After much deliberation and thinking, I am also standing in as a candidate for President of the SOPL Community.

I have had a good long stint within SOPL of which consisted of 5 seasons, and in that time I have enjoyed the banter and the enthusiasm of players. On the side, I managed the FDRL League (Frankie Dettori Racing), with which single handily managed to pluck new players in from no where. It took hard work and dedication, however it was worth it in the end as the popularity increased with many players that had dropped the game, came back to it, and there were many great experiences. I have made new friends across the world with that game, and this one is just the same. I feel with my good relations with most players, I can bond the League together to create a real good solid community.

Of course other user input is very much valued and I stand by that, because it is what brings the players together.

My Policies:

- Scrap the USRA, with exception for minor amounts of feature races that may appear in UK league. (IMMEDIATELY)

- Increase the amount of races in the UK and NH League(s) in order to create a new balance with the removal of the US League. (NEW SEASON)

- Possible induction of inter-stable breeding (This will be monitored with communication between players over permission to do so) (TBA)

- For a board members committee to be formed, allowing new decisions to be made diplomatically (IMMEDIATELY)

Hope you all make the right decision based on what you have read.

And I give my best to the other candidates.

Kind Regards,

George Morgan (Speedy Knows Best Party SKBP)

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For the league to continue it has to be decided exactly what happens to trainers who are found to be not playing fair, biggest issue first as the leagues downfull started here!

I like what i read a restructure is needed with regards to upload windows, one at the start and one in the middle of the season! Reasons for this already stated by some, to many horses uploaded then not used or just put in races which have no chance of winning making field sizes far to big. If uploads are limited like stated, trainers will hopefully place horses better which will result in far better fields and a lot easier for ratings, numbers for uploads and retirements im not sure but got to be determined by the amount of trainers. No transfers allowed

Not voted for president yet....
Sounds like it could be resolved with one president for US and the other for UK and NHC. This would be great not to much pressure on just the one president, each league has to have the same rules regarding uploads and codes of conduct etc so as not to confuse trainers!

When are we looking at if this is done? Finishing this league may do more harm then good a fresh start is needed i know a lot of trainers have worked hard but starting a fresh will give time to get things in place Tom, staff, fixtures some new horses but old can be used as well if not had a run maybe, CODE OF CONDUCT (RULES) Very Important,one chance and gone for season and following season after! no excuses, posting rights taken away so no damage can be caused by the person involved causing arguments! Presidents choice on who should check what trainers are up to probably ones who know what to look for......... with any findings dealt with in house by presidents , checkers and the trainer who is suspected. If checkers and president are happy with the respons from trainer then no one will be any the wiser and no names are tarnished if suspicions are correct then trainer is shown the door in nice fashion with the invite of coming back after the alloted time!
Feels like a court room this!

I agree with the earlier posts that we/ the people involved need to get this sorted ASAP. Either dissolve the league completely and decide it was good while it lasted or decide who will run it and get it going and planned so all the league players know where they stand with regards to horses etc.

I really like Steve's proposal but having worked with him on the handicapping (a very very very minor role) I know that he is sometimes very busy, but he always had the time to help me out when I needed it (more often than not to begin with!) My main doubt with Steve is if he will have the time to be the overall president... However that is for him to decide and he has obviously decided that he has the time. Even so I would like to see him having a big input on the NHC and the UKRA as I really think his ideas are great and would really help those of us who may not be new to the game but who are fairly new/ just not that good in the league.

Having never had any dealings with Rich I can't really comment but I really like his idea for the US ( even though I don't play the US). I assume Rich if I were to happen to breed a horse who was great on the dirt I could put it in the US league (even though I would be a trainer mostly based in the UK/NHC) so I could try out for the Triple Crown etc?

Also Steve would, under your system, I be able to have a UK and NHC stable?? I assume the horses couldn't alternate between flat and NH but would I be able to have both? This would be a great thing to have.

My main problem with the current league is all the bitching and talking and gossiping that goes on behind all the other player's backs. Everyone in charge has everyone else's email addresses so therefore they know all the info long long before any normal player would know. Which is fine until we have a situation like Sunday when someone posts part of the story which left most of the players worried about what was going to happen. The management would have to decide on whether to publish everything that goes on (like real racing has to) or to keep it completely under wraps so only stewards and the necessary presidents know about issues rather than, as seems to be the case in the current league, half the staff gossiping and getting angry before any other 'normal' league player even has a clue there is something wrong.

Also stable interbreeding should definitely be allowed but the rules must be extremely clear cut and easy to follow. I have written on the Yuku forum about this so read that if you are interested. I thought it would be good to use TOM funds to buy Stallion duties so lesser league players could use top league stallions on their mares to try and get better horses etc.

Finally I hope this is sorted soon, and I hope that the best man wins the post, whoever that may be. Also that whoever does get the role will keep to their manifesto's and that we see a whole new era for the league. I would love to put myself up for consideration but I don't feel I would be able to consistently do the jobs I would have to. Anyway good luck to the candidates.

Supercat Wrote this......

Also stable interbreeding should definitely be allowed but the rules must be extremely clear cut and easy to follow. I have written on the Yuku forum about this so read that if you are interested. I thought it would be good to use TOM funds to buy Stallion duties so lesser league players could use top league stallions on their mares to try and get better horses etc.


