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 Arriving very late to the party 
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat May 16, 2020 1:13 am
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Post Arriving very late to the party
I am a newcomer to the SO series, so I cannot compare SO7 to any previous versions.
I am a longtime lover of horse racing, particularly National Hunt racing.
I am simply astounded by how good SO7 is and the level of detail with the UK jumps save I have been playing for the past couple of months.
Previous versions must have been immense if this is as poor as a lot of posters are saying.
I am only on SO Classic as well (old laptop!)
I must say that it was daunting af first but watching Chris Ormie's vids on Youtube helped tremendously (thanks Chris)
I love the unpredictability of a horses ability and the way a donkey can suddenly mature and end up winning a top race at the Chelfenham Festival.
This game wipes the floor with all other management sims...and I am a decades-old devotee of football management sims.

The only single gripe I have is that when I finally won the Grand National, I didn't get the achievement !!


Wed Jun 03, 2020 4:35 pm
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Handicapper

Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 3:57 pm
Posts: 481
Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
Glad to hear you are enjoying it! I have put off starting a jumps save in SO7, and I think now I will.

Jumpsman wrote:
a donkey can suddenly mature and end up winning a top race at the Chelfenham Festival


Something to laugh at. As a kid, who had started riding in hunters, I went out to a place in the mountains (SE US) that gave lessons on mules where a friend was taking basic riding lesson on their pack mules. On hearing I knew how to jump a horse, the stable owner asked me if I'd try to jump on a mule they had that they thought might like jumping. There was some chuckling, so I'm not quite sure what she'd done to make them think that. :shock:

For more endurance in long mountain rides, they'd bred her from an Arab mare. They wanted to see if she would jump under saddle. She was sweet, but quite small, and in a pack saddle. So we started out with some low home made cross rails and ... they were right. She loved it.

So, I went back up there on weekends for a while and, using all kinds of improvised obstacles, and then graduating to jumping anything in the field that seemed jump-like and ...

I taught a small mule to jump. :lol:

No races for her, but as an oddity she was well loved and they let me know when she passed a couple of decades later. She matured into a super reliable jumper of anything, anywhere in any tack, under any rider. Just .. ignore the ears. :wink:


Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:43 am
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat May 16, 2020 1:13 am
Posts: 24
Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
Brilliant story...you are braver than me.

A word of warning though if you do start a jumps save.
The prize money for the Grand National winner is that massive compared to other races, 99% of the time you have to win the National to also win Jumps Horse of the Year achievement.

There must be a glitch on my save, as I won the National again last night and I was still not given the 'medal' in my achievements.

On both occasions though, I have had another of my horses in 2nd place in the horse of the year standings. Those horses were given the horse of the year trophy instead.


Thu Jun 04, 2020 1:29 pm
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Handicapper

Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 3:57 pm
Posts: 481
Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
Thanks for the warning. Did start a save, but far from tackling the Grand National on it.

I just had that bug in my longer-running flat save. So I think it is a new bug. I didn't have one of my horses also as runner-up so I just missed out on the medal completely that year.


Thu Jun 04, 2020 9:31 pm
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat May 16, 2020 1:13 am
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Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
It took me years to win it though.
I had one dour stayer finish runner up four years running.
A couole of seasons later, another was second two years running before finally winning it the following season aged 11.
My most recent National winner just won it first go at the age of 8.
But the primary focus each season on my jumps save is winning Cheltenham Festival races. 28 of them to go for... The best I have managed is winning 11 of them... Twice I've managed to do this. That takes some doing in the real world, so I was ecstatic on both occasions


Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:22 pm
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Handicapper

Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 3:57 pm
Posts: 481
Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
Well deserved celebration, that is excellent.

So what do you look for in your hurdlers and chasers, and other than the two bars down at the bottom, do you do look for anything else different between them?

I'm in the US, so hurdles are a ??? to me. :) Chasing and Hunter Pace I've at least seen.


Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:28 am
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat May 16, 2020 1:13 am
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Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
This might soind ridiculous for a jumps save but I wouldnt worry too much about the two jumping bars down the bottom of the stats screen. I focus on the usual stats bars first and formost.. Potential, cruising burst, extra speed, finish application, consistency.
By watchibg the races, its eady to see whether the horse is a good jumper. If it makes lotsof mistakes in a chase race, then perhaps it should just be kept racing over hurdles instead.


Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:49 am
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Handicapper
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Location: Texas, USA (on loan from Wales, UK)
Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
Jumpsman wrote:
I must say that it was daunting af first but watching Chris Ormie's vids on Youtube helped tremendously (thanks Chris)
...
This game wipes the floor with all other management sims...and I am a decades-old devotee of football management sims.

Hey thanks for watching, glad I could help in some way. I also come from years of FM but no other management sim has grabbed me like SO7 for some reason. It's very simplistic yet I'm always learning too, it's a strangely addictive mix! :D

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Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:24 am
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Selling plater

Joined: Sat May 16, 2020 1:13 am
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Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
It was that Jumps save you have on Youtube Chris that was so helpful for this jumps obsessed national hunt enthusiast. The Batchworth Dancer save.
Seeing the progression of that horse to eventually becoming a graded winner, it encouraged me to persist with some of my own horses and also throw them in at the graded deep end with some splendid results.
The words Starters and Orders have become swear words to the missus though due to my addictive obsession :lol:


Sat Jun 06, 2020 8:33 am
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Handicapper
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Joined: Fri May 08, 2015 10:22 pm
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Location: Texas, USA (on loan from Wales, UK)
Post Re: Arriving very late to the party
Jumpsman wrote:
It was that Jumps save you have on Youtube Chris that was so helpful for this jumps obsessed national hunt enthusiast. The Batchworth Dancer save.
Seeing the progression of that horse to eventually becoming a graded winner, it encouraged me to persist with some of my own horses and also throw them in at the graded deep end with some splendid results.
The words Starters and Orders have become swear words to the missus though due to my addictive obsession :lol:

Then I heartily apologize to your wife! #SorryNotSorry

I don't normally go for jumps so that was a big learning experience for me. I'm really glad how Batchworth Dancer ended up though, was a fine horse at the end.

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Sat Jun 06, 2020 7:55 pm
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