This was for SO4 but I still believe most of it applies for SO5. The new league season is not far from starting but you dont need to do anything but keep a watch on this forum and specifically the Online League section for a start date.


BREEDING HELP

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5032

The above thread will help you breed better horses a lot quicker. It is very important to read the replies from Thundrspark and Scatters as they are without doubt the top two trainers in the flat league. I hope no-one takes offence to that.


So for now just concentrate on your breeding. John Scatters also writes how he trials horses, using the race builder in the construction kit. Now you wont have time to breed a superstar BUT if you love the game like I and many others do then this will help you for Starters Orders 5.


EXPORTING HORSES

Here is a great guide on how to export horses for the league

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4866

When exporting horse I would suggest creating new folders to sort them into. For eg I have a 5f, 6f, 1m, 10f, 12f, 1m6, 2m and 2m4 folder and then sort my exported horses into the correct folder. I also use a pacemaker for races of 1m and more. Although the league races dont have pacemakers I still think it helps in your trials. I use a 7f horse with good starting for my 1m trials. So I also have a folder called pacemakers and the 7f horse with good starting was exported as pacemaker. And then a 1m horse for 10f races and so on. This is good for getting rid of the rubbish but when trialing for the league it might be best to use a handy horse to set the pace as this will be the pace in the league.

You may also want to trial your horses at a distance up or down. Its very rare that they are better at other distances but I've had a 6f horse in my game be much better at 1m in the race builder and also a few horses who ran at 1m6 in the game prefer 2m in the race builder. A horse that is great in your game wont always be great in the race builder, which is vital for the league, so make sure you check. Then breed your best horses from this, NOT just your game.

TRIALING HORSES

Here is Scatters Guide to trialing horses for the league and standard times & Scatters is the champ so you could not get a better guide. This was for SO4 and I now feel for SO5 that it is vital you trial your horses at other courses as with SO5 some horses are much, much better at different tracks.

1. Location is UK
2. Racecourse is Ascot. Use courses where G1's races are held at distance. Doncaster 1m6, Epsom 1m4, Newmarket 1m etc etc
3. Going is Good (important to note here is that your horse might be better over GF, GS, Soft or even Heavy going so don’t be discouraged!!!) But you can change this to see if one horse is much better on soft or fast ground.
4. Age is always 3yo+ even if trailing 4yo+ horses because they will eventually meet the 3yo’s somewhere down the line so the weight needs to reflect that.
5. Sex is open company
6. Race type is G1 (because this is what I’m always aiming for)


I always use a pace maker in my time trials so these times reflect that. I trial several times to get an average as the wind factor plays a role in times so I try to get trials with no wind effect if possible. When trailing beyond 1600m the bends come into play so horses out wide are a little disadvantaged hence also why I trial a few times to get a better average. I never use more that 10 horses to try and minimise the effect on horses that are drawn out wide.
TIMES
1000m 5f – 57.5s to 57.0s
1200m 6f – 1.10.50s to 1.10.0s
1400m 7f – 1.23.80s to 1.23.30s
1600m 1m – 1.38.80s to 1.38.40s
2000m 1m2– 2.7.50s to 2.7.0s
2400m 1m4 – 2.33.50s to 2.33.0s
2800m 1m6 – 3.5.80s to 3.4.80s

THESE TIMES WERE FOR STARTERS ORDERS 4. There is a thread for ck times in SO5


Next you need to do this BEFORE uploading horses to the league

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3472


CHOOSING YOUR STABLE

There is no point having five 3yo 5f sprinters, even if they are your best horses.

4 sprinters (2 2yos, 2 3yo+ horses)
5 milers (2 2yos, 3 year old colt and filly + one older horse)
4 10f horses (1 2yo, 3 year old colt and filly + one older horse)
3 12f horses (3 year old colt and filly + one older horse)
2 14f horses
2 long distance horse

Total 20. But I know that some people don't focus on 2 year olds which would free up an additional 5 spaces, or don't focus on stayers which would free up 4 slots. By setting the stable limit at 20 it will force the top stables to spread themselves thin and give others more chances.


