I didn't want to hijack the trainers thread with talk about 100% 3yo but just to put some perspective on how hard it is to breed 100% 3yo, I split my combined save into two, a flat and a NH save about 7 seasons ago when I had one 100% 3yo colt. In those 7 flat seasons I now have 4 stallions and 5 mares in the barn who maxed out at 100% as 3yo.

I have a small breeding barn with about 40 mares whose potential ranges from 97 to 100% as 3yo and I breed them with the 4 x 100% stallions. I only manage to breed 1 or 2 of these 100% horses a season and usually most are rubbish in the CK and only made it into the barn to keep the 100% line of horses alive. I probably breed about 4 or 5 foals who are about 97\98% potential. The rest of the foals I sell.

Because of the randomness of SO7 breeding I can't see any way where there will be a large number of max potential 3yo in my game. I admit it could be an advantage to have these 100% horses but I suspect from my league results on the flat this season, it will take many seaons to get there when I can only breed 1 or 2 a season.







If you do find a good flat horse in the combined game, I would definately recomend splitting the save into two. Although my flat horses are not very good yet, I can see a slight improvement in my flat horses from concentrating on only breeding flat horses. Also, instaed of taking about one week to progress thru a combined season, I can get thru a season in about 2 days.

As a new player (of the online league anyway) can I ask how important 100% potential actually is? I am basing my league game breeding around CK performance first and foremost, I cull lower potential horses before testing in the CK and the threshold I use to cull at seems to slowly rise each year. Is this the wrong approach? Is the potential bar the more important aspect or is breeding poor performing CK horses with a high potential bar actually a way of hindering your overall breeding lines?

Hi Basilthedog89,

Welcome to the league.

This is such a difficult question to answer. But in short yes they are key, or the higher the better for some distances.

But there is so many variables to this. We all aim to have 100% potential in our horses. But some distances of horses it's very hard to get 100%. All depends on an individuals breeding operation.

I've had horses in the 90% range which can beat my 100% horses. It's those hidden stats or traits which determine how good they are and yes CK form is the holy grail, especially for league purposes. But don't be fooled by the ones that aren't that good. Some of those can pass on amazing abilities which in theory turn out to be great in the CK over time. It depends on the lineage and what horses are in your bloodlines. Takes a few generations to really identify this. But you have to keep a close eye on the races, watch as many as possible and you get a fell for your horses abilities and running styles.

Some seem to think that the stallions are the key. I believe it the Wondermares. From a starting point in the game the stallions do have a advantage in progressing your lines at the very start, but the further you advance in your game it's the Broodmares which hold the key moving forward.

Thanks for the response - agree with watching lots of races, I have found the numbers of horses in the race, the speed of the race and the track can really throw off results as well.

Currently I am focusing more on just improving the general bloodlines in my save game (ie mass breeding and mass trialing to slowly find small improvement over a lot of horses), rather than focusing on a couple of stallions or mares. I am worried that I am focusing too much on breeding based on CK results and less focus on pushing my potential based on what a lot of people have been saying about trying to get 100% horses, though. Maybe I should shift my focus (only 15 years into my save).

All part of the fun. Worth mentioning I love the 'hidden' aspect of breeding rather than breeding to just improve the bars in the game.

In response to the original post (feel like I have hijacked this!) - I am 15 years into a flat only game and haven't seen a single 100% 3yo. I produce 120ish foals per year, cull down to 40ish based on potential and then cull those 40 to around 15 based on CK results each year. I continue to cull each year up to 6yo to produce a single stallion per age-group and all mares that make it past 3yo cull go to stud.

If I ever see a 100% horse it will be named ‘The Unicorn’

Anyway potential does matter, but that’s not to say you cannot win races without it, 4x G1 winner ‘Belladona’ never got above 85%. ‘Dazzling’ who looks like my bests sprinter (1st & 2nd) is a 90%. And I have many other. So your approach is fine, just give failed ck types with high potential a free pass for breeding.

I'd say your approach is definitely right at the minute in concentrating on the very good CK horses. Your potential will naturally start to grow over time if you keep a little eye on it. If you're playing a flat only game though, I wouldn't bother spending too much time searching for 100 potential, any game started after a certain point, a long time back I don't think has it visually. I have 7 flat games at the minute, that I am between 40-70 seasons through in each one, an I have no 100 potential at all, despite a long extensive search buying almost every available horse.

Just to put some perspective on the 100% debate though. I did have 100% from a sprinting line after a certain patch. That 100% went down to 95 after a different patch. The reason I say it could just be a visual thing is because Xinyi Player came from that sprint line and she only had 92.5% potential at her peak (she's won a couple of decent races in the league), same with her half sister Xinyi Nightngale, she was also only 92.5. This is why I have the theory that maybe it's just a visual thing, and after the patch that broke it, in the background I may still be getting 100 potential, but it's showing as 95

Fully agree when i experimental breed with gamebreds some of the offspring would be 75 - 85% potential and hold there own
think we can get a bit obsessed with the potential bar its what happens in the CK that is everything I have stopped dumping 3YO's
who dont reach max potential at 3

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I just need to churn through another 20 or 30 years and watch them improve.

As I said above, I only breed 1 or 2 of these high potential horses a season. This is the latest one.








This is how he performs in the CK. Dead Last







There is something broken with this game. How can a horse win almost all his races in the game by significant distances and be so poor in the CK?

I know it's the hidden stats but this horses performance in the CK is a joke.

What makes it seem even worse is his sire on one side and his grandsire on the other side made it to my league team. His dam was only average in the CK but was kept for breeding because she had 100% potential as a 3yo. His sire was in the race above and came 2nd.

I can understand 100% potential and poor performance in the CK but the whole "good in game terrible in CK" is definitely really frustrating. Kills the fun sometimes.

What happens if you enter all the horses from the CK trial into a game race?

Jim is he a cross breed, flat with jump or chase with hurdle etc first generation?

Full speed also, least for my jumps game, seems to be a sure fire way to breed a ck dud.

I also think the hidden stat nonsense is just a way of Mark saying I have no idea why this happens or I don’t care.

The two things I know for certain because its always been like it from So5 ck is that the first trial is always different to every other race u'll run , I run between 8 or 10 races in each division and the first race of them I throw out because its totally different to every other race. The second thing thats always happened is one or two horses always run well below its best in each race , not sure why its always happened. The one thing u could say about that horse is perhaps the game is telling u that even though he's winning all those races perhaps he's not top class because he's still got a rating of 121 instead of high 130's 140. I don't play the flat game any more to see if that's a thing but my better jump horses I think I can work out about 75% of the time . I don't run that many Ck races but I normally have a good handle on my stallions and who I think will be good , every now and again a horse will be far better in CK than game but that seems to be rare in my jump games. I think jump race racing is easier to read than the flat game , I could tell who was going to be good over 2miles plus on the flat but the shorter distance races were almost impossible to read.

I agree with u last comment Josh , that does seem to happen a lot . U get u hopes up with a high speed bar only to de disappointed