I Like the Idea of being forced to bring back 5 horses of the trainers choice from
their previous league teams its been mentioned by a few and with this season
drawing to a close thought it would be a good idea to see what people really think
Post thoughts or just vote

I wasn't going to discuss any potential changes until after the season had finished but as it has been brought up I agree with this idea.

However, I think trainers who have less than 5 winners should not have to as this will help them to catch up with more established trainers. I would suggest:

5+ winners = Min 5 retained (do not have to have been the ones that won)
4 winners = Min 4 retained (do not have to have been the ones that won)
3 winners = Min 3 retained (do not have to have been the ones that won)
2 winners = Min 2 retained (do not have to have been the ones that won)
1 winners = Min 1 retained (do not have to have been the ones that won)

This would of course mean most trainers would have to bring back 5 but would help newer trainers

I have voted against this I brought a few back NH this season then I cleared the decks so I don't have any old ones in CK so if I voted yes I would fall foul of this.

Gray

I'm all for it, because it makes a more interesting league. Plus u change 5 half way through so if they turn out to be not good enough then u just change them then. Plus i would like to see more 4+ age races at the end of the season because when the older horses have to take on the 3yo's then they struggle.

Good Luck Everyone tonight. I'm going for another few beers .

Advocate of this and agree with Martins less than 5 winners.

But on the flat we need to go further something along the line 3 x 2yo's & 2 x 3yo's have to come back this will slow the inevitable 3yo classics being mopped up by the same trainers season in season out.

I am a staunch supporter that people who have less time to play/breed etc. still have the opportunity to win a G1/Classic. Is the league not for everyone ? incl. casual players, people that work a lot, life in general etc. There's too much of the "part-time players" should be grateful with a 0-85

Depending on how many seasons we will try to bang in before S07 these should be the times to adapt and try new things, not everything will work, but we must even the scales as much as possible in my opinion and not exclude part time players from a moment of glory.

If I had my way, if you win a classic you have to come back the following year whatever!

Or

Perhaps we look at groups to upload. Max 8 x 3yo's etc etc this would enable a trainer to cover filly & Colt over the main distances 2 x 6f 2 x 8f 2 x 10 2 x 12 but stop a trainer from having 3-4 all superstars at 1m which you can, but you would only have 4 more to cover the rest.

Well, its all open to discussion

I voted against for the same reason as Gray. I do have a few questions for those who are in favour of this:

What happens if a trainer does not have 5 horses to upload for a 2nd season?
How would you know if a trainer does not have 5 horses to upload for a 2nd season?
What are the potential penalties for not having the set minimum number of returning horses?
Are we looking at suspensions, season bans, a reduction in stable size or something else?

This should not be done until people have time to prepare for it. For example all my NH horses get retired at 6 except long distance ones so have nothing to bring back as no 7 year olds. It needs to be stated a season in advance you will need to bring back horses that have run a previous season

Also I think only group 1 / grade 1 winning trainers should be forced to bring back there horses.

And possibly the last reason I don't think I will have the time to implement these changes before next season in Tom. It's not hard to do but not sure when I will have any time, there are some more pressing issues in Tom to do with automating the league that need to be fixed first

I would suggest leaving all discussions about changes until the seasons end as there are only 2 more weeks to go.

But would also agree with Leon that preparation time is essential. If it was agreed I would suggest it be implemented from the start of SO7 as no one could argue they hadn't got a chance to prepare.

In the meantime it would be nice if the people who suggested it led from the front and tried it. MAny already do bring back horses and some with great success. I for one will guarantee to bring back every horse that I have as a year older that has won a race or has been competitive.

One of the huge benefits to this is that handicaps could start straight away from week one, a great incentive to bring horses back as there may be good opportunities. Also it would reduce the size of those early season maidens and possibly the need for so many of them.

As for penalties if you had to bring 5 back but only brought 2 then the most logical penalty would be that you could only have a maximum of 17 or 27 horses until the transfer window. Not much of a penalty really and I think once people got used to the idea it would be fine and generate some great early season handicaps.

Kevin raises good points here.

I think I have had 7 wins on the flat this season so far with most winning 0-90 and under.
It would penalise me to bring 5 of those horses back for the following season - they would be dead wood.
I could wait for the transfer window and retire the 5 as that is what I would do but that just makes the whole exercise pointless.
Or I just wouldn't run them and concentrate on my 15 new horses.

Besides that I am not organised enough nor do I have the time or focus to be doing multiple saves of each horse - I probably spend too much time on the game as it is.

At the end of the day - the trainers who have the time on their hands and the desire and drive to win Group races in the league will always have Group rated horses - no matter what steps are put in place.

What would make a difference is a thread titled "HOW TO BREED FOR THE LEAGUE" pinned to the top of the forum with tips on how to breed and what bars to look for and work on. That would help new players.

I am ok with this but I echo some of the above points, seems to me it will slow the progression of those catching up more than those who are already there, my two returning horses in this season are well behind the curve as an example, now my stable has improved. I will have the same issue in not having copies of those who do not earn a place in the current trials and that I also do not export anything older than 6yo unless it travels 3.4 or more on the jumps.

I also think Martin is right and this should be left for the off-season. Though I will write something that covers how I personally went from struggler to g1 winner in three league seasons, even if I figure there would be less of them if some big name trainers Jim, Thunder and James Harrison were still around, or around more frequently.

Josh

You could not put this in place until SO7 as some people dont have the files of the horses
one year older you could not make such a big change without warning this was merely to
start talks in prep for the next version so trainers would be prepared if there was to be a
change.

It was good to hear peoples thoughts on it i dont think it matters when you start such conversations
wether it during the season or not as it was always more than likely no changes could be made for the
final league season of SO6 (Most likely the last season)

All major changes would need to be put in place for SO7 at the end of the season this thread goes dead
not many come back until the following season is set up thats why I thought it would be a good idea to
canvas opinion while everyone is active on the forum.

Whats the point in starting the conversation after the season when only one man and his dog visit the
online league thread.

Fair point on the activity level in the forum, though I for one do keep an eye on it, even if I do not post. So would still follow and join active discussions.

As Doug has stated someone will always dominate the league
no point moaning about it its always been that way if you have a
good horse at one distance you probably have good horses at
every distance.

for me the more worrying trait is newbies throwing in the towel after
a week this has always been the case its a shame they never gave the
league a chance via the brilliant handicap schedule put together by Gray

there are several who have not had runners this season since week
1 or 2. Usually down to the bubble being burst which happens to us
all at the start.

I know the lads have enough on their plates and adding more races
is a no no but I think we need to cater for the first timers maybe some
sort of rookie system Leon has 5 seasons of data saved in Tom and it
would be easy to identify rookies maybe have a race for them once a
week you could have them at the classic distances 1m 1m2 1m4 1m6

These are just ideas i care about the league greatly and I have always
been for making things better for trainers of all levels if I did not care
id keep my mouth shut.

Rookie race types I would be a supporter of, that is a sound idea. Though even in that there will be dominant trainers, take Martin's opening season for example.

He should be banned