Another option:

5. Performance related penalties:
The top 5 trainers from the previous season will only be allowed a reduced stable the following season.

For example:

The winning trainer will only be allowed 20 horses in that stable the following season.

1st = 20 horses
2nd = 21 horses
3rd = 22 horses
4th = 23 horses
5th = 24 horses
6th and below = 25 horses

This would reduce the top trainers chances of winning, but also allows the smaller trainers more race entries.

We going with something similar to your idea with some adjustments. There are some time constraints like ratings have to be done before weeks roll over. We going to let the race kit handicap and Vinny will moniter the kit's handicap and fix issues. That will mean the work load will be much less and should help for rest of season

I like some of those ideas too Dan.

Let's see how we go with the handicapping now we can make some reviews and adjustments, the NH def needs it more than the flat from what i've seen so far mind - Vinny are you comfortable looking at NH ratings too as i know the flat is the only code you get involved with?

Punishment for being successful.........ok comrade

You could say I am "handicapping" the top trainers

Is that not what the handicaps are for?

Personally I don’t think your going far enough, maybe you should consider a season long ban for the top five, delete any horse winning a G1, make all the top trainers win dummy G1’s with their horses in the race kit before the season so they carry a season penalty.

Your being far to narrow in your thinking. Stick with it soon everyone can win everything without ever putting in any effort at all

Being a little more serious for a moment, the one thing that seemed to work and did not really draw any real criticism was when Sirius manually handicapped the flat, but had a scale where he added points based on the trainers success in the previous season.

Maybe bring that back under the guise of the proposed handicap monitor.

I'm not massively keen on the limited stable size for top trainers. I don't consider myself as one of those as I'm still shocked at how my horses are doing out of a 36 season game but I suppose on current standings i'd fall within this bracket.

At the end of the day what we all want to see if a fairly run league that we can all enjoy and which caters for trainers and horses at all different levels. That can be achieved by getting the handicapping in a better place and making some tweaks to the handicaps in the schedule.

But we all train horses because we want to watch them run in the league and so i'm not sure how it would feel to have a max of 20 in my stable when others can have 25+ - not sure that's the solution even though I understand the suggestion.

This makes sense and seems to be an easy solution.
I would scrap the window but allow new trainers to join anytime during the season. I would also consider letting returning trainers join during the season as well.

Things haven't gone to plan with the RK handicapping for this season so maybe it's in the best interests of the league that all trainers don't take this season as seriously.
Enter your horses and have some fun with the knowledge that next season will be much better and better balanced.

Mart's idea of multiple handicappers is a good idea but I believe the better idea is the race kit doing the handicapping.

I also don't think penalizing top trainers the following season by making their stable smaller is a good idea.

I just want the stats back. That's all. I've long since given up caring about the fact that others are winning more races. Good for them. Just give me the stats back.

Personally in my time I have Been both a top trainer and a bottom trainer my thoughts remember don't
get heated up about this its merely suggestions.

1) Top 10 trainers have to Reduce there flat stable from 25 to 20 in the transfer window so effectively
have to retire 5 horses. Opening up more opportunities for other trainers.

2) Only allow the bottom 10 trainers to make transfers if you are higher you have to go with what you have
Is there really a need for a transfer window anyway? maybe turn it into giving lower tier trainers a chance to make changes
and for new trainers to join

3) Block Gr1 winners from entering Gr1 handicaps Gr1 handicaps were meant to give lower tier trainers a chance
at winning a big race.

Firstly, this is a Game and not a real life simulation. As such a game should be fun to play and I think the non-league side of the game can be fun to play but probably only for the first 30 seasons or so. After that I find my horses win almost every big race and the challenge goes from the game. Therefore I play the league game.

Unfortuneately, I think the league side of this game is too dificult and time consuming for the casual player. I am not talking about the league itself but the time it takes to breed and trial horses to upload to the league. There is nothing that can be done about this, it is something that Mark needs to look at. Maybe have a horses form in the game be more transferrable to the CK.

So to help the casual player the league needs to evolve. How to do this probably means the league needs to have two distinct types of races. Not just h'caps and group races that we have now.

This is a game and should be fun to play. Casual players want to enter their horses into the big races so we need more big races. This idea was tried before and I think it should continue. Don't have so many ordinary h'cap races but have more G1 races for lower tier trainers with big money prizes. Some could be G1 h'caps but also G1 races, both types of race could have a max limit of about 85. Also, give the races appealing names like the Queen Elizabeth 1000 Guineas or the Duke of Cambridge St. Leger.

What sounds more appealing to a new trainer

Queen Elizabeth 1000 Guineas G1 max rating of 85 with a prize fund of £250,000

or

Bet365 h'cap 0-85 with prize fund of £20,000

From a new player's perspective I dont really care if I win big races or little races. I just want a niche where I can be competitive - in my (very) short period of playing i find that niche is available.

I do like the idea of challenging the top trainers by 'handicapping' them (a little) to keep the challenge alive for all. But its probably not my opinion that matters on that one!

All great points Paul. Two things i'd like to see happen that Will never happen, First thing i'd like to see happen is that u have to nominate whether u horse is a chaser or hurdler. There is no such thing as a dual great horse in the league and something that people will hate ( i'll get my tin hat) is people trying to get cheap wins. When u won a group 1 race with a horse why are u going after less group races, I think that is really poor form. U horse has reached the top and u just trying to win lesser races and more races. Perhaps people need to think about other people.