Hi all, I just got the game a week or two ago. I'm up to 2027 in my first game, lots of money, lots of winners. Finally got my first horse to reach 10 group 1 wins (I think he has 14 now) in his career. I'm American and a novice at horse racing but I think I have picked up alot about the game/horse racing. I've read quite a few posts here and have used search alot.

Anyways, I have jotted some questions I had.

1) Gallops: I understand the how... I just don't quite get the why? I've used simple training but have played with gallops training with the lead horse etc. But what am I trying to accomplish with this? Is it better to use this as opposed to just racing my horses? I have noticed the game horses sometimes don't run as 2 yo, but I usually put them in 4-6 races as a 2 yo. I guess I just want to know the strategy and what I'm looking for when doing gallops. Do I run one horse at a time and check times? Run all against each other and see who wins?

2) Why are there some handicapped races that are featured races and some group races that are not? I run my horses in these non-featured group races to "steal" a group win all the time. But it seems kinda pointless (I'm using the US schedule).

3) Do injuries to horses affect them long term, i.e will an injury affect that horses' stats during their racing career? Or will they just get back to normal once they are healthy?

4) Are allowance races just like basic races? I guess I don't quite *get* them. Most of the other types of races have some purpose, but allowances I don't quite understand.

5) Is the Rating actually valuable? I use it as a base, but I've had horses with ratings around 100 win Group 1 races and horses at 130 who couldn't win a thing.

6) Do horses have a "confidence" attribute? Meaning, if a horse is continually not racing well, will its confidence drop? Same thing with winning.

7) Is it possible to train horses for different distances? i.e Could I train a horse with a preferred distance of 1m2f to become proficient at 1m4f? Or is the preferred distance a constant?

I've read in a couple places that there are "campaigns" for horses, i.e they have a planned out schedule for each horse. I haven't actually seen one posted, I was just wondering if there is one. It would be cool to follow a plan as opposed to my current "winging" it plan.

Thanks for any replies!

1. Same I don`t get why so don`t bother. Untill someone comes up with a good reason for me it`s a waste of time.
3. I think it does sometimes. I`ve had some nice improving types stringing wins then injured and not run to form after an injury.
5. No and Yes. Depends what you mean by valuable. If you intend on selling the horse then yes. If you intend on breeding then no, I`ve had great horses that I thought were at best great handicappers at first only to eventually realise they were league class horses.
6. Not sure but I like to think so.
7. Think so but only on manual training.

Well I just "wing" it lol, more fun till you realise you just missed a big race and I often do.

You must have been playing a lot jstu!

1. It's only use really is to test a horse's stamina/quality before it hits a racecourse. It's realistic but you're probably like me, I throw 2yos in a group race, sink or swim.

2. Not 100% sure here, all group races are feature races in the UK version. Big handicaps are also features here in the UK

3. I think there is no noticeable drop in ability for me...not had a huge amount of experience

4. Allowances are basic races for low ability horses.

5. Rating determines what weight a horse carries in a handicap. The higher the rating the better the horse (supposedly) but given the game mechanics this isn't always accurate. A horse will only be rated 130 if it has done well relative to other 130 rated horses though.

6. No

7. Preferred distance cannot be trained much, a horse will sometimes develop more stamina as it gets older.