CURRENT RULES

Please check this also

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=7697

TOM

http://sopl.info/

The new TOM is open and ready for uploads. We use this website to upload all our horses and then enter them in the weekly races. Sign up and then upload your horses to the website.


ENTERING HORSES

It is VITAL that you get ALL your horses into maidens so they get a handicap mark to then run in handicaps. Otherwise they will have to enter listed or group races and they will then more than likely end up with a rating too high for their ability. That horses season will basically be over. This may now not be true with maidens to be run through the season, I think? But still dont aim too high, too soon.

It happened with a couple of mine last season, one of which I entered at the wrong distance in a maiden, so check your entries, and then had to enter him into a group race at his correct trip. After that he was always carrying too much weight and hardly placed, let alone come close to winning. If you are struggling to find a maiden, you can run in a maiden 1f either side of your horses preferred distance. But dont try any Prescott or Curley tactics! For eg dont run them over 1m4 and then over 1m, it will not go down well!

yeah sounds great keith

just like me mate i did very same and ruined there season but they were weak anyway compared to the 2012 group

When you are a newbie, or entering the league for the first time, you have high expectations. It's natural, you think your horses are better than what they are and then reality kicks in. We have all done it over the seasons.

The first season in the league is defo a learning curve, i agree with placement of horses is key. Also with the new schedules for both the UKRA and NH, gives newbie trainers a chance of getting winners.

Just alittle tip from me when trailing NH horses, Consistant is key!!! I've done 100s if not 1000s of hours trailling horses over jumps, it's so different from trailing flat horses. If you are going to have a NH stable make sure you breed good/heavy ground horses. It's so important imo to have horses what like getting there toes in.

Here you go Keith this will help in knowing distances for your flat runners over jumps.... viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4851

Thanks, Hemz.

I would be really keen on joining the league if there was some sort of beginners guide to go over before hand. Anything available?

This would be very beneficial and helpful.

Ok I'll write up what I learnt from my first season. Im not as seasoned as many but hopefully what I put up will help. A lot of it will just be links to other threads, one of the best ones being the breeding from Scatters and Thunder.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5032

The above thread will help you breed better horses a lot quicker. It is very important to read the replies from Thundrspark and Scatters as they are without doubt the top two trainers in the flat league. I hope no-one takes offence to that.


So for now just concentrate on your breeding. John Scatters also writes how he trials horses, using the race builder in the construction kit. Other stuff I mentioned I will write up later on. Now you wont have time to breed a superstar BUT if you love the game like I and many others do then this will help you for Starters Orders 5 and with the way Steve(East Pier Whitby) has designed the schedule you WILL WIN RACES in the last league season of Starters Orders 4. Apologies for putting this up late.


I will write up selecting your stable and placement of horses later this week. If Onthenose or Icalcutt have any questions then please ask

Here is a great guide on how to export horses for the league

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4866


When exporting horse I would suggest creating new folders to sort them into. For eg I have a 5f, 6f, 1m, 10f, 12f, 1m6, 2m and 2m4 folder and then sort my exported horses into the correct folder. I also use a pacemaker for races of 1m and more. Although the league races dont have pacemakers I still think it helps in your trials. I use a 6f horse with good starting for my 1m trials. So I also have a folder called pacemakers and the 6f horse with good starting was exported as pacemaker. And then a 7f/1m horse for 10f races and so on.

You may also want to trial your horses at a distance up or down. Its very rare that they are better at other distances but I've had a 6f horse in my game be much better at 1m in the race builder and also a few horses who ran at 1m6 in the game prefer 2m in the race builder.

keithbeaky = Top man

I cant take credit. All i've done is pull a couple of threads together. Credit must go to Hackett for the exporting and then Thunder and Scatters for the breeding tips in a thread started by scotty.


Let me know how the breeding goes and dont worry that you wont have much time as there are plenty of handicaps to win again this season and thats where most of mine will be.

At least take a little

any start date yet lads i guess with ich going away it will be a couple weeks at least
have most of my main team now just working on 1 or 2 jumpers and a few other distances

I think it'll be late Feb mate