Hey guys, new to the forum, but a fan of the SO series since SO2 and a general fan of UK racing... I'm looking for a little help.

On the jockey feedback screen I have noticed that on more than one occassion a horse has "not faced the kick back". Can anyone tell me what this means?

I've googled the phrase and have seen it written just once on a racing post race write-up for a fav that finished 11 of 12 (with no further details).

Help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
CL.

Its usually on the ALL WEATHER mate or Dirt Tracks. It means the horse did not like the other horses kicking up the surface into his body or face. So did not like being behind horses and facing the kick back. Hope this helps mate

Cheers mwesty1,
I would never have guessed that! Thanks fo your help.

I don't know about in game but in real life there are a few different types of all weather surface.

You've got Dirt, Pro Ride mainly in the US (ProRide is at Santa Anita and is quite different to the standard Dirt surface and a reason why some owners/trainers didnt send their horses to the BC), Fibresand (Southwell), Polytrack (Lingfield, Wolv and Kempton I think) and Tapeta (created by Michael Dickinson - he's a friend of the family so I got to see the creation, feel and ride of the surface when I was at his farm in the states) at Meydan.

Tapeta has no kickback at all as well as being very safe (hence it's use at the Meydan super track). Often the problem with all weather tracks is a tendency to favour front runners or closers. I haven't seen many races on the Meydan track but it seems like it was quite fair.

Fibresand is particularly bad for kickback, I've seen a few of my sister's horses after they've run at Southwell and they are coughing that **** up for a while afterwards. Some horses just hate it, some don't mind it. Polytrack and Pro Ride aren't nearly as bad and while Dirt does have kickback the frequency of it's use on tracks in the US and in training establishments mean many horses are just used to it.

Dirt also isn't as safe, especially when they scrape a huge amount of it off for Grade 1 races (to give the impressions on faster times being set).

Would be good to see this reflected in game but then we are getting very picky.

Yeah I was about to say Anubisrich I'm not sure that the game is quite that sophisticated in it's various surfaces. To have that implemented would be fantastic though. Although I think we'd need an instruction manual re-write so lots of people didn't get confused. I know a bit about it and I still get confused!

This doesn't really add to the thread but Fibresand sticks to the horses fetlocks like glue, so agree I'm not keen on this one. Especially if it's not clean, I've heard of horses getting mud-fever-like infections after competing on this and not having it washed properly. I'd love to try the Tapeta surface, shame a lot of the big venues have recently had fibre or waxed sand down it's be great to compete on these surfaces.

Not quite sure what the game is based on. I assume it has Dirt (which is evil!) for America and the All Weather on the English tracks... It's be interesting to know.

I think the game is just Turf and All Weather. Dirt/Polytrack are all rolled into one.

It shouldn't be too hard to put into the game, maybe in SO5!

Two months back, Santa Anita have voted to remove the Pro-Ride surface and go back to dirt.

Of the other tracks in the US, many of them are watching Santa Anita carefully, and a few have already voted to return to dirt. The larger stables and trainers who tend to be dirt traditionalists, and dead set against pro-ride, are winning their campaing.

I didn't know this, it's a big shame.