Hi guys. I may sound like a total newbie here but I have a lot of quality horses in my stable and not alot of races to put them in unless I make them face each other so I thought that I'd make some of them jumps horses as some have good stamina. So when you look at the stats and the jumps bar is non existent does that mean it can't be a jumps horse as it'll keep falling ? Or can I train it to improve at jumping? Do I just need to keep galloping it over fences and gradually it should improve?

Shame you got no response to this question. I am probably not the best person to give any kind of answer, other than my playing experiences, but here goes.

For many seasons I saw horses as either flat runners or jump runners. I tried a few 6yo/7yo over hurdles once it became obvious they were finished on the flat, but that was pretty much unsuccessful. In fact, it was hopeless if I am honest. Looking back it was too late for these horses to take to jumping.

About five seasons ago, and as a result of breeding and keeping more horses and therefore having more options, I decided to 'switch' quite a few, but much earlier in life and it has worked well. Not superstars and pretty much hurdlers - but some regular winners at C3 and C2 levels and the occasional one doing even better.

So at 2yo, I take the worst horses out of the game without racing them. The horses with longer distance breeding and good stamina and constitution I leave until 3yo and then give them experience in bumpers and juvenile hurdles. That is to say I don't try them on the flat.

As for the obvious 2yo flat horses, I race them and see how they do and it becomes obvious from results, their heritage, and race behaviour which ones I will want for breeding. So it is those left that are pertinent to your question.

This is how I play it :

I normally only switch horses with average or good estimated jump training potential. I have sneaked in one or two with poor rating because their other stats have been good, but these types can be hard work. I don't try to convert horses with very poor jump training ratings.

I disregard their breeding distance indicator - it is a guide only and I have a number of 6f/7f horses that run comfortably and well at 2m/2m2f over hurdles. I also disregard the zero jumping bar - I have exceptions to that rule also.

I make the switch at 3yo or 4yo - once I know they won't be great on the flat. Depending on their age when I change them over, I put them into juvenile hurdles or maiden/novice hurdles. (You probably know that any horse with flat history cannot run in a bumper).

At some stage at 2yo/3yo the horse will be out of gas from running on the flat so I put training on blue and give them special jump training until they return to full condition. All the time young horses are running on the flat I am looking for those best suited to converting.

Once switched I watch them closely. If the horse doesn't take to hurdling, I persevere and keep moving it up in distance as the horse gets older hoping something falls into place. I keep to the same jockey if I can, but don't hesitate to change if the horse just isn't performing because that could be the problem. Sometimes a steady horse on the flat will get a bit nervy/distracted over hurdles so I consider pacifiers, and gelding the colts as again this may do the trick. I would normally keep these horses until they are 6yo before deciding whether they stay or go. By this time I will know their distance and jumping abilities. I also make sure the horse isn't simply a late maturing sort via the hidden stats. I don't often have the option to move a horse to chasing at this stage - as I said these horses normally take a different route with my methods. But it is possible with good all round horses.

So, to answer your questions, the non existent bar does not necessarily mean a horse will keep falling. You can slowly (and I mean slowly) improve some horses via training and racing. Personally I don't try to develop the horses in question via my gallops - they lose race condition just the same so you may as well have them at a racecourse learning.

Not all horses will make it - probably half of mine become decent to good, or very good (by my standards)*. The other half have abysmal returns like 12 races with less than £2k winnings but at least I know I have tried everything before taking them out of the game. And the fun is high watching the better ones develop over the seasons.

Sorry if I have taught you to suck eggs with this response. Perhaps now others will add to your thread and we can both learn more.

* I often tell myself I don't really know what I am doing, but next season will be my 22nd and I will pass the 1000 winners mark in NH and have over 500 winners on the flat which I am not quite so committed to. I am quite proud of this given I knew nothing about playing the game or horse racing in general twelve months ago.

Hi

I’m still on SO6 but have loads of success converting flat horses to jump horses, not sure if it’s more difficult in SO7 but I would say persevere with it for definite

I often move them over at 5-6 when they wain on the flat and have numerous Cheltenham G1 winners with them etc

It not as simple in SO7 and moving them across and sending them straight into graded races normally leads to failure. Horses need runs to improve their jumping if you playing auto training. And if their jumps training potential is poor it's no good moving them across. Jumps training potential needs to be average or good. The jumps bar doesn't seem to have any effect I can see and I just ignore it. They do need to go jumping earlier as well and they do better following a proper novice path. The stamina bar seems to have no effect in NH. Best to read race comments , watch races, look at jockey feedback and after a while the breeding to get an idea of their best distance in NH

Be aware that horses that run poorly over hurdles could still be monster chasers. So my path is flat if failed flat then hurdles if failed hurdlers then chase. Its very rare I have found horses who can do both hurdles and chases. They exist but are not in abundance even when trying to breed more of them.

It must be a lot different in SO 7 then as I’ve had numerous horses in SO6 which I’ve converted from flat to hurdles and then on to chasing, the only thing I’ve never got involved in are bumpers

One of my best 1m 4f horses Fallon D’Or cleaned up in G1 races, I then sent him hurdling at 8 rather than stud and he won at Cheltenham and Aintree and he’s now winning G1 races over fences before he goes to Stud at the end of this season, when he’s 10yo