is no way to see this information -- it's not listed anywhere. The only way to find it is to test.
What is testing? What should you be looking for?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Testing is running an untrained horse at level 10 racing local shows and checking the results. Record only the fastest speed in the horse's comments.
Due to the highly varied and random nature of the local shows, testing requires many turns, hence most of my horses are between 3 and 4 years old by the time I have thoroughly tested them.
Once you are satisfied that the horse probably can't run any faster than the time you have recorded, you can decide whether to keep, sell or rehome the horse.
If you want a horse that has a chance of beating my newest RH Fabulous Will's best speed of 1.56.53, you will need a horse that runs untrained below 2.12.36.
For fillies, so far mine range between 2.12.96 and 2.13.59. Right now I only keep mares that run below 2.13.35.
It can take quite a while to get your horses down to these speeds so don't be discouraged if they run in the 2.16 range. Mine did too, at the start.
Temperament and weight
-------------------------------
It has been my experience that racehorses do best at the last tick of spirited before high strung. Most horses I see run are running at high strung and you're basically adding at least 2 seconds to your horse's time if you run him full high strung. Temperament is VERY important.
Weight is also important. Just because your horse is moderately thin, does not mean he's at his ideal racing weight. I find most horses need to be nearly moderate to run their best. It can take some post-training testing and messing with weight to find your horse's best time in a local show.
Time in a local show is the SAME as time in competitions. If your horse runs 1.57.53 in a local show, he's going to pull that time at some point in a competition. Once you find your horse's fastest post-training time weight and temperament (record the weight in comments -- very important if you breed your horse later and then need to get him back into racing condition) and then freeze that horse and enter him into all the competitions you can.
Competitions
-----------------
You want to run as many races as possible without leveling your horse. Start with level 1 races. Don't enter any race that has a scheduled starting time that has already past unless it has less than four horses already entered. If the scheduled starting time is in the future, enter every race regardless of number of participants.
Repeat this step for level's 2 - 10.
Now go back to level 1 and enter all the races that you skipped earlier. Repeat this step for level's 2-10.
A horse is evaluated for the competition at the time he is entered, so make sure he is at his ideal weight and temperament before you enter him.
This method allows a higher level horse to run some lower level races that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to run.
Breeding
-----------
So you're looking for a stud -- what should you look at when choosing?
Primarily, I look at racing results. A stallion may be beautiful and have a stunning breeding report and fantastic conformation but that doesn't mean he's fast. Make sure he's been raced -- having a title is helpful when narrowing down the field since an unraced horse won't have one. Check the horse's times in his racing results report and look for the fastest speed listed. If you want a horse that runs at 1.58, don't breed your mares to horse with a 2.03 racing record.
Putting your horse up for stud or for sale
--------------------------------------------------
The first thing I look for in a horse is temperament. I do not understand why EVERYONE doesn't put the temperament the horse was born at in the horse's comments. There is nothing more frustrating than finding a good horse but he's in a pasture and he's bombproof. A bombproof stallion will give you bombproof colts and that makes them worthless for racing. However, the horse is in a pasture so does that mean he's only bombproof because he's been going without sugar for a while? There's no way to know. I can buy him or her and see if the temperament will rise but if it doesn't, I wasted my money.
I don't care about COI or HGP. I don't really care how many golds or greens the horse has. I only care about two things. Speed and temperament. So put that information in the horse's comments. List them on the advertisement. If you didn't test your horse, and it's never been trained or raced, don't expect a serious racehorse breeder to buy/stud to him.
Also, make sure the information is accurate. If you have a bombproof horse and you list him as being born something else, the buyer is going to find out and be pretty ticked off at you. You could get blacklisted on the forums. So BE HONEST. Very important if you want other players to trust you.
---------------------------------
Somebody created a spreadsheet that would allow you to enter a horse's stats and would then tell you what the horses best competitions should be based on those stats. Well that doesn't work. Sure it's nice to see that your horse has a racing potential score of 82+ or whatever. Perhaps it's the highest potential score you've ever had -- doesn't matter.
When I first started out, I would religiously enter all my colts info into that spreadsheet. I think the highest I ever evaluated was an 82. That horse couldn't outrun a turtle. In frustration, I left the game for six month--but the lure of the horses could not be ignored.
I had horses with Secretariat comments. I even got a horse with a "outrun a racecar" comment, which I had never seen before, and haven't seen since. I got a horse with a 67 speed conformation but to no avail.
