Hello all, I've read lots on the forum and learned a lot but eager to learn more. I am brand new to the league side of stuff so forgive me if some of these are dumb. lol Thanks in advance to anyone who helps answer questions! I will only be participating in the flat racing side of things if that matters when answering.

1) When starting a new game in league mode, do you leave it set to only autoplay 1 season, or do you do more?

2) Do you start the league mode on easy difficulty to help with money at the start?

3) At what age do you export your horses to the league, is it always at 2yo?

4) Do horses age up in the league on their own or do I have to export them again after they age up in my game file?

5) Does it matter if you export a horse unraced or raced? Or is there a preference?

6) Do you trial every year to work out your best horses at different age groups? For example, your top 3 horses at age 2 in trials, do you trial them again at 3yrs old?

7) I won't have a yardstick horse to test against in the trials right away of course but what do you look for before you decide which one should be the yardstick/standard going forward when picking your first one?

Do you play the save like normal while trying to get horses that are good enough for the league? Or do you never race in the league and only trial 2yos to enter?

9) If you do run races, does their achievements in your save file matter at all when uploading them or are they only judged off their attributes and nothing else matters?

This is all I can think of for now. lol I'm sure I'll have more.

I will try to answer some of your questions. Not everyone plays SO7 or the league the same so some peoples answers may differ.

1. I always do 5 years autoplay so that the AI has enough decent stallions to populate the breeding barn.

2. Always start in Easy mode, there is no difference in the difficulty of the game, easy mode just gives you more horses at the start of the game. I always use the betting cheat at the start of the game to get about £20 million.

3. If you look at the flat league schedule you will see races for 2yo, 3yo, 4yo and quite often 3yo Up. Therefore you have to export horses to match each age group. My flat team will be roughly 6 x 2yo, 10 x 3yo and the rest 4yo. I want my 3yo horses to cover the Classics. The 4yo horses will cover the whole spread of distances, I try to get 2 horses, male & female, for 5f & 6f, 8f, 1m 2f, 1m 4f, 1m 6f, 2miles, 2m 4f.

4. Probably answered this in number 3 above. Horses don't age in the league they must be exported at each age. You can't have the same horse at two ages.

5. Always raced. A horse needs 4 or 5 races each season to maximize any yearly growth. Export when the condition bar is at maximum.

6. This is probably the biggest difference between trainers. I trial at the end of each season. So I have 2yo, 3yo and 4yo trials. Some trainers will only trial every 3-5 seasons. My main reason for this is if I come across a horse that trials really well, I can quickly get it into the barn.

7. For a newbie to the league there is no yardstick to measure horses against. The standard of the top trainers horses is far superior to any horse that the AI breeds. My best suggestion is to trial your own horses, find the best and concentrate on h'cap races. It is very rare that a new trainer to the league will be able to compete with the top trainers in G1 races.

8. Most top trainers don't worry about how a horse performs in a normal save. Breed, run quickly thu the season, export and trial your horses and then repeat. I probably watch about 30% of the races I enter horses in the main game. My main objective is to work out the best running style of each horse.

9. All that matters is how a horse performs in the trials\construction kit. I have had horses that never won a race in the main game but go on to be G1 winners in the league.


Look for old posts from myself, Kniesh, Githyanki, Ghosty. We have all contributed to discussions about the best way to breed for the league and how to start a new league save.

Hi there,
Last season was my first in the League so I am probably in as good a place as anyone to answer. Of course everyone has a slightly different approach so others may add their own thoughts to this.

1) I would go for 3 or 5 seasons. This gives the game a bit more time to produce some good stallions in the breeding barn - downside is there might have been a really good horse in season 1 that has now expired!

2) Yes use easy mode.

3) Export to the CK at whatever age you want to run the horse in the League. So this could be at 2, 3, 4 even 5yo if the horse is still good. Then depending on how well it does at those ages in the CK will determine ultimately if you export from the CK to the League. NB: horses must be at full fitness when you export to the CK to give yourself the best chance.

4) Hopefully answered above...you will need versions of 2yo, 3yo, 4yo etc in the CK

5) You will need to race the horse in game to improve its potential. About 3 or 4 races each season in its 2yo and 3yo year as a minimum is what is needed.

6) Comes down to individual preference. Some trainers will do every year, some may wait for 3 or 5 years and trial a larger number in one. If you do it every year you will find what horses run well sooner so that you can use those to breed with in the breeding barn. Also depends on how many horses you are producing each year - you want to keep the number manageable otherwise you won't see the wood for the trees at trial. To answer your second point you would trial them as 2yo, then again as 3yo and again as 4yo as all horses develop differently. Some could be stars as 2yo but then drop away. Some might be rubbish as 2yo but then come into their own as a 3yo.

7) Whichever horse(s) consistently perform well in your first trials (ie win a vast majority of the time) will become your yardstick. Then the following year if they get beat by any of the new horses you are trialing then those new horses will become the yardstick.

8. Play the game mostly the same as you do if it were a non League save. You still want to run the horses each year to improve them before exporting to the CK. The main difference is you only need to race them 3 or 4 times a year and you really don't worry about how they perform in their races - in game form has no correlation to CK on League form. Export them each season after they have run their 3 or 4 races and their fitness is back to full.

9) As above, it doesn't matter where or how they have run in your game save...it is just the entering and running that matters which improves their potential. Any wins or achievements in your game save do not have any bearing on how the horse will perform in the CK or League. Quite often a horse that performs well in game is a flop in the CK and vice versa.

Hope that helps!

Thanks a ton Paul and Jim! That helps a lot, looking forward to building up a stable!