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 General League and Breeding Questions 
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:24 pm
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Post General League and Breeding Questions
Hi all,
I have spent the last few days pouring over all the forums trying to learn the little tricks and tips for breeding for the online leagues. I have played offline for years but the learning curve I've always read on here has put me off joining.
I have a few questions I couldn't find answers for and was hoping someone could help me out.

Is there a 'best' time in the year to breed? and does the green Fertility F actually have an effect? I have noticed some of my offline yearlings are really bad (from good stock) but never investigated if it was timing as I just start breeding Jan 1, or if just bad luck that season. I also notice on modded schedules sometimes yearlings don't show up and become 2 yr olds or a year late.

I read that its good to trail your 2 yr olds, early in Jan. Then pick the best ones and export them later in the season, ie July. Do you race them in this time? After export do you continue to race them?

In the league do you upload 2 yr olds and they age in the game? or do you age them offline and reload them the next season?

Thanks for reading, I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go.


Sat Mar 11, 2023 11:32 pm
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Handicapper

Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 9:35 pm
Posts: 205
Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
I breed throughout the season, export 2yo near the end of the season and trial at the end of each season. i race them a few times, so they progress throughout the season.

I wouldn't get too caught up about what other people do, I think any gains would be marginal.

If I was starting from scratch, I would get a couple of games going, maybe US and UK and after 5-10 seasons in each, trial the best horses. You may find that one game has much better horses than the other game, I would then stick with that game, breeding with the best horses to make them better.

Make sure you are playing in "league mode" and export horses at full fitness.


Sun Mar 12, 2023 11:15 am
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Group 1 winner

Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:16 pm
Posts: 2297
Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
No it makes no difference when you breed them, fertility simply defines how successful they will be in pairing or if you need to repeat the breed.

The time of year you export does make a difference but it’s likely marginal at best and probably not worth losing sleep over. The condition you export at is however key, but unless you’re manually training, like me, this is simplified.

The two year trial thing some swear by and some don’t, I don’t as I have seen all two frequently horses not come into their own until they are older, so terrible at 2, monsters at 4, and if you base everything on 2yo form you will miss these horses. I have some that are only genuine for one season, but it’s personal choice. Simply between games and line horse progression is not linear, what they do in one game maybe significantly different to what they do in another. I have seen all manner of stop and start development at different ages and again the game type also plays a part.

And you can race horses each year in the league, it’s a nice thing to be able to do, but the league will not age them for you so you have to take exports at each age to have this option.

And I echo the point above. The thing you need to work out is a method that works for you, everyone does it slightly differently, so you need to work out an approach that suits your play style and the type of game (flat, NH or combined) and the country will change certain parameters. No point adopting my NH play style of your in an Australian flat game for example.

I am more than happy to share chapter and verse everything I do in my NH and flat games if you want, but there are other ways to achieve the same. My approach works for me but may not suit anyone else.


Last edited by Githyanki on Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.



Mon Mar 13, 2023 11:54 am
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Group 1 winner

Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:16 pm
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Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
And actually on reflection I will change what I said about time of year. Yes it makes a huge difference if you do it too early in a year when they are still developing, you want to be at the crest of the development. Especially key for flat horses at 2 and 3yo and NH horses from 6 to 8yo depending on whether or not your playing a NH or combined game type.


Mon Mar 13, 2023 12:00 pm
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Group 1 winner

Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:16 pm
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Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
To help you best the first thing I or anyone else would need to know is what game type and country you want to play in. Some others will be better placed to help on combined games for example as I don’t play that mode and it behaves differently to pure flat or NH games which I do play. Australian flat plays differently to U.K. and US flat as the season rolls past December but the horses don’t age etc etc. and it is worth adding horses will generally do better in their native country and tracks in the league so an Aussie stable will have a small advantage in the Aussie races and a disadvantage in everything else so the choice does matter. For reference I play two U.K. NH games, one US flat and one U.K. flat and used to play an Aussie flat too but I have recently abandoned it.

Start there then I will try and help as best I can.


Mon Mar 13, 2023 2:04 pm
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:24 pm
Posts: 56
Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Thank you both for the reply.

I have started a flat UK save and seem to have more questions than when I played offline. I guess its based on reading to get first 10-20 season right and also about the time commitment I want to at least be doing it right. I'll just place them here, ignore them any if you think it makes no difference.

Would you trail before 5 or 10 seasons, even for some benchmarks? Or just breed for seasons then start after that? Does it matter if a horse has raced/developed before breeding. Ie I Have a 2 yr old Filly with potential of 85. I know if I race her until 4 or 5, she will most likely go up in potential (say 90 or 95). Does this matter or does the game know this and uses 'future' potential as the rating for breeding? Would I be better getting her into breeding earlier?

I'm 2 Seasons in and have started not keeping Fillies/Mares under 80 Pot and Colts/Stallions under 85 Pot. Is this a good way? How many Mares do you keep in Barn, is it just based on how many you want to handle? I noticed most of my decent offspring are coming from 2 Sires, is this an issue or normal when only using the best you can find?

Do you use a spreedsheet? I have started too, but it feels like maybe too much?

