Be careful what you buy

[Kelly Haggerty]

This is just a quick note for the very new players, and I'll write an article early next year to follow up with more details. Be very careful what you purchase early in your SIM experience. Check the horse's past performances, speed ratings, and race times very carefully. Here's some of what you are looking for:

Past performaces: Horses that have been racing in claiming races, particularly claiming races in AK, are most likely worth the claiming price from those races. A claiming race means the horse is for sale for that amount of money. So if a horse has been routinely running in races with a claiming price of $5000 or so and getting a check here and there, it is VERY unlikely that he's worth more than that. I often see horses advertised for $20k and up that could have been bought 4 times over for that amount. Don't get rooked in. Always check both the horse's performance in races, and the "class" of the race, meaning how tough the competition was. And don't forget you can just follow a horse and claim him next out if you wish. Unless he's absolutely been dominating the competition in the claiming ranks (in which case he probably would already have been claimed) then he's probably going to wind up right back in races where he is for sale for the proper amount. No need to fall in love and overpay.

Speed ratings and race times: The "speed rating" is a numerical factor that can roughly be used to compare how one horse ran vs. another, relative to some absolute like the track record. You can read more about speed figures here: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=31836. Race times are just that, how fast a horse ran the distance. Both speed figures and race times are important in considering a horse's ability.

Finally, check out the fields at Trial Park over the last couple of weeks before deciding what to buy. Trial Park racing is often assummed by vets to be easier than open racing; however, that VERY MUCH depends on who is racing at TP at the time, and what they own. It's common for new players to be given or leased stakes-quality horses to race at TP to build their bankroll. At present we have at least 4 players running horses that are stakes quality (or nearly so) in many of the divisions, and at least 3 of those players frequently enter more than 1 such horse per race. So if 3 players enter 2 stakes horses apiece, then the first 6 placings in the race are most likely going to go to those horses, and only the first 5 placings pay anything. You will wind up losing the money it costs to ship back and forth if you try to race a lower-quality horse in those races. Checking the speed figures and race times of horses you are thinking of buying against what has been competitive in his division at TP will tell you whether he's a candidate for racing there. Don't just go on the word of someone that says "he'll be great for TP". They likely mean well and are trying to help, but always verify that assumption against actual current TP results before buying.

[Tammy Stawicki]

Great advice! I have one thing to add based on mistakes I made when I was starting out which is look to see how many horses a horse you are interested in is actually beating. Some people make money by race filling (putting their horses in races with less than 5 horses for a guaranteed check). Now there is nothing at all wrong with that but if that horse then winds up on the sales page you can get tricked into thinking ooooooh look at all this money it earned by not realizing it never actually beat another horse in the process of earning it and is not at all competitive.

[Gwen Morse]

Speed ratings and race times: The "speed rating" is a numerical factor that can roughly be used to compare how one horse ran vs. another, relative to some absolute like the track record. You can read more about speed figures here: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=31836. Race times are just that, how fast a horse ran the distance. Both speed figures and race times are important in considering a horse's ability.

Speed numbers are a pay Simperior feature.

Here's a link to a Racing News article I wrote on Speed Numbers. The short explanation is: speed numbers appear to be assigned based on the conditions of the race. So, speed numbers don't seem to directly reflect your horse's actual racing speed. Instead, they will show how your horse performs in that tier of race. The same horse winning a NW 2 (not winner of two races) will have a very different speed number than when they race in a G3 (grade 3) stakes. It's common for horses to get higher speed numbers and finish in a worse positions as they move up the different tiers of races.

welcome and good luck to any new players out there.

[Mr. Lord Rich]

Speed figures are determined based on multiple factors. I will say that for the most part speed figures tend to be higher in the higher quality stakes races versus a claimer or conditional type race only because the horses are pushing each other harder due to the quality of horses in the same race.

[Ryan Whitehead]

I would submit the original post as an article and get paid once the season opens back and articles are accepted again.

[Trent Mcevoy]

I would add if you are a new player and claim a horse it would be wise to check that it has been running with the correct equipment. I claimed many, oh so many horses that either had no equipment applied or were running with the incorrect gear, sometimes the answer is in the horses history sometimes you will have to pay for the piece. But in the majority of cases with mine once the correct gear was applied they ran better.

[Diane Townsend]

I would add if you are a new player and claim a horse it would be wise to check that it has been running with the correct equipment. I claimed many, oh so many horses that either had no equipment applied or were running with the incorrect gear, sometimes the answer is in the horses history sometimes you will have to pay for the piece. But in the majority of cases with mine once the correct gear was applied they ran better.

Agree. Even when the horse has the equipment set (*) sometimes for whatever reason the equip can still be wrong. So it is a good idea to get into the habit of taking off the equip set when you buy a horse and then confirming when you check results & ship it to the nearest farm.

[Kelly Haggerty]

I would add if you are a new player and claim a horse it would be wise to check that it has been running with the correct equipment. I claimed many, oh so many horses that either had no equipment applied or were running with the incorrect gear, sometimes the answer is in the horses history sometimes you will have to pay for the piece. But in the majority of cases with mine once the correct gear was applied they ran better.

Agree. Even when the horse has the equipment set (*) sometimes for whatever reason the equip can still be wrong. So it is a good idea to get into the habit of taking off the equip set when you buy a horse and then confirming when you check results & ship it to the nearest farm.

About 20% of what I purchased had wrong kit, agree completely.