The game is just too random on everything from breeding to race results. The number of times I've seen the first 3 priced at 66/1, 66/1 and 66/1 is unbelievable.

I'm just playing easy on the standard game with no mods and it's just not as enjoyable as previous SOs wheb after 4 or 5 hours of playing I've got nowhere at all.

The last straw was Ev fave rated at 74 in a 75 handicap with CD&G and the first 3 walked in rated 35, 51 and 37.

Also are these races based on real meeting because some distances and ages just don't seem to have many races they can enter (especially 2 year olds whose distance is estimated at 1m+).

Not too sure it's too random on breeding but handicapping probably. Unless the game is set up to do more cross referencing or/and predetermine handicaps then many horses will fall through the gaps and silly odds such as you describe will be commonplace.

I don't know how far you got within 4-5 hrs of play, some games just work out and some don't. These days I mainly use the potential bars but it's not a guarantee just helps a lot to get somewhere.

Agree with you on the available races for staying 2yo and it can in some games roll over to 3yo races too. These types of races (maidens, novices, handicaps, conditions, sellers and claimers) are set up at random by the game when you start a new game and are then set annually I believe. That was one of my reasons for asking for sliders at the start of a new game, so I would be able to manipulate the amount of sellers/claimers in my own games to allow more novices/conditions races. I believe this is a work in progress but has some problems.

I find outsiders are more likely in certain races such as handicaps but check the percentage of winning favorites at courses. If race results were more random than previously the percentage would be smaller. My numbers are similar to SO6 so it's probably just a run of unusual results you have.

I'm fairly sure the increased difficulty is down to all horses being bred from top game horses now rather than just created randomly every season.