routers and sprints

[Art K Stables]

As we come upon this game's version of the Belmont, and Saturdays Kentucky Derby, it brings me to one of my early misconceptions on this game. When I look at the records of the routers in the derby, several if not all ran in sprint races, yet we know there are no route races for the 2yo.. But, the question remains why not race that router in sprints? It would seem to make sense, and I did do that with an allowance horse who of course ran horribly in the sprint. Yet IRL , routers can run just fine in sprints as 2yo.. So, I guess my question is, even if the routers as 2yo wont race well, does it hurt them in terms of fitness or in any other way to run them early in sprints? Wouldnt they gain experience in doing so? This also came to mind because Taiba, a derby horse who has only raced twice is being looked down on as having too little experience to run the derby well.. Beyer thinks its actually a disservice to the horse to run so few races before the Derby.. Any thoughts on this are welcome.

[Mr. Lord Rich]

Only thing you could potentially hurt is your horses confidence when they get their butt kicked against the sprinters.

The game is not built like that so unless somehow the router was bred to be versatile with sprint ability it will not do well in a sprint race.

[Burgundy Hill Farms]

Remember this guy? https://www.simhorseracing.com/race.php?RaceID=426201
Won a sprint stakes race en route to career perfection routing on grass. And that was back in the day before you could pay to find out if your horse is versatile!

I've often wanted to race milers or routers who've had quick 3 or 4 furlong work times in sprints, but I usually chickened out.

[Carole Hanson]

Remember this guy? https://www.simhorseracing.com/race.php?RaceID=426201
Won a sprint stakes race en route to career perfection routing on grass. And that was back in the day before you could pay to find out if your horse is versatile!

I've often wanted to race milers or routers who've had quick 3 or 4 furlong work times in sprints, but I usually chickened out.

I’ll show you a more recent example of this https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.ph ... ID=1215740

I think the reason this happens is because in both cases, the horses were just THAT much better than the rest of the field, even when not at their preferred distance. Plus, I think it was Tim who once said that he theorises horses will tend to run better in Grade 1s when out of their comfort zone, rather than when racing in an allowance or something like that. Plus, the 2yo triple is a special game triple so I bet it has special coding, same with the Canadian triple where the races are dirt-dirt-turf.

[Kent Saunders]

Keep in mind that in real life there are no route races for 2 yr olds until mid-late August, so if you want to race your promising 2 yr olds, sprints it is till fall when those races are then carded regularly. The Sim is just not built this way (thanks Pete)

[Art K Stables]

So from what I am gatherin is, the game isn't built for routers running in sprints as 2yo except in special circumstances that elude me. Alrighty then.. oh wait, grade 1s and special triple crown series .. ok well I guess the answer is running in sprints is not otherwise advised because of confidence issues.. When it comes to my routers, it appears there's no confidence to worry about

[Mr. Lord Rich]

Art,
would you run your sprinters in the derby? Or the SC classic?

I’m assuming probably not.
The reason for this is that sprinters are programmed to only do well at distances on 2f - 7.5 furlongs.

Ever try a sprinter at a mile?(8f).

You would assume it can get that extra half furlong right?
The answer is no almost every time.

This is a game that tries to simulate real life, but can’t be exactly like it. Coding exists to allow horses to maintain certain distance related divisions.

If these were not coded into the game Horses like steamboat Willie would dominate every division in the game.

[Gigi Gofaster]

This thread brings up all my 'wait, whaaaat?' moments when my hot dirt sprinters lost to this guy:
https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=506779

[Mr. Lord Rich]

This thread brings up all my 'wait, whaaaat?' moments when my hot dirt sprinters lost to this guy:
https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=506779

He was def one of the rare exceptions.
I wished that line would have carried on

[Art K Stables]

Art,
would you run your sprinters in the derby? Or the SC classic?

I’m assuming probably not.
The reason for this is that sprinters are programmed to only do well at distances on 2f - 7.5 furlongs.

Ever try a sprinter at a mile?(8f).

You would assume it can get that extra half furlong right?
The answer is no almost every time.

This is a game that tries to simulate real life, but can’t be exactly like it. Coding exists to allow horses to maintain certain distance related divisions.

If these were not coded into the game Horses like steamboat Willie would dominate every division in the game.

The sprinter at a mile yes I did I ran schnitzngiggles in the mile turf sc because there were so few entries it was an easy 70k, of course the horse ran last every step of the way which isn’t very realistic but I expected what happened, as for steamboat dominating every division well you can only run one distance at a time and that’s no different than any real life horse would dominate every division for the same reasons .. that just wouldn’t happen