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Tutorial, Page 2
It's time to buy a horse or two. Click on "Buy Horses" either at the bottom of your stable page or in the top menu. This will take you to the sales page. As a New Player, you get an option that no one else gets.
I can't tell you what kind of horses to buy, but reading the "Help With Buying Horses" link should give you some insight into purchasing. Examine the information about the horse:
- Its name,
- the state where the horse was bred (born),
- its sire (father), dam (mother),
- current owner,
- it's "type" (color/gender/age),
- how much it has earned on the racetrack,
- its statistics (number of races, wins, seconds, and thirds), a
- nd then its sales price.
Keep in mind that every racehorse you buy will cost you $5 of SIM money a day, as well as a weekly boarding fee, and you will want to buy a handful of horses to start out. It is wise to click on the horse's name and examine the horse's race record and potential before clicking the "buy" button. A window will ask you if you're sure before accepting.
Now head back to your stable by clicking "My Stable" in the top menu. You will notice that your money has changed!
If you click on the money amount, you will be able to view your transaction history.
Now click on your horse. What you see is a complex list of statistics, pedigrees, race results, etc. Click Here to see a brief explanation of the horse page.
When looking at the horse's "type," it can seem overwhelming.
The purple arrow points to the horse's color. There are 7 colors of Thoroughbreds in the game: bay (b, brown with a black mane and tail), dk , chestnut (ch, a copper color), gray or roan (gr or ro, grey in color with red and white hairs), black (bl), and white (w).
The green arrow points to the horse's gender. There are 5 possible genders, colt ("c" male horse under 5 years of age), horse ("h" male horse 5 years old or more), filly ("f" female horse under 5 years of age), mare ("m" female horse 5 years old or more) and gelding ("g" a castrated male).
The blue arrow points to the horse's age. Horses are born as foals at 0 years old. Then they become 1 year old, yearlings. Horses can start racing at 2 years old.
The red arrow points to the horse's height. Height is measured in "hands" which are 4 inches each, so Firebrand is 15.2 hands high. That means he is 62 inches high at the shoulders.
Below the horse's information are the Owner Actions.
- Ship This Horse: Moves a horse to a different location.
- Change Home Location: Sets a "home" for the horse, a place the horse can return to after its races. This is useful when you are racing your horse in, for example, Australia, and want to give the horse a rest on a farm between races. Set the home location to an Australian Farm and after the race, you will have the option of shipping the horse back there with just one click!
- Retire This Horse: Ends the horse's racing career and makes it a breeding stock animal. Geldings, which are male horses that have been castrated, cannot reproduce.
- Give This Horse Away: You can now give the horse away to another player, or to Alexandra Jaysman, which is the computer's name. The computer will use the given horses to fill races or generate more computer horses.
- End Flat Racing Career - Become a Steeplechaser: This will turn the horse from a flat racer into a horse that races over jumps. Once you click this button, the horse can never return to being a flat racer again.
- Races For This Horse: Click on this and you will get a list of races that your horse is eligible for.
Once you click on "Races For This Horse" on your horse's page, it will display all the races in the next 2 weeks that the horse is eligibile for. A horse can be entered in two races per week, and the computer will allow you to enter in races that are back-to-back weeks. This is strongly discouraged because horses, like real life, can be injured, even catastrophically, if they are overraced. Be careful how often you run your horse! Every other week to once every four weeks is common.
First is the date of the race. Races are scheduled for Saturdays, so you must enter by Friday night at 9 pm. At the time of writing this, the SIM is currently in Year 18, so the date gives you the Year, and then the Week (there are 16 weeks per SIM year). These weeks are real time, however, the SIM is not in real time, so that week 1 does not necessarily equal January, and week 2 February.
The second bit of information is the location of the race. There are almost 100 tracks to race at. This is followed by the race number, then the distance and surface of the race, then the age qualifications for the race, followed by the type of race, and the amount of purse money. The purse (or prize) money is split up between the top 5 finishers. For an explanation of race conditions, click here.
Click on a race that suits your fancy, and this will come up:
Check off what equipment you would like your horse to wear during the race. Equipment can affect a horse's performance.
The most important thing to do is click on "Ship Horse to (Track Name)" because if you don't ship the horse, and race day comes, the horse is automatically withdrawn from the race. Despite this warning, many new players still do not remember to click this button. After you have checked off all the boxes you want, click on Enter This Horse.
Now you will see your horse entered in the race you selected. If other horses are entered, they will be displayed as well. 4 horses are needed to make a race run.
Go back to your stable page again. At the top underneath your statistics it will say, "My Entries." Click on that, and you will see your entered horse.
Note that your horse is In Transit to the track where the race will be run. Also notice that you can scratch him if you decide he's not ready to race, or you find a better race. You can also scratch him by clicking on his name and scrolling down to his races.
Clicking on this button removes him from the race.
If you scroll up and look at your horse, you will notice, again, that he is in transit.
You will also notice that above his name, you see "Add This Horse to My Alerts." This is displayed on any horse that is of racing age. You can "Watch" any horse, even other owner's! Go back to your stable page and click on "My Alerts" which is under "My Entries."
When the horse races, it will update the line with the finish position. That way, if you are wanting to watch the offspring of any of your horses, you can be notified on how they are doing!
