Hello all,

Completely new to the game, been playing around a week now. I'm in my first season mid of Jan, jumps only.

Just bought a horse, unraced 3yo. Potential looks great but jumping stats not so much!

The light green Potential looks to be around 90%, Dark green Potential is around 50%, jumping ability and speed potential looks to be around 10-20%.

I have simple training method enabled so head lad does all the hard work.
So I have 2 questions really?

1. Should I be running this horse as a 3yo in NHF (bumpers) races to improve the potential or will this increase just through training? My plan was to not run as a 3yo, then NHF as 4yo and then Novice hurdles as 5yo. What are peoples thoughts?

2. As I have Simple Training method enabled can I change the training to focus just on improving the jumping potential of the horse?

3. Unrelated to this but I have seen screenshots where people have boxes behind the horse value bars. Can these be turned on, if yes, where can i do this?

Thank you in advance.
This game is so addictive and I haven't played anything like this since Stable Masters back in the day.

I tend to give mine three or four bumpers at 3yo. After Christmas (UK game) when they have turned four, I give them one bumper before three or four races over hurdles. If I can, I split the hurdle races to one in the spring and the rest in the autumn. I notice the AI youngsters often run more than this but I have found my method gives me 5yo horses with reasonable experience without being burnt out. Some make it and some don't. And I don't stick rigidly to the above as each horse is different and injury and illness can change things. Some progress to chases after hurdling. I don't put 3yo horses into the field but leave them on blue training with emphasis on jumping (this way their condition also bounces back). You cannot do this as far as I know on simple training if that is the option where the AI takes care of everthing. Manual training is much more of a challenge but adds loads to the game.

I have not yet developed a world beater but can win regularly at C2 with these horses. I am happy to run the less good ones in selling races as that is equal fun.

Cheers for the reply.

Okay, well my horse has only just turned 3 as I'm in January, so will keep the horse in training and will run it in a few NHF races in Nov and Dec as a 3yo. Then will run in a 2 more NHF races in Jan and Feb as a 4yo before having a crack at the Cheltenham Festival Bumper. Then onto Novice Hurdle races in Oct, Nov, Dec as a 4yo.

Provided the horses are fit, there are a couple of bumpers in the spring you can sneak 3yos into. They will be up against 4yo horses by and large but it gives them a run out. Look out for them - after the Grand National if I remember correctly.

Don't be surprised if at 5yo your best bumper runners fall behind the ones you considered average . Then at 7 or 8 the whole thing changes again. There are a few bumpers with very decent prize money available but don't enter horses into the bigger races just for the sake of it - remember confidence is a factor with some and you could do more harm than good. Also remember to take going into consideration - a horse liking soft ground will most likely perform better Nov to Feb. For firmer ground Sept/Oct then again maybe Mar/Apr.

What a great game this is !!