Agree would like to see this work! horse for horse even if Tom would struggle with the finance side of things.You would have to have something to offer other trainer to do a deal, Wouldnt it be a lot of work checking blood lines making sure no underhanded deals are done? Still a problem with files untill each file is identifiable anyone could send a copy to someones mail and then breed it into there lines how far do breeding lines go back before the record of this horse would be lost on the breeding line?

I very much agree, hence why I see this controversy as a blessing more than the bad press that is surrounding it. I also think that the season should continue so that interest can be maintained, the USRA though will be scrapped immediately as it seems to been a lot more trouble than its worth.

Still a problem with files untill each file is identifiable anyone could send a copy to someones mail and then breed it into there lines how far do breeding lines go back before the record of this horse would be lost on the breeding line?

I am totally against inter breeding for this reason.

What i will do is take crazyboys best colt/filly and breed it out so i can never be caught....i could do most of my weak areas and my stable will be super powerful..i have the four week window to breed his horse out...
Unless you can stop this it will never work!!.

Crazyboy's horses will be available not just to you mate. That's the point the opportunity is available to anyone who wants to use it, that is the point of a stud farm after all/

What if he doesnt want to give his horses to the stud farm?

Then you can't have them either , it has to be made public, and as I said monitoring shall be put in place to oversea this. Bans will have to be in place, if private inter-stable breeding is taking place.

The reason it can't work is the league CANNOT take another person cheating or improving there gameplay by unfair means...
It's very difficult to police and it only takes one trainer who decides to go private and the league will collapse...I think the risk reward ratio is not too good..
good luck anyway....

I'm against inter stable breeding, i play my own game and want to breed my own horses and hopefully watch my horses win races.
I would feel no achievement in breeding from someone elses horses because they are better than mine.
IMO it will make most trainers get lazy, why spend hours playing and trialing when the best of the league would be made available to breed with.
We all know that there are 5 or 6 trainers horses who everyone will want to breed with, who will want to breed with mine???
We all play the same game, have the same chance to find good horses and breed our own bloodlines, its a level playing field.
Obviously there are going to be a select few who know better breeding and trialing techniques, but i want get to that level by my own knowledge, not by getting one of my average Mares a bunk up with one of crazys superstar stallions, or one of my three legged colts hitching a ride on one of jays monster mares!!!
Again just my opinions.

agree with scotty and esa, totally against inter breeding. it will end up as one big mess!! the foundations of an amazing league are already in place, thats why we are enjoying the current one. it just needs a few changes here and there!!!

Stable interbreeding is a great idea.

Stable interbreeding in SO4 is not a great idea.

I think in SO5 there should be an option for interbreeding and it should work like this:

Horse uploaded to league
Horse does well in league
End of season horse is assigned stud fee if owner chooses to allow it
Everyone who pays that stud fee is sent the horse file (not the standard horse file but a special format file), horse owner gets fee paid to him.
This file is imported into your game
Any horses bred thereafter are tagged as bred by XYZ
XYZ gets credit when that horse wins in special breeders table

Supercat: absolutely bang on about USRA. I want to focus on the classic races in the states.

I really don't want the USRA to be wound up, I think it's a different type of challenge and a bit easier for the newer members to pick up a win. As for having a President for each code, this is already the case. The SOPL President oversees each of their roles.

I will take responsibility for the emotion and reaction that has taken place this season. It should have never happen and if I had been paying closer attention I would have stopped it immediately and re-directed it in a more constructive manner. The basic premise in the ORLWorld and all of the leagues that it has supported in the past 9 years, is that a friendly atmosphere must be maintained by everyone at all times and I am the one who policed the forums to ensure that was occuring. I used to read posts from players in the past after they were reading one or two people that were starting to get nasty in the forums, where they would say "well Jim will get this stopped shortly", and I would.

So even if ORLWorld players on the Starters Orders forums start creating an unhealthy atmosphere for other players, they will still fall under my supervision and discipline as the ORLWorld founder.

If the SOPL is going to survive it must survive under the ORLWorld rules. No more fighting, back stabbing, etc. Everyone has joined the ORLWorld because they wanted to share information, research information and interact favorably with other fans of horse racing games. Your leisure time is too precious and you should not have to spend any of it stepping lightly through mine fields or to keep your head low for fear of catching stray bullets, in the ORLWorld league forums generated by errant human emotions and reactions.

In the future if any of you see something brewing that you are concerned could get out of hand, please feel free to send a message to me in my ORLWorld Yuku In Box. I may only need to forward your message to a specific SOPL staff member or other ORLWorld staff members for the situation to be sorted out. Sometimes I may need to get involved myself. But know that your concerns will not be ignored. Every player's experience when they log onto the forums, should be a pleasant one. Lets all make sure that it reverts back to that completely and stays that way from now on. If you do, then you rock, with me!

I didn't mean to come across as rude as I did in my post about Steve. I know he means well as is just passionate. It wasn't meant to backstab but I felt the need to voice my opinion about that candidate.

My point had nothing to do with the actual newsletters. If Steve only did one newsletter, it's more time than I put into SOPL as a community. My point was the original goal of weekly newsletters falling short. Compare that to your list of changes and I have to wonder what would fall short.

I didn't realize that Steve had so many other duties as well. That's commendable and like I said, I know he means well. I just think a more levelheaded person with more free time would be a better fit. I also have always thought that things could be dumbed down rather than so complicated. I know the complicated side of it is what many enjoy to try and achieve realism but it is just a game.

Hats off to anyone that contributes any time at all to the running of the league. I'm working more than I ever have in my life and have zero time to contribute. I can't even manage time to try and just play the game and improve my lowly stable.