Ever since I found about the online league, i've heard and read nothing but trouble, cheats and delays! It's been a good month since I thought I was going to get to join the league and now i'm told it's going to be 2 months now..

Is this the only league available for this game or are there alternative online leagues for SO4?

On another note; does the current league (and any other alternative leagues if available) have the longer distance races - i.e. 2m+ on the flat?

Not that i'm confident in my horses in that department

Yes it is the only league. The races on the flat in the UK go up to 2m5f, although generally the further the race, the less common they are.

Oh right, on both levels.

Can you only enter 1 horse in each race, or can I put multiple entries per race? Or would uploading 3 or so stayers be a bad idea generally?

That's something I want to look at. But for now it's just the one horse per race.

Apologies for the bad timing, trust me though, keep playing for the next two months, when you export your best horse now you want to be beating it by 5L in 8 weeks time!

rich i think one entry per race is good!!!i also think more maidens should be added so that horses with form 000000000 cannot be entered into g1s . its unfair is an also ran interferes with a top horse and costs them the race. i dont know if that happens but i did see lots of poor horses in g1s - maybe we can end this by adding a few more maidens to each league

That's the plan!

Before a season starts a schedule is sent out detailing the races for the season, you get upload windows every 4 weeks so it's best just to target races over each four week period. If however the week after the upload has a handicap race in it that you want to have a crack at then you'd need to upload the horse beforehand in order for it to get the handicap mark needed to run in that race. Be careful with uploading some 2 year old horses early on, for example there aren't any 7f or above races for 2 year old horses in the first four weeks so uploading a 2 year old horse at 7f+ is pointless as you'd probably get better horses at those distances as the season progresses, if you upload beforehand and get something better then you've wasted a slot in your barn.

There aren't too many races at 2m+ so again you'd just need to check the schedule to see if there are any races you want to target before deciding to upload at those distances.

Also be aware of 4 year olds, in UKRA for example there aren’t any races for 4 year old horses below 1m, and there are only 2 races below 1m for 4 year olds in the USRA. So you have to ask yourself if it is worth using a slot in your barn just for one race. Most races for 4 year old horses are at 1m, 1m2, and 1m4. Across both these leagues there are only 5 races at 1m1, 3 races at 1m3,1 race at 2m1, 1 at 6f, 1 at 7f for 4 year old horses. I’m not saying though that you shouldn’t upload 4 year old horses at these or other distances as there are many 3+ year old races but it probably isn’t a good idea to give weight away to top trainers unless you have a real monster on your hands.

You could also use the weather as a guide to what you should be breeding for between each upload window but I'd suggest you don't get too carried away with that, just trial your horses and upload your best.

Of course this is just a general guide, the schedule may change.

You can only enter one horse per race.

Thanks for all your help between you. I understand the schedule and league more now - just looking forward for it all to kick off again so I can have a taste of glory

Nah i'm not expecting too much first off, normally takes me a while to figure my own horses out nevermind other peoples!

Just another word on the races, before I declare a horse, can I see the horses already entered? So if I saw a horse I know I couldn't beat, i'd look elsewhere for a different race.

Plus, do you not get a mark until after 3 runs, like in reality, or do you get a mark after the first run like on the game? Also, about handicap marks - is what i'd call a Prescott route allowed or is it forbidden? i.e. 2 runs at 6f, 1 run at 7f, handicap debut run at 1m5f?

This may change for the next season but in previous season horses have had to have one run, like in the game to get a mark. Then they can go handicapping.

I would say no to the Prescott route. People did try it, knowingly and unknowingly, and got disqualified. There was one particular instance where a new trainer won a race with a horse he had uploaded but had forgotten the ideal distance for, it ran badly in one or two 1m races then dotted up in a 1m4f handicap. Sadly that horse was disqualified. The threads are all here if you want to have a read. But that was considered as a form of cheating, i.e. getting a low handicap mark at distances that were too short then going into big handicaps and winning easily.

There is a 2f margin horses are allowed to run in. So if you have a 1m4f horse you could run it 2f below (1m2f) or 2f above (1m6f) it's ideal distance. I think I may be right in saying that if you have a long distance horse 2m2f+ the rules are slightly different because there are less races so you could run it at 1m7f maybe even 1m6f to try and get a run and a handicap mark. Then in a few weeks when a 2m4f handicap came up you would be eligible.But someone may correct me on that.

Hope that helps.

Yeah that all makes sense, thanks. Especially about the stayers margin because in the game I do start them off around 1m6f then I aim them at specific races each year between 1m7 and 2m5, but because I can win at both distances and between then it can't be seen as cheating as such as its not running badly

Yes how it worked was we gave horses a 2f buffer like Supercat has said, with the stayers we are bit more lenient but 1m6f - 2m4f would be too much. If you upload a 2m4f horse 2M would be the min distance really as although in your game your stayers can win 1m6f races and 2m4f this would not be the case in the league as its more competitive. This is based on hcap and maiden races by the way. We pretty much let horses run most distances if it was a group race as even if the horse came last it was still hit with a group penalty