Where it all began

[Entry Clerk]

My first horse racing game had a small cardboard track with slots for moving the 5 colored plastic horses: Jet Pilot, Dark Star, Swaps, Needles, and Tim Tam. A spinner was used to determine which horse to move. Horse racing in the USA was extremely popular back then. The Kentucky Derby was the biggest sporting event of the year.

Sounds like horse racing subbuteo or those awesome fairground attractions where balls you roll into holes propel your horse forward.

[Ronnie Dee]

My first horse racing game had a small cardboard track with slots for moving the 5 colored plastic horses: Jet Pilot, Dark Star, Swaps, Needles, and Tim Tam. A spinner was used to determine which horse to move. Horse racing in the USA was extremely popular back then. The Kentucky Derby was the biggest sporting event of the year.

Sounds like horse racing subbuteo or those awesome fairground attractions where balls you roll into holes propel your horse forward.

When I was young, I played those horse racing games every year at the (Detroit) Michigan State Fair. The State Fair was always one of the highlights of my summer when I was a child.

[Kaine Saracen]

Well... The list is very long. I used to own a game called Totopoly. Yes, they actually had a horse racing table top game!
I also at one point had all of the gallop racer titles, champion jockey/G1 jockey titles, Melbourne Cup Challenge, Phar Lap Horse Racing Game, Starters Orders, Quarterpole, Hooves of Thunder.
I played track king, knew the owners of that one. They weren't horse racing folks. Also Derby Fever and a couple of other web based games some so memorable I forgot their names.

Of course, the BIGGEST crime would have to be Koei. They produced what may arguably be the best horse racing game out there in Winning Post. The very first title on Sega(?) was in English. Every release since has been exclusively in Japanese. I did own a couple of the titles some years ago, unfortunately an agreement with an associate didn't pan out and they weren't returned when loaned. I did spend some time swapping emails with a guy at Koei, but he was as persistent that there was too small a market in the English speaking world as I was that there was definitely a market out there.

[Sara Julin]

For me it was Horse Racing Manager 2003. The most realistic game! With flat racing, steeplechasing, monté and trot!
With races straight from the real world. You can compete in the Arc, kentucky derby, Melbourne Cup etc. I was hooked on this game.
Today the animations are horrible, but the rest of the game is still Amazing with some quirks here and there, but VERY enjoyable).

[Shannon Hunt]

I first played on a forum-based racing sim, quite small (membership shifted but perhaps a dozen active stables at any one time). There was plenty of drama and my memories of it now are bittersweet, but at the time it was a highlight for me, and taught me all the basics of horse racing (having a really nice barn didn't hurt either). Since it was all manually run it had a tendency to go on hiatus now and then, and I was always looking around for new horse games to try in those days. This is why my profile says I joined in 2009 - one of many sites I registered on, didn't quite have the patience to figure out at the time, and fell off until years later when I rediscovered the sim, tried to register and already had an account. One of the few sites I did end up playing regularly during those initial searches was Trophy Horse. I played for years as a basic player, finally felt financially comfortable in upgrading to an account where I could actually expand my barn and breed my own horses, and within about two days the site announced its closure. Took me a while to upgrade to simperior here because I was convinced I'd curse the site into shutdown if I dared invest in GP

[Entry Clerk]

My first horse racing game had a small cardboard track with slots for moving the 5 colored plastic horses: Jet Pilot, Dark Star, Swaps, Needles, and Tim Tam. A spinner was used to determine which horse to move. Horse racing in the USA was extremely popular back then. The Kentucky Derby was the biggest sporting event of the year.

Sounds like horse racing subbuteo or those awesome fairground attractions where balls you roll into holes propel your horse forward.

When I was young, I played those horse racing games every year at the (Detroit) Michigan State Fair. The State Fair was always one of the highlights of my summer when I was a child.

I love the trumpeting and noise from the gate bell, you would here this at the fair, very American because the UK has no gate bell nor trumpeting but it sure is cool!

[Entry Clerk]

I first played on a forum-based racing sim, quite small (membership shifted but perhaps a dozen active stables at any one time). There was plenty of drama and my memories of it now are bittersweet, but at the time it was a highlight for me, and taught me all the basics of horse racing (having a really nice barn didn't hurt either). Since it was all manually run it had a tendency to go on hiatus now and then, and I was always looking around for new horse games to try in those days. This is why my profile says I joined in 2009 - one of many sites I registered on, didn't quite have the patience to figure out at the time, and fell off until years later when I rediscovered the sim, tried to register and already had an account. One of the few sites I did end up playing regularly during those initial searches was Trophy Horse. I played for years as a basic player, finally felt financially comfortable in upgrading to an account where I could actually expand my barn and breed my own horses, and within about two days the site announced its closure. Took me a while to upgrade to simperior here because I was convinced I'd curse the site into shutdown if I dared invest in GP

Keep the faith Shannon! I think the Sim can run itself unless someone has to press the button like that TV show Lost!

[Entry Clerk]

Well... The list is very long. I used to own a game called Totopoly. Yes, they actually had a horse racing table top game!
I also at one point had all of the gallop racer titles, champion jockey/G1 jockey titles, Melbourne Cup Challenge, Phar Lap Horse Racing Game, Starters Orders, Quarterpole, Hooves of Thunder.
I played track king, knew the owners of that one. They weren't horse racing folks. Also Derby Fever and a couple of other web based games some so memorable I forgot their names.

Of course, the BIGGEST crime would have to be Koei. They produced what may arguably be the best horse racing game out there in Winning Post. The very first title on Sega(?) was in English. Every release since has been exclusively in Japanese. I did own a couple of the titles some years ago, unfortunately an agreement with an associate didn't pan out and they weren't returned when loaned. I did spend some time swapping emails with a guy at Koei, but he was as persistent that there was too small a market in the English speaking world as I was that there was definitely a market out there.

Sounds like the Sim in reverse, I am sure The Steward would love Japanese players in it.

[Mary Whalen]

Trophy Horse. I wonder if Jeff, the owner, has ever recovered from the nervous breakdown we players caused him to experience?
Needless to say, the game is but a memory.

I made it my mission to bring Trophy Horse players onto the SIM once that site turned into too much drama. I also played Melbourne Cup Challenge on the PC and have recently discovered Phar Lap Horse Racing Challenge on PS4.

[Ash Tarasin]

I played a racing boardgame when I was a child. The game had been in our family for two generations. I think it was from the 50s, called Jägerso Galopp. It may sometimes still be found in antiquity stores.
My dad had made a bunch of horses of his own with different values and abilities, and me and my sister continued that tradition. It may in a way have been a (very) light version of the sim but with visible numbers for horses, and penned down.

[Gwayne's World]

Trophy Horse. I wonder if Jeff, the owner, has ever recovered from the nervous breakdown we players caused him to experience?
Needless to say, the game is but a memory.

I made it my mission to bring Trophy Horse players onto the SIM once that site turned into too much drama. I also played Melbourne Cup Challenge on the PC and have recently discovered Phar Lap Horse Racing Challenge on PS4.

So, anyone having issues with me, contact Brassy, I mean Mary!

[Mary Whalen]

So, anyone having issues with me, contact Brassy, I mean Mary!

My only issue is your dirt routers are better than mine lol