Hi guys, I recently got into SO6 and I love it so far.

Is there a running sheet of translated comments? Like one of my horses recently got the comment, "I'm not sure of this horse is genuine." ?

And... my trainer lad told me my first Graded winner (2 & 3 graded winner) could "benefit from gelding" which I do not want to do, but his first race of the season was really poor considering he was a star as a two year old.

Hi Cate

The "genuine" comment is a strange one that we've all had - it's a comment that isn't used often and from my experience - if the horse is a top liner then you wont ever see this comment.

Gelding - My personal thoughts are DONT DO IT lol because you will regret it. I believe you may be fairly new to the game and one of the quickest ways to move forward is to breed.
It took me something like 40 odd virtual years to get a handful of game bred Group One runners/winners and I believe I could have sped this up if I had actually bred much earlier in the game.
So at the moment you probably have some good listed winners - breed with them. At the end of the season spend your money on a breeding barn and skip the auctions
Also my belief is that a lot of horses first run of the season isn't as strong so don't worry about that first up run.

Thanks NPG! I ended up selling my graded winner since his three year old season he was finishing dead last or nearly dead last in Graded's that were 95-110 speedforms and his speed form would always be the highest or one of the highest. Best distance/pace, but for some reason he was just really turned off to racing all of a sudden. So I sold him for $1.4 mil and got my breeding barn so I'm working my way up from there. Small loss because I would have loved to have bred him, but finishing last in all his graded's for his 3yo year without any excuse made me just sell him. Now I have a decent cash flow with the babies auctioning.

The horse not being genuine is an English thing (I'm going to assume you're American?). It means the horse isn't running honestly and putting all it's effort in. Blinkers or a noseband should help.

Only geld if the horse consistently gets the comment 'not settle'. Even then, it's probably better to sell than geld.

The head lad usually recommends that every horse be gelded - even your undefeated Triple Crown winning all time leading money earner. Ignore your head lad and make him do double duty mucking out stalls.

Thank you all for your replies so far!

Yes, double muck duty for the lad!

Soo.. I'm at the stage of the game where I am breeding 98-110 speed form foals now.. but the only annoyance I'm running into is that they can handily win their maiden & allowance race just fine... but a 102 speed form 2yo colt against 95-98 raters in a Grade 3 "We were outclassed. We weren't competitive." in a small pursed G3. What? HOW? Am I doing something wrong? I just now end up selling most once they won their maiden or even before then if I know it's going to be iffy rating.

It's not just this colt, I've had 4-5 that are 98+ but can't be competitive in a G3+ race. Good form, good distance. Nada. Last or nearly last.

These are just my opinions from my experiences.
2yo's - Some 2yos are guns - they win earlier then win or place in the big 2yo races (I play on the Australian tracks) and carry that form through their career.
Some 2yo's win their maiden early then they are sort of "around the mark" and really don't win much at 2. But at 3 they start finding their form and start blitzing.

It's horses like these (that lose their 2yo form) that you have to start experimenting with - try different riding instructions and different distances


I have noticed some horses who win well early in their career but aren't top liners and can't compete at Group 1 or 2 get stuck with top weights in Group 3 races and struggle because of the weight.

What the head lad says and the ideal distances for each horse etc. - are just a very general guide. It's up to you to observe each horse's nuances - and trust your gut feelings!

Since you're building a bit of a bank selling off colts and fillies - keep an eye open on the Thursday sales - occasionally a gun 2yo or 3yo comes up for sale - buy them.

That's good advice! When their form starts dipping as 2yos is it a good option to turn them out to grass for the rest of the season? Or is it still beneficial for them to just remain unraced till their 3yo season?

And I agree, I am having the same problems. My youngsters win the allowance, handicaps, and maidens just fine, but ohh boy put them in a G3 and they flop. Badly. So I go back and nurse them through more handicaps and see what is the next pick at a chance at a graded race that won't get them clobbered.

What I don't understand is when I see say a 89 timeform horse win a G3/G2 beating out 95-100+ timeformed horses. Is it just a fluke or were they perfectly positioned to improve drastically in that race? I just don't understand why/how lower timeformed horses can outperform/place better than higher timeformed horses.

Most 2yos can't be started often - so be sparing in their runs.
This is how I operate at the start of each 2yo season. First off, every horse who's ideal distance is over 2000m I put it in the paddock until next season.
With the rest I take note of each horse's barrier ability - if they are good to average I race them 'Handy' and if poor I race them as 'Slight Hold Up'
I then give them 2 starts in maidens. If their ideal distance is 1600m or under I usually start them in 1000m maidens and 1200m maidens for the others.
Hopefully most win in those two starts. If some of the 1800m and 2000m horses don't win or place then I wait for the 1400 to 1600m races to start later in the season.
The rest I will start in the major Group races only....so each horse may only have 6 starts as a 2yo. With a bit of luck I uncover a gun horse or a horse might get lucky.

At the start of each 3yo season, I start all the unraced 2200m and above runners in a 2000m maiden and watch what happens. Hopefully I get a good winner or placing.
Those horses I then aim at 2000m Group 3yo races. The ones that don't place I will aim at 2400m Group 3yo races.
With my other 3yo's - Hopefully that 2yo gun keeps winning as a 3yo and the rest improve and find their calling over 1600m OR I have to experiment to find what works best
to get the best out of a particular horse.

So to simplify it - I try to start all my 2 and 3yo's in Group races and hopefully I am successful. I know you may not be breeding as high calibre horses as yet but hopefully you can find a horse or two that can pick up a few Group 3 races


Sometimes I think that is just a fluke or it might be a horse finally running at it's pet distance for the first time. Maybe it's a horse that's run in a couple or Group 1 races then dropped to Group 3 and found it far easier and won. Best thing to do is click on that horse and check out it's form leading into that win....usually you can find an answer.


I'm not sure on this one. I usually leave them in the stable til next season but it can't hurt to put them back in the paddock.

If your horse flops in it's first Group 3 then start it in another....it just might have had a bit of bad luck in the first one. Don't be scared to go from maiden win into a Group 1 race on it's next run

Thank you so much for the advice!
What do you mean with a horses 'barrier' ability?

Ok, when you open your game, click on the 'training' tab (top left corner) all your horses are listed.
On the far right of each horse's name the is a small brown box with a lower case ' I ' in it.
Hover your arrow over the I and down the bottom - basic info of that horse will appear.
If you are playing as owner/trainer only (with automatic training) then most of the info is of no importance (I believe)
but you will see
Jumping:
Agility:
Starting: - this will state either Good, Average or Poor
So this means how well your horse jumps from the barriers at the start of the race.

Ohh! I see. I'm used to it being called gates not barriers, sorry for the confusion!

Barrier Gates lol
Which country/region are you racing in?

Currently the US. I do want to do a separate new game soon of jumpers so I'll probably go to the UK.
I am thinking about downloading the mod with the new extra US races, because I've gone through many seasons now and some months are sparse for choosing races. I just don't want to mess up my game. x_x

I installed the portraits and the progress increment bars just fine though.

Yep, that will be my next step - I'm still having fun with the original game and am a little tentative in exploring the mods and then accidently losing what I have achieved