Just thought l would open a topic for idea's for next season. Would need Rich to confirm he would listen to these so please dont use this expecting an answer but if Rich could listen and offer his thought it would be appreciated.
For me

1. NH needs a handicapper and or if someone can be found for Flat then cant see a reason to not have handicappers in both.

2. Races 1m 6f and above would like to have an option for trainers to ask for a nuetral Pacemaker. (reason being l have watched most of the longer distances and all horses are pulling for the first 4 or 5f which just results in a false run race everytime. In real life pacemakers would be added so cant see why we cant.)

3.In handicaps to have a cut off point to stop so many horses running with bottom weight. example 0-110 races become 80-110 and 0-90 becomes 60-90,l think this as 2 horses with a 40ilb difference should not be racing against each other, anything below this to have like banded races restricted to horses with less than a mark of 60. I think this is a good way to stop half the field running out the hcap.

Would be good to get some ideas in here but also hear opinions about the changes we made this season. Namely the handicaps, G1 entry rules etc. I will try and answer them all.

1. Would be great to have a handicapper and I'm happy for people to put themselves forward for this position. It will be an incredibly laborious process, you'll probably get loads of grief and if you miss a week then it will mess everything up Ideally, the game would be better at appointing marks.

I personally don't think the handicap situation has been terrible this season, there has been a lot of talk of crazy marks but often that is when you are comparing one distance to another. That is simply down to the game mechanics. My preference is for a minimum 3 runs at the handicap distance but I don't think that fits in well with the league timescales.

2. I would love to say yes to this, mine all need a strong pace as that is how I trial but it's a slippery slope. If we allow one person two entries what happens if the pacemaker wins, people are going to be a bit annoyed. If we have a random trainer with a stable of pacemakers what if someone has a horse that sets a slow pace and accelerates off that. I think this is more a game issues overly penalising front running horses hence noone uploading them.

3) The problem with banded races is that very few people were eligible and because of the closeness of the league this season it would either be very few entries or almost everyone can enter. Horses running outside of the handicap are only penalising themselves. The ideal would of course be more races, more horses but we have to draw a line somewhere.

i like Mikes ideas!

The pacemaker one is one ive thrown up before - I think you rich, as president, should set up a stable with pacemakers for various distances. Then when group 1 races come about you should enter a pacemaker into the race. I dont know about every race at 1m6f upwards but i do think for sure that G1 races should consist of a pacemaker!!

I would like to see a 12 weeks season, so you get more returning horses coming back season after season.

Also more races added to the NH schedule like 20/30 each week, and having 2 race sec so it lightens the load on one person doing them.

The NH schedule needs a serious overall, it's out of date. The Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Hennessy need to be Graded Handicaps.

I agree also about having a NH Handicap.

I would like to say that the 3 run before a handicap sounded great, and l say this from my experience and only joining late but.....i was forced to race a hcap horse in a group race to get the 3 runs into it, which then got hit with penaltys and high marks due to running against group horses which then meant l was trying to win a hcap with top weight with a horse that just wasnt good enough. This in my opinion forces trainers to run horses at wrong distances and abuse the system to try and get good mark. I think this idea can work and defo should be continued l also think the Group 1 should be 2 runs and any group race 1 run. To make this work l think only having 2 uploads per season would be perfect and closing all uploads from week 2 until 2nd upload window.

2 runs in a Handicap sounds more realistic for the league, 3 is maybe alittle to many.

I also think a first time out horse should be able to run in a G1, it happens in real life. Though not often but it happens in the Flat and NH.

I think you Rich could maybe get pacemakers yourself that dont get home example 2 mile pacemaker in 2m4f races and as of a horse which sets slow pace and quickens as l say l have watched most of the staying races and there hasnt been one this season. Just horses that are in front cus everything else is pulling for 4 furlongs. Trialing this would be easy as l have pacemakers over all distances that never ever win. To implement this maybe have an option in TOM when you enter a horse request a pacemaker and if you dont then dont click it. If this is over say 75% then a pacemaker is used. Its just a total waste of breeding stayers if there never going to have any pace at all and in real life pacdemakers would be used

races are tactical though!!

