Aging out of Trial Park after a break

[Hannah Sandiford]

Hi all, I’m just getting back into the game having taken an unexpected break (my iPad broke and by the time I got a new one real-life events had taken precedent). As a result my barn was auctioned in a dispersal and I only have a week or so left as a new player- where do I go from here?

Before my break I was getting good results at TP with regular stakes win and have a good idea of training/racing/race selecting, but the idea of going straight into the deep end now seems pretty intimidating. I have no idea where to start when it comes to tracks/circuits. I’ve bought a couple of horses to build my barn back up but they were boarded all over the globe- have shipped some to TP to make use of the last race weeks there, but (as an example) one is in Europe- should I leave him there or is the competition tougher?

I’m also finding it tough to figure out the standard of horses I should be looking for as I’m guessing this is going to be some bit higher now I’m racing in ‘open’ company. I still have around $2.3m that I earned before the break- where should I look to source horses? Auctions, sales page or claiming races? And what standard of horses should I realistically be looking at?

TIA- any and all advice appreciated!

[Hannah Sandiford]

As a side note- I have the money sat in my account ready to buy horses but just can’t find them?! Aside from breeding them how do people manage to fill their barns? I’ve cast a glance over the sales pages and it just seems filled with horses with bad gallop comments (even before the break when I was almost exclusively racing at TP I needed at least allowance horses even to win maidens, and most of the stakes I won were with freaks) or old horses that have massively tailed off (again, I learnt early on that horses stuck in a losing rut are very very hard to get back to form, even if they used to be high quality money earners) and now I’m leaving TP the standard is going to step up even higher.

I’m guessing decent horses get snapped up very quickly after they are listed, is it just a case of checking regularly and hoping you catch something? Or should I focus on trying to get hold of some quality in downsizing/dispersal auctions?

[Nicole Marie]

Spend some time researching horses in claiming races. I claimed this mare for 40K two sim years ago. That's a rarity, but it's possible to find gems in the claiming races, or at least horses with good pedigrees. Scour the upcoming claiming races, look at speed figs and workout times, and you may find a diamond in the rough. There are also periodic player auctions with some pretty good horses in them, when top players downsize their barns, so keep an eye on the auction page too, not just direct sales.

[Darcy McBride]

What do you like to run, Hannah?

[Hannah Sandiford]

What do you like to run, Hannah?

That’s another thing I’m still getting to grips with- obviously I only have experience with TBs as that is all that is raced at TP. So although I’m not closed off to other breeds I really have no idea how to ‘shop’ for them or place them in races. Eg- is the standard of gallop comments required for success the same as in TBs? Do speed figures carry the same weight/have the value as in TBs? Same goes for steeplechase too- is there a reason that new players tend to stick with dirt/turf TBs?

At TP I was mostly focusing on turf (although did have some dirt horses so I could enter as many TP races as possible), I’m from the UK so in real life turf is all I know and it makes sense to focus on that.

[Gwen Morse]

That’s another thing I’m still getting to grips with- obviously I only have experience with TBs as that is all that is raced at TP. So although I’m not closed off to other breeds I really have no idea how to ‘shop’ for them or place them in races. Eg- is the standard of gallop comments required for success the same as in TBs? Do speed figures carry the same weight/have the value as in TBs? Same goes for steeplechase too- is there a reason that new players tend to stick with dirt/turf TBs?

At TP I was mostly focusing on turf (although did have some dirt horses so I could enter as many TP races as possible), I’m from the UK so in real life turf is all I know and it makes sense to focus on that.

Welcome back.

Whatever you get into, you'll want sprinters so that you have racers at the start of the season. Early in I didn't put effort into a sprinter division and then I was like "Oh !@#$, I don't have new horses to race until week 7".

If you like turf, stick with it. (IMO) It's a good level of competitive - you'll be challenged but you can still get established in it as a newer player. TS is a smaller division and I find that broodmares are a little hard to get. TM is very popular and a fair few new people who earn big balances at Trial Park move into it. TR is highly competitive but also has a lot of stakes so there's a lot of money in it.

DR is a trap for new players. It's the hardest division, hands down, and many long term players struggle in it. Get your stable up and running in easier division(s) before thinking about DR. I don't know much about DM and DS.

All-weather doesn't get a lot of attention but it can be very lucrative. Lower gallops do better there.

As far as other breeds/types STBs and Steeplechasing tend to be pretty hard to earn money. Like with DR - wait until you're established in other divisions first.

The Arabian sprint division tends to have a lot of empty/nearly empty races (according to forum comments). That sounds to me like it would be easy to break into as you'd be guaranteed to earn something as you were trying to get your lines established. But Arabians don't race until 3 and a lot of players don't like to wait. I don't know about mids/long distance.

For stock breeds/mixers (QH/Appy/Paint) I only know the basics from real racing. Quarter Horses would likely be the best to start with from a breeding perspective if you want to get into stock breeds because QHs can be used to breed appies and paints. But a lot of people who want to get into stock breeds start with QHs so that may make it harder to compete. If you want to get into mixers I would send a PM to Shannon Hunt - she's very newbie friendly and she can explain more (including whether there's a better breed to start with).

Try not to spend most/all your 2 million. Grab any cheap but decent (allowance/up) gallops on the New Player page before you change to junior. Also, hopefully you got some freebies from posting. You're going to be transitioning from racing horses you were given/leased/bought to breeding your own and that's a much harder "game" and it's very expensive.

[Ma Springs]

I agree with all. Look at claimers for fillies for future broodmares (although that has probably become harder with the breeding shed/longer career comments) and geldings (4-5 yo stakes geldings can be found for cheap). At auctions you could also find allowance races horses for a few dollar. And a forum post is probably an excellent idea. I'll send you a few reboot horses that hopefully might help a little.

[Cleo Patra]

Hannah, check out the fillies here and chose one that takes your fancy: viewtopic.php?t=57124