Does horse weight have any effect on them?

Any tips to manage CK, feels like it could get very messy in there.

I just exported a few horses to randomly trail against my offline save. Then in the game then ran bad, read anything into or just what it is?

Future question. I see online stable sizes for full Flat team is 25. What do most make this up of? 5 x 2yr olds, 10 x 3 yrs etc, or distances?

Thanks for your help


Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:12 pm
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Group 1 winner

Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:16 pm
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Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
If I had something good enough that early I would probably export it and may well breed it but I would probably not trial until i had more to measure it against. Easier for me than you also as I have existing stock. And by good enough I would be wanting 90-95% potential, 60%+ cruise and 80%+ speed as a 3yo.

They breed what they could become, so you do not have to race them and indeed there is no real advantage in doing so if you just want to breed. But I do tend to race the colts, firstly as I don’t like too much unrealised potential in my breeding pairs and also because I like to breed my best back into the game, so having colts with G1 wins will get them picked up from stud more frequently.

We all have a cut off and it really depends on what you have, 80%+ is about my flat mark, but really I want 90% as 2yo as these are full at 3yo types and I have these in my new flat game. I would also drop in something with lower potential if it had speed or cruise that i wanted. And yes the number is really what your prepared to handle I can have anything from 100-400 mares per game.

Some horses simply don’t breed well and some do it’s just one of the quirks of the game, just as some good looking horses will never breed good at trial, but in the early game if in doubt keep.

I don’t use a spreadsheet but the increments bar mod is worth having and I scribble notes as I go usually on game lines I am tracking.

Weight and build are small indicators and difference makers but it’s pretty small, have had success with large build 4m chasers for example and I do not like small build for the NH. For flat small and normal is usually the norm.

I approach the ck in a fairly regimented manner, I do big bang trials every 3 seasons. Clearing my barn down to zero at the end of each 3 year cycle, but it is really a case of what works for you.

If your offline game is many seasons advanced them beating a new game is not a surprise but knowing when a game is a bust and starting again is also something to understand.

Team composition for me is a mix of ages and distances to cover as many schedule options as i can with a slight hike for where I feel I am the strongest.

Josh


Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:39 pm
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:24 pm
Posts: 56
Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Thanks Again.

Yeah I have a Filly in Barn which is 100 Pot, but is only 55 realised. Is this a problem, ie foals will have low realised? but if I had raced her it might be higher?

I have 2 Stallions with 95 pot with decent X speed and one Stallion only 80 pot but cruising of 75, so mixing these up with any game breeds I find.

After a season or 2 I might raise my base levels, don't think I could manage 400 horse haha

Think I'm getting the hang of it but I'm sure i'll get a nice (bad) surprise in the league :)

Thanks


Tue Mar 14, 2023 2:01 pm
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Group 1 winner

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Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Unrealised potential horses do seem to breed more of the same, however she can still get you a 100% foal so keep her for sure. Maybe just try and make sure your breeding her to something realised. I would also qualify, if a horse does not have 60%, really 65% realised potential as a 2yo I don’t race it period. I may breed it. So my colts always tend to be horses who maxed out their potential. Early game when I am building bars I pay less attention to this and will breed high unrealised potential colts if they have Uber speed or cruise.

That 75% cruise is key you want to hang on to that as if your life depended on it.

400 is on my main NH game, but after around 130 seasons it basically a factory that produces the same horses over and over again. That they happen to be top tier in the league is nice but I have new games now to break the monotony. My other 3 games have barns of around 100-200. One is 45 seasons the other two are at around 20 and have not yet been through trials.


Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:54 pm
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:24 pm
Posts: 56
Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Thanks,

Getting enough into save now that I can be picker and raising my bar to keep. Barn is over 100 and keep culling every few seasons.
Thanks for the tip of not racing those low pot 2 yr olds, they are annoying. Does it take time and racing for them to maybe fill their potential? Noticed some horses it just never raises.

Have a few horses with extra speed over 90, but not much cruising speed. I've heard people say this can 'disappear' from a save if not breed early. Do you find this?


Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:00 pm
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Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:33 pm
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Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Munas23 wrote:
Thanks,

Getting enough into save now that I can be picker and raising my bar to keep. Barn is over 100 and keep culling every few seasons.
Thanks for the tip of not racing those low pot 2 yr olds, they are annoying. Does it take time and racing for them to maybe fill their potential? Noticed some horses it just never raises.

Have a few horses with extra speed over 90, but not much cruising speed. I've heard people say this can 'disappear' from a save if not breed early. Do you find this?


A good thing to do I find, is name all your horses when they are yearlings. I do this, as at the same time I can see all my yearlings with potential lower than 75, early on in my game, an 80 as it progresses are just deleted there an then. You never want to use these, so no point letting them take up space or time. The stats you see as a yearling are a much better representation of what the horse is, than when they are 2. Sounds odd, but in a flat only game, a lot of a horses stats drop from when they are 1, to 2. Then at 3 they start to go back up again. I think once you get quite a few it'll save you time, and I never base much on a horses 2yo stats. They change too much.

