[u]Can someone explain the Race Format to me when you start out ?[/u]

In Australia (and im guessing its the same in other places) we work on a racing system, for example

Maiden - Horses that havent won a race
Class 1 - Horses that have won 1 race
Class 2 - Horses that have won 2 races
we easily refer to these races as a C1,or C2
and so on

In the game you can start a horse straight up in a C4 race. Does that mean in the game that i am starting my horse in a Class 4 Race (For horses that have won 4 races ) or am i completely lost ?

I could win my first race in say a weak 0-70 Handicap race (with a rating on 56) and enter another 0-70 (over the same distance) and get destroyed.

Can some1 please give me a general run through of where i begin to place my horses at the start

Cheers

I think you are getting confused between gallops and trotting. The trotters and pacers are C1 for 1 win, C2 for 2 etc. Anyway, regardless, the opposite is true for SO4. C1 is the highest level and C7 is the lowest. And they don't relate to the number of wins at all. A low level race like a C5 0-70 handicap will be restricted to horses with a rating of no higher than 70. This does not stop you running it in a race for 0-100 rated horses if you think it is good enough. It is up to you what strategy you want to adopt. Just remember that earlier in the season, if you have a 3yo you are better run it against other 3yos rather than older horses. And fillies against fillies will give you better results.
My advice would be if a horse wins a lowly rated race then step it up in class. If it gets done then its off to the auction, or to the breeding barn if a filly/mare.
And watch what track conditions they prefer. The Australian tracks are invariably fast/good so you want a horse that likes these conditions.

The same rating systems works for the gallopers.
with class 1 (1 win)through to class 6 (6 wins)

The horse then becomes an open class horse.

It does still relate to the trotters with them being called C1 so on so i should of explained better haha

Thankyou for your overview it does help.