Done some experimenting and the race kit does a decent starting job if the ratings are low not high ( high is a problem as nothing moves )

So 75 on flat and 100 on NH. The schedule will be amended to reflect this so loads of 0-100 handicap's will now become 0-75s etc, excluding all horses who ran well in maidens and group races

It does mean horses won't be rated very high initially ( 90 for G1 Dubai winners and maiden winners etc ) but if there are no handicaps they can enter it won't matter they will have to run in group /listed races. 0-100s will appear later in the season when ratings have changed

If you run your horse in a group race with a rating of 75 . The rating normally goes up no matter where you finish which is what we want.

NH will have to change handicap races from 0-120 etc to 0-100 again excluding those that ran well in week 1.


It's no point replying to this with comments like race kit does a crap job etc unless you want to volunteer to be the handicapper. ( The issue is what does the intial mark need to be and how do we work with it ) Mixing manual and race kit does not work as seen by what has happened this season

So in summary low intial mark. And handicaps all lowered so only the horses who haven't done well in maidens can get into them. From week 4 some higher rated handicaps so horses struggling in group races have somewhere to go

There is one problem with this and that is the window, horses who come in then will always be rated very low.

Agree they may have to come in at 90 and 120 to solve this issue. Won't help smaller trainers though.

Or we could do a split in upload window all top ten trainer's horses rated 90 (Flat) and 120 (NH) those not in top 10 will be rated 75 and 100. I can do something to split where the horsefiles go so it easy to do

I suppose someone could h'cap that week based on the other top horses in the league.

Just scrap the transfer window. It is only 13 weeks. Keep what you would have had for transfer until the next season. Be far more of a challenge for you elites to have to stick with what you started with. None of us lowly trainers have got much better to bring in anyway usually. Just widens the gap between the top and the bottom mid season.

Totally in favour of this.

You would need to undo the proposed change for 1.2m 2yo’s but I cannot see any other problems that this is in to solve.

I'd be in favour of scrapping it, it gives everyone a rest between seasons.

I think we need a vote

It was scrapped before and was not great at all. Didn't allow any new trainers to join mid season. Didn't allow people with bad stables to improve. So resulted in loads of people, walking away from the season and the league

Basically it's not going to happen as led to a load of problems before so not going down that road again

One of those ideas good in theory bad in practice. You don't have to use the window. I have gone a number of season with no changes

Who said scrap the window ? was it some big trainers ? who's horse's are winning lol No let me give my reason this is a bad idea.

This is the first season i don't have Full Stables Flat and NH i have had 1 winner this season and its because i lost all my game when I lost my Hard Drive and i have left enough space in my stables to upload in the window my horses are pants i have only done 17 seasons and am working my spare time trying to get some good uploads for the window i have not spent the last 3 weeks between the league stuff to play the gam to not be able to upload horse's in the bloody window so P@?"k off.

Bad Idea Mr Morgan

It was Martins idea and i'm not a big trainer but I agree. When did we get shot of it!! Gray u couldn't get shot of it this season because it was in the rules for this season. How many people has actually started half way through a season!!!!

Scraping the window is a bad idea, it’s actually a advantage for smaller trainers to see how much they have improved.

The window is the least of the leagues problems next season. If people think the league is skewed to the top trainers then u ain't going to want to see what next season will bring. The grade 1 I won is a fine example of what will happen, so I had the first and fourth and the computer ended up rating them the same on a awful mark of 126 even though there was about 10L difference. I could enter here into any h'cap now and get in of about 10 stone with her. People this what will happen next season, the best horses will have a total field day not just the graded races but the h'caps as well. Take for instance Daves horse Special Cargo, I beat him by 12L in that race and yet if I raced against him in a h'cap he would be giving my horse 7 pounds, he would be 7 pounds worse of. That type of thing next season will kill the league. If I was to enter her in a h'cap with that rating then I would say I was cheating.

Yes I am the big bad wolf who suggested it so shoot them poison arrows at me !! Mind you it is nice to see John and Josh agreeing with me as that hasn't always happened

The suggestion was made in the context of it being a problem re handicapping but I have always thought it unnecessary anyway. Let people fill out their stables, let new people join but knowing that they might be slightly disadvantaged if their horses have to start from a higher mark than at the beginning.

Current trainers transfer in horses could even be given a start rating that was the median or average of the stables current ratings. Maybe even let the newcomers have that brief advantage for a few weeks of having their horses rated lower. Just make sure there is something put in place to stop current ones taking advantage of it.

At some point the true facts and realities of this are going to need to be faced up to. Whistles and bows won't keep this league alive. We can have fancy additions to TOM and TV style commentaries but at the end of the day if we keep losing new players and don't do something to attract new ones its all pretty pointless anyway.

This is the fewest number of people participating since I first became involved and considering everyone has to stay at home and can't go out you would think it would be the opposite. That isn't because we don't have a handicapper. It is because the game is geared for the top players.

Most of the new players this season are returners from years ago anyway so there is virtually no new blood. Almost the entire middle section of trainers has departed in the last few seasons. The people I considered myself in competition with no longer enter horses , Darren Howells, James Follis, Kevin Meenaghan, Marty Cairms, Carl Arrogante, Moliets, Doug, Stu … all gone. I only have Gray left and as he lost his game I cn't even enjoy beating him Even people who entered the trials haven't entered the league. Where has Jango gone. John Seaford last season was a newbie, posting on the forums, joining in. Where has he gone. These are the things we should be looking at.

If you look at Paul's DCC cup you will see that the top 5 trainers have amassed 130 wins. The other 18 have 72 between them. That gulf will get wider as the season goes on. That is the biggest problem. And it should be pretty obvious to anyone who cares that it is.

Adding more races has most definitely not worked at all 40 per code is too many. There are far too many group races but we keep adding more. There were only 10 races a day when I started now there are 13. It is too much and that is why mistakes are being made with horses running off wrong ratings, in wrong silks and races are being run on the wrong track. It is also why no one wants to volunteer to be the handicapper and attracting race runners id difficult

I am not sure how many years this league has been going but I bet it has always had a handicapper. All of a sudden it doesn't matter. There should have been some thought put into ways to make the job easier not just scrap it. That was a poor decision and not a democratic one. Did anyone speak to Sirius, Doug, Craig Beckwith about how it could be streamlined or made easier. Did anyone think of having a group of handicappers, one doing 2yo, one doing 3yo, one doing 4yo+, one doing hurdlers and one doing chasers. Did anyone think about offering an incentive to volunteers like an extra slot in your stable.

There are many options and they should be discussed and voted on not dismissed out of hand or adopted at the will of one individual.

I also don't recall any or many joining mid season. But I could give you a list of dozens who have stopped playing altogether, a list that will surely grow if people make dictatorial comments like .. "its not going to happen " and "not going down that road again"

I spoke to Gray at the weekend and told him I was considering quitting as commentator at the end of the season and that I thought this season would be my last playing too. That may now happen sooner. Bottom line is it just isn't fun anymore.

Very disappointing.

ah martin i really hope you didn't mean quitting as a comm, i think your the voice of the league and your the real comm that puts joy in the league. It would be a shame for the league to see you quit. I can see where your going with it as not fun anymore. PLEASE RECONSIDER PLEASE