I got tired of training horses who continually disappointed me with their speeds. I began to wonder if I could test them before I trained them. Let's face it, training a horse is tedious, time-consuming and dull. If you hire someone else, it's expensive and can take days to get the horse back.
I began testing all my colts. I'd train and race the fastest ones, determined I was going to eventually breed a horse that would break the world record.
However, a colt is the product of two horses, not just his sire, and I realized I had to test my fillies too.
For colts, I'd only keep the ones that tested the fastest regardless of their stats and it's a good thing too -- this stallion https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/2698771 sired my second RH Winter Snowflake https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/2699631, and that stud gave me Fabulous Marmalade https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/2708893
For fillies, I only kept the ones that were faster than or at least equal to their dams speed.
The most important thing for a racehorse is their tested racing speed - not their breeding report, and while conformation can help a little, the horse's natural talent is what matters most. There is no way to see this information -- it's not listed anywhere. The only way to find it is to test.
What is testing? What should you be looking for?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Testing is running an untrained horse at level 10 racing local shows and checking the results. Record only the fastest speed in the horse's comments.
Due to the highly varied and random nature of the local shows, testing requires many turns, hence most of my horses are between 3 and 4 years old by the time I have thoroughly tested them.
Once you are satisfied that the horse probably can't run any faster than the time you have recorded, you can decide whether to keep, sell or rehome the horse.
If you want a horse that has a chance of beating my newest RH Fabulous Will's best speed of 1.56.53, you will need a horse that runs untrained below 2.12.36.
For fillies, so far mine range between 2.12.96 and 2.13.59. Right now I only keep mares that run below 2.13.35.
It can take quite a while to get your horses down to these speeds so don't be discouraged if they run in the 2.16 range. Mine did too, at the start.
Temperament and weight
-------------------------------
It has been my experience that racehorses do best at the last tick of spirited before high strung. Most horses I see run are running at high strung and you're basically adding at least 2 seconds to your horse's time if you run him full high strung. Temperament is VERY important.
Weight is also important. Just because your horse is moderately thin, does not mean he's at his ideal racing weight. I find most horses need to be nearly moderate to run their best. It can take some post-training testing and messing with weight to find your horse's best time in a local show.
Time in a local show is the SAME as time in competitions. If your horse runs 1.57.53 in a local show, he's going to pull that time at some point in a competition. Once you find your horse's fastest post-training time weight and temperament (record the weight in comments -- very important if you breed your horse later and then need to get him back into racing condition) and then freeze that horse and enter him into all the competitions you can.
Competitions
-----------------
You want to run as many races as possible without leveling your horse. Start with level 1 races. Don't enter any race that has a scheduled starting time that has already past unless it has less than four horses already entered. If the scheduled starting time is in the future, enter every race regardless of number of participants.
Repeat this step for level's 2 - 10.
Now go back to level 1 and enter all the races that you skipped earlier. Repeat this step for level's 2-10.
A horse is evaluated for the competition at the time he is entered, so make sure he is at his ideal weight and temperament before you enter him.
This method allows a higher level horse to run some lower level races that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to run.
Breeding
-----------
So you're looking for a stud -- what should you look at when choosing?
Primarily, I look at racing results. A stallion may be beautiful and have a stunning breeding report and fantastic conformation but that doesn't mean he's fast. Make sure he's been raced -- having a title is helpful when narrowing down the field since an unraced horse won't have one. Check the horse's times in his racing results report and look for the fastest speed listed. If you want a horse that runs at 1.58, don't breed your mares to horse with a 2.03 racing record.
Putting your horse up for stud or for sale
--------------------------------------------------
The first thing I look for in a horse is temperament. I do not understand why EVERYONE doesn't put the temperament the horse was born at in the horse's comments. There is nothing more frustrating than finding a good horse but he's in a pasture and he's bombproof. A bombproof stallion will give you bombproof colts and that makes them worthless for racing. However, the horse is in a pasture so does that mean he's only bombproof because he's been going without sugar for a while? There's no way to know. I can buy him or her and see if the temperament will rise but if it doesn't, I wasted my money.
I don't care about COI or HGP. I don't really care how many golds or greens the horse has. I only care about two things. Speed and temperament. So put that information in the horse's comments. List them on the advertisement. If you didn't test your horse, and it's never been trained or raced, don't expect a serious racehorse breeder to buy/stud to him.
Also, make sure the information is accurate. If you have a bombproof horse and you list him as being born something else, the buyer is going to find out and be pretty ticked off at you. You could get blacklisted on the forums. So BE HONEST. Very important if you want other players to trust you.