The 2 most important things in this game are your breeding pairs, and your trials. It's not the most entertaining thing at times, but if you put most of your energy into these 2 things, you will reap the benefits going forward. I can't stress how important |i think those 2 things are

I keep 2 spreadsheets specifically for those 2 things. I find google sheets is much better as they're basic enough, an it means I can open them anywhere then, so adds flexibility as I sometimes flit between sitting next to my work computer so I can use more screens while playing.

The spreadsheets themselves are very basic, it's one for trials, where I run a trial, then then allocate a score for finishing 1st to 5th. I run 5 races at each distance I want on each track on Good to soft, good, and good to firm. Each ground type gets it's own auto total, then at the end there's a running total for all them. Ends up 15 races, 5 each ground, so you can get a maximum of 75 points winning every race. The other one is just a list of all the stallions who have performed best in my trials, so therefore i want to use in my breeding. I list their attributes alongside them, then from the trials results for mares, they get allocated to the stallion I think will best suit them for breeding. This is updated with any new ones each season that may make the breakthrough into my trials

I find spending a little bit of time organising this at the end of every seasons trials, just helps you keep a track of the direction your game an breeding programme is going and it takes a lot less time than you think once it's set up. It helps you figure out what stats or running styles etc need addressing in your breeding too.

The 2yo's i wouldn't get rid of any horse at 2 based on anything other than poor stats. I have had some very good 2yo's in the league, that were terrible at 3 an 4. Equally, some of my very best older horses in the league would not have made a 2yo cull if I'd trialled them all at 2. I think it can be a lottery at 2 in the flat only game

Sorry for the waffle :)

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Sat Mar 18, 2023 6:54 pm
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:24 pm
Posts: 56
Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Thanks for the waffle :D shows you thought about it,

I have my own waffle :)

I'm in season 9 (19 overall), and starting to get a fair few exported horses and do random trails but haven't taken notes. I like your idea of tracking the trails and stats of the top 2-5. Have 2 horse that dominate and have just entered my breeding barn as stallions so hopefully they start producing. I was tracking stat of all yearlings that I keep but think this was a waste of time. As you said I know yearling stats are better than 2, so I use this as my culling/decisions.

My barn is around 150 now, any 3 yr old under 90 I don't keep, and 2 yr olds have to be 87.5. Am i being too harsh or are your more developed games even more harsh? Colts need to be over 90 at 2 to be kept and going forward will only breed with those who are 97-100 (once 3-5). I currently breed 95% with my own stallions and a few with gamebreds to look into trying to find any 100 potentials. I'm starting to see and enjoy knowing which breeding lines to look for and have a few gamebreds 'followed' and try and get their offspring.

Do horses develop much between 4 and 5? And once they turn 4 do they develop much during the year? Reason I ask is about getting them into the barn. If I want to take them to stud, can I just skip a few weeks into a season and export, then send to the barn? or will I be losing development from the exported horse?

You spoke about breeding good trail horse together. If their offspring are solid without being outstanding bars wise, would you keep them? Or just cull like others.

Random question as people talk about league horse just being better/different. Is it possible to get exported horse/s off anyone to test against mine? Old league horses? Is it possible?

Also if I export a horse twice in a year does the second export over rule the first?

Thanks for listening. I'm enjoying this but also wish I put this much effort into other things in my life haha


Sun Mar 19, 2023 1:24 pm
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Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Until you’re clear on trial i would not be so harsh. Perfectly likely a 90% potential horse will run better than a 100%, bars are indicators nothing more, you can have the best looking bar horse there is and it could still be a trial bust and may breed nothing but trial busts.

Horses can all develop differently but there does tend to be consistency within the game, but differences between games and game types. NH horses develop until 8, combined until 6. Flat game usually peak at 4 but some will hold until 6 whilst others may start to decline at 5, this in my experience tends to be the most common. But my two NH games behave differently for no obvious reason so development is baked into the stats we cannot see.

I am always slightly more forgiving when breeding known trial stars, not that it always helps, entirely possible for a trial star to never produce even his equal, some horses excel at turning out good horses some just suck at it.

You cannot really get access to others horses, though technically people can send you the files, you cannot do anything much with them without the league race kit. There will be organised trials before the next league for you to test on.

Yes the latest file replaces the former, with multiple games you have to be careful if you use the same name. I made this mistake once and over replaced a monster with a lesser horse.

Finally at some point you want to start thinking about backing up your game and your export files, lot of work goes into them and we have all experienced issues where a backup is life saving.


Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:44 pm
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Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Until you’re trialling in number and against a decent, known trial, stock level your best looking horse is probably not going to be your best horse. I frequently have lesser looking horses outperforming those who have all the looks on paper. Whatever it is that makes them good at trial you cannot see it, but it carries a lot of weight in their performance, so if in doubt keep, worse thing you can do and I am sure we have all done it is cull the one who produces a star.


Sun Mar 19, 2023 9:22 pm
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:24 pm
Posts: 56
Post Re: General League and Breeding Questions
Thanks,

Is backing up as simple as copying the save game and and export horse to a different location? I was thinking about this the other day, I would just walk away if that happened :o


Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:51 am
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