Weeks 1 and 2 are available to view here

http://gallopracerseries.yuku.com/topic/19573

I'm new to all this online league stuff. I haven't entered this season because:
1) I don't think my horses are up to scratch, only in my 3rd season.
2) I don't quite understand what you are supposed to do.
But I would love to view the races, is this possible? I have downloaded the Weeks 1 and 2 under this heading but how do you view them?

Hmmm, dont think i'll be entering the league this time, my horses run nowhere near as fast as these times in the construction kit, seems a waste of time to even consider it.

Shame really as i was looking forward to competing

You have to start somewhere. We have all been struggling trainers in the SOPL league. I urge you to take part. Its good fun win or lose mate.
There are banded races for struggling trainers. This is where you will get your first win most probably.

Guys,

Don't let these races put you off. A couple of these D&D horses could go on and achieve great things. If you play your cards right in the Draft, you could be the lucky new owner of what you see.

I agree with Jay, you've gotta start somewhere and get experience. Playing in the league is the best was to learn even more about this game, breeding and placing your horses correctly.

Also, from Week 3 onwards we have banded and restricted racing in all leagues.

Restricted - Open to trainers who are outside the top 10 on the wins leader board

Banded - Initially open to trainers with Zero wins, but as the season moves on, this can change for Trainers with 2 wins or less.

So, if you look at who had some winners so far. Jay and Davylad, I've had one and I think Rich got one. The chances are that we will be in the top 10 in the leader board. That will mean that we are ineligible for some races, and you don't have to feel like you're getting beat up.

Please, join the league if you would like. You will find the league community very helpful and willing to share info to help you move your stables forward. And, no matter what happens, the league is all about fun and learning, so enjoy it.

Also, as and added bonus for the league races, we have commentators to add to the experience of real racing.

It's not too late to be able to pick from the D&D. Round 3 and 4 of the races will be released today, and you will have until Sunday to study all the variables and pick wisely.

Register yourself for the league - here

We have an on-line database called Trainers Office Manager (TOM). The signups are handled through that.

How to Play in the league
1. Play your game on your PC as much as you can an export horses (when you click on a horse name, you will red circle with a capital E in it - Click this. Setup any instructions at your horse needs, and click the "Export this horse now")

2. They are exported to this location (Note: It's a hidden folder, so if you need me to explain how to un-hide, don't hesitate to ask. Also it might be a slightly different if you are using Vista C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\starters orders 3\exports\horses)

3. You can then cut/copy the horse files from these locations and store them in folders of you choice, so you can organise by distance, age, gender, as you see fit, so you can easily keep track of milers from stayers, etc.

4. Important: Make sure when you export your horses their fitness and condition are at their maximum.

5. Export a horse for each year of it's racing career in your game. (Export at 2yo, Export again when the horse is 3yo)

6. In the SO3 game, you will see a menu for "Race Builder", then click horses.

7. Reset your horses to a 51 handicap by clicking on the first handicap rating and typing 951.

8. Use the "Create Race" option in your game to run trial races, at a variety of tracks, ground conditions, and different ages.

9. This will help you figure out your best horses. A good horse in your game won't always be a good horse in the league, and you might find that a weak game horse could be a superstar in the Race Builder.

10. Keep the best and trash the rest.

11. Before the league begins, you will be able to upload your best horses to TOM.

12. You then only need to decide which races to enter, etc. All done with a few clicks of a button in TOM

13. Our Race Secretaries run the races every Sunday, and races are released to all members later in the Week for you to view and enjoy.

14. While you are waiting for the races, you can place bets in TOM, read write ups about the forthcoming races in this website.

15. Feel free to contribute with a write up and prediction of your own. We are always glad to have our members contribute.

Export the league races from the zip file to this location.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\starters orders 3\exports\leagueraces

It's a hidden folder. Vista might be slight different, but we can talk you through finding it.

Once you've saved all the .rac files to the location, load the game, go to Race Builder and click View Races

colm - where do we go from here then ie when do we choose draft horses

When rounds 3 and 4 are shown today, you can then really start studying the form and making your picks any time from today until Sunday.

It's not a case of first come first served.

You need to think of who's ahead of you in the draft, what horse they could be thinking about, etc. If you do get your first round draft pick, and have another excellent quality horse for your second round pick, will somebody else have eyed that one for their pick and will it still be available for round two.

So, analyse and choose wisely.

Hi, I'm pretty new to this game and plan to upload some horses for the online league. Although I don't expect to do very well!

I didn't upload any for the D&D as I didn't understand the process fully. I also haven't been playing for long and don't have many horses exported and didn't want to lose any, as I say I didn't really get the D&D thing so didn't know what would happen!

I've got an account in TOM, but am I allowed in the draft process seeing as I didn't upload any horses for the D&D.

The whole point of D&D is for the top trainers to donate some of their unused horses which are usually of a very high quality, to the newer trainers and less successful trainers from last season so that they have a chance of winning some of the big races.
All new trainers are eligible for the D&D and some trainers from last season with less than a certain number of winners are also eligible.
You do not have to have entered horses to be eligible.

I think a flyer should go out to everyone who has purchased SO3 to introduce and explain the league. So many members are confused and I feel alot of people are not involved because the process is daunting.

I think this would get alot more members involved in the league which is what we need especially the USRA. That league is dying and for me has to go if we cannot get more people involved.

The US league will not be going. As discussed last season in the league, it's far too early to make assessments like that.

It's not just info that's causing a slow start. SO is competing against other horse racing games that are very US focused. They have different style to those games. Some have better graphics. None of the other games match up the the SO simulation. Some of these other games are starting to fail because their members are now realising they have been given empty promises. We need to keep ourselves honest and helpful like we've always been.

One of the faults in SO for the US, is that it was US game in name only. The racing sim was very UK orientated. That has/is being corrected, and our USRA President is making adjustments to the league structure to better represent US racing. All this effort is going into attracting more US based players.

So, to drop the league now, would be killing the US league before it has a chance to get off the ground.

The original UK league was not so hot to start with either, but with time and adjustments, it's grown into what we know today.

Hey Colm, I am not putting a downer on it. I know I complain alot about it. I would love to see the USRA pick up and take off. I want the USRA to be what we thought it would be. The interleague races were an exiciting prospect where USRA trainers and UKRA trainers would meet up and clash but now the USRA is basically UK trainers running horses on US tracks. I hope in time that the USRA and UKRA will be seperated and the interleague races will be where the horses from both associations meet.

I also think we should have more lower grade races in the UKRA for the members on here not wanting to take part in fear of the horses being beaten week in, week out. Maybe we could add two more races next season.

I take on board your point about confusion. You wouldn't believe the number of Private messages that I've received about the league from players based across the globe.

I'm in the process of revising the league "full hat write up". To better explain all this.

One thing that we can all do, is actively promote SO and/or the SOPL. Both do exactly what they say on the tin.

The game - the best racing sim there is, and it's a give away at the price being charged for it - £20. Most games released these days are £50 minimum.

The league - Firstly, it's FREE. No money changes hands. It's good honest fun, with 3 grades of racing for the serious player and the casual player. No empty promises. Win or lose, enjoy the experience.