is there any way of telling how good the horses you buy at a 2yo auction could actually be. all i go by is that in generall the higest guide priced horses should be abit better. has anyone else got a better system. i play on just jump mode and cant ever tell.

Like all horses in real life, you won't really know what you've got until they hit the gallops and track. You could pay cheap prices and most will likely to be poor, but you might be lucky and find that diamond in the rough.

You'll just have to use the guide price like you're currently doing.

money talks no way of knowing otherwise

I tend to find that the horse with a slightly lower guide price, say 150-200k, If it's reserve when you go to auction is much higher, I find these tend to be better.

For instance, if its listed at 212,000 but in auction the reserve is set at 388,000 I'd be very interested.

More so than a horse listed at 450,000 whose reserve is 200,000

I just look at whether its dam or sire were Group winners, I dont tend to buy anything that isnt a group winner. I also look for those bargain during the season, those two year olds, racing well under their preferred distance (due to the schedule) with Group Winning parents. Picked up one for like $9000 yesterday, hopefully in season 2 when it can run 1m4F I may get some value for my money

I agree with this, I find a horse which is listed at 200,000 and then you go to auction and its reserve is 700,000 you are on a winner. At the start of the game just buy as many horses as you can afford, you will get a few good ones every year.