G1s are races were u most often see pacemakers and therefore rich shud create a pacemaking stable to put one in the big races!!!

do like ur idea tho mike!!!

Rich, mwesty1's response to pace makers is spot on. Use pacemakers that can't make the distance. Well thought westy!!! I've got plenty, maybe you can change the name and owner details so its obvious. I'm sure Mark can do it if you ask.

To counter the hi handicape mark received when entering group races for the 3 run rule you would need a few more maidens!!!


Also Having a few more 4yo+ races later in the season is needed!!

Yep l agree mate, l think first 2 weeks should have plenty and then whatever the other week upload is have another week of maidens to help new late trainers too to get there horses handicapped

I like some of the ideas but am against the pacemaker idea... Horses should be run in the way they have a best chance of winning, whether that be from the front or the back, I personally don't want to see the league turning into a playground where aidan o'brien types can chuck as many horses in as they want and it will make no difference, just look at the sea the stars races.... The cream always rises to the top, pacemaker or not.

I fear this is turning into a top players playground again but that is just my opinion, I enjoy the game and that's it. I believe there should be a lot more handicaps, it's hard to fit a years schedule into 18 weeks and you need the top races but maybe have 30-35 races a week and include more handicaps with a proper handicapper so it gives the lesser quality stables a chance, just like the real world, no offence to them but you don't see trainers such as ones that run most of their types at wolverhampton have to shove their horses into group ones beause there is no where else to run them like we have to in the league...

I do it myself, there are hardly any handicaps or conditions races for my horses as they are not good enough at group 1 level so I have to stick them in those races because that is the only race at that distance which in turn destroys their handicap mark so they can't win when the handicaps do come around. I like the ideals but feel they are more geared towards horses at the top of the tree and dominant trainers, I'm not being funny but I don't think pacemakers would make a difference, the horses that won most of the big races would have won them anyway!

I personally think the US should be scrapped, a lot more races added to the UK schedule especially listed/conditions/handicaps and maybe replace the banded races with low grade handicaps? I mean if we have a proper handicapper then it would work, NHC needs slight tweaking but I think that was the real success story, very exciting league for all involved! Few tweaks to the schedule and the addition of a few more handicaps and a handicapper and it would be perfect!! Again these are only my views! Don't slate me lol!

i dont really like the US league either. i think it would not be missed, and all the big races could feature in a new 'Flat league'.

NHC is good yes but schedule can be greatly improved - if im around next season id also like to introduce a 'Hurricane Hurdle Series' similar to MM.

The NHC is full of trainers willing to do comms , handicapping etc and i know every race could be commed for the nhc. I do appreciate rich's concern over the handicapping, he makes some very valid points.

i think pacemakers are a good thing, i do think tho that they are best used sparingly int he biggest races only. That would be more realistic as you do see them in G1s. And yeh in real life the cream rises to the top but in this game hold up runners really do struggle to run to form

I have to agree with nick_driver about having a pacemaker and the need for more handicaps, I would also like to see more Listed, group 3 and group 2 races.

I had a few runners this season that were race handy horses and they ended up making the running in some of there races, having a pacemaker would have helped them, but I don't think we should have pacemakers as this would only help the stronger stables and the lesser stables would have less of a chance at winning a big race. I think someone posted earlier in the season that there horses couldn't go the pace and that the front runners were 3 lengths clear going easy and there horse was getting reminder to keep up, so I don't think a pacemaker would have helped them.

When I trial my horses I have pacemakers that can't even get to the front to set the pace, on the other hand I have seen outstanding game horses that can't even beat my pacemakers.

I agree with this entirely. Ideally we'd have shedloads of races to cater for everyone but the truth is that races take a bit of time to do.

The possibility of scrapping the US league is out there, I have other ideas for it, new inventive ideas but I'm not sure I can make TOM fit this to make it simple for everyone to use. Tough decision

i reckon you should scrap it rich and focus on creating a sole 'flat league' , featuring races from all around the world!


but that is the only view i will offer on the flat league, im an nhc man and my opinions and ideas ae all about how to make the nhc even better!!