I've had some high level 2-year-olds, very forward types that didn't show any signs of greenness that get absolutely stuffed in all 3 of their maiden/novice runs, then all of a sudden the true ability shows and they'll go from being tailed off in a maiden at Brighton to winning the bloody Dewhurst by 5-lengths. An absolutely outrageous flaw in the current game. Also not a fan of every horse initially being a sprinter regardless of breeding. I've had ascot gold cup bred horses appearing at 2 as 5-furlong sprinters, then all of a sudden at some point in October the stamina bar just randomly shoots up. That is another massive flaw that needs to be rectified. I understand that you're trying to show that a horse gets further as he/she matures, but you've overcooked it massively Mark.

EVERY single time - https://ibb.co/M5YGr1q

I think this is due to the potential bars for the AI being all over the place.

30% potential horses winning group one races etc as discussed in another thread.

This game is getting more and more like the Sim City release of a few years ago. Looks good on the surface but the underlying game is badly flawed.

Will be a massive task to sort SO7 out.

Lets try and keep a bit of faith. If everyone had their mods sorted I'd be very impatient about it, but since we don't really have that schedule in place yet, I doubt I'd be playing much anyway. He needs to not ignore some of these posts though!! Watching every high class 2yo finish tailed off in maidens will soon kill the enthusiasm of a large % of players.

It might take a while, but I'm sure these things will be fixed. It's good that people keep reporting things that aren't working as they should. I seem to remember SO6 being in its beta phase for several months.

I'm still working on my schedule anyway, so I'm happy for Mark to spend more time getting the game just right.

https://www.horseracingnation.com/horse/John_Henry#

But that is often how it works. Picked John Henry, a middle distance horse not a sprinter, and a familiar name. First win was at 4f, the next at 5f, the next at 6f ...

How would you prefer it to look in the game?

It's rare in the UK (and most of the other nations represented in the game) for horses that are bred as stayers to start out as sprinters in their 2yo season. A lot of horses that are bred for middle or staying distances (1m4f and upwards) will not run at all as 2yos, or if they do, it will likely be a single maiden or novice race towards the end of the year. These horses often start out in 1m2f or 1m4f maidens or novice races early in their 3yo season. The horses that start out sprinting as 2yos are generally going to be sprinters or milers, with some milers, 1m2f horses and some middle distance horses making their debuts when the 7f and 1m 2yo races start to appear.

That is true, and the loss of those lines in the US is sad, due to lack of races for them.

A middle distance horse even outside the US may start at 2 if it looks like it can grab some 2yo stakes. Most of the really big purse money is for 2yos and 3yos. - I am fairly sure in the UK and Europe as well as US. So if you are eyeing total winnings and the animal has quality ... you may make that call based on maturity. Some non-US stallions won at 2 sprints and then middle distance 3 yo, then off to stud. The ones of those that get 14f horses though indicate to me, the owner made the call to chase the purses and retire to stud early. More stayers are late to mature, and often sounder than your sprinters. So that hurts there too in the US. That as well as US drug rules is often debated as the two of the three core reasons for why our death/start figure is highest. Third is surface, but that is tied to speed, and related to breeding lines tilted to dirt sprint, so not really separate. What is interesting is some studies, which did not factor in best race length performance at maturity that show training at 2 (whether starting or not) seems to also help horses stay sound. So I suspect decisions about starting are more often based on maturity and chance of winning at 2, not expected distance competency at 4. (At least one of these studies was out of NZ) Or if targeting NH in UK of course.

The game already has a way to model horses that can run effectively at a range of distances.

I have noticed the "CARE! You are close to over racing this horse." Also handles the slow maturity for simulation. I don't know if the game has it associated with stayers more.

So back to how would you rather the game model it?