Magoo's idiot's guide to the sim part 4 by magoo2912
on
Monday, July 16, 2007 at
6:35:01 AM
riding instructions and jockey settings
How often should I run my horse is one of the most widely asked questions in the sim, when I first started I was thinking like Australians do run my horse every 2-3 weeks then put it out for a spell for 3 or 4 months after about 6 starts. After seeing my horses not come up sharp very often I decided to look in new player info and was horrified to discover you don’t put horses out for a spell instead you just need to spread the races apart. So how often should I run my horse hmmmmmmm. Well this is a very debatable area some trainers like to run every 2-3 weeks some 3-4 weeks others Like to run them 4-6 weeks apart, but the truth is each horse is different and this is a very random part of the game. I often see posts of my horse never comes up sharp the week I want it to well I figure the horse will almost always tell you when it wants to run. The one exception is if a horse came up sharp the week after it has already run. 99% of the time that when you run a horse the week after it last raced it runs a poor race, regardless of what condition it is in before the race started. So I have a rule never under any circumstances run a horse the week after it raced. You can almost make that 2 weeks but there are a few that can run on just 2 weeks break but if you managed to have a horse running allowance races or better I would say a minimum of 3 weeks. Now I have told you that this rule does not apply to all horses, 2yo horses are the main exception. When 2yo racing starts we all get excited at seeing our new baby’s in action. Now SP speeds always start very low but this is the time in a 2yo’s career it can be ruined by over racing your 2yo. Which brings me to my next rule If the horse is no good on the surface which it was bred for give it a good break then give it 1 try on the other surface, if it is still no good leave it until next year. Now some may say this is not good for them because the horse is taking up valuable space, but the truth is if you get rid of that horse you could see it winning a graded race for somebody else in a year or 2 Now if you manage to get a very good 2yo and you run it in big races all the time it suffers wear and tear, So it can be a very fine line between riches and ruin. I would think if you do want to run your 2yo and it is not bad I would try to run every 7 weeks or so but you will know if you have a very good one soon enough you may need to run it more often to chase the breeder’s bowl that all simsters dream of. So when it comes to racing your horses rest can be a very good thing. As I did say it is a very random thing I will say though that I believe horses start to get into a routine so if vary how often you run that is when you will find that your horse is not sharp the week you want it to be. Another point I wish to make is that a horse does not always need to be sharp to race well, they can still run very well sitting on Ready to Go, so if you have that horse that just will not come up sharp don’t worry it needs to get back into routine and will most likely come up sharp next time. Another rule is never run if the horse is a little groggy. Next up we have riding options which has 3 areas instructions, train for week and riding %. Train for week is pretty much self explanatory so I will start with riding %. What riding % is a way of easing the horse if you have no chance of winning. I have only ever changed this from 100% when I wanted a horse to lose (for reasons I will not go into.) Some like to have there 2yo’s with a percentage of 98-96% but I would rather my horse finish in the placing's earning me BP’s than not even getting into the money. So I always run at 100%. Next up is the jockey instructions themselves which have many options, you get the chance to tell the jockey where you want the horse positioned in the race for example if you have a horse set at 1.00 you want to lead where if it is 0.50 you want the horse mid pack and if you want it at the rear you would set it at 0.00 the other setting is jockey select, that is where you put all your faith in the jockey to judge the pace. Since some jockeys have a mind of there own they don’t always listen to you so the better the jockey is the more inclined you should be to put it on jockey select. This is one area you can play around with, sometimes a change is just what is needed, if you handicap a race you could see many leaders in a race so you might try to sit off the pace and run over the top. Once you find a horse’s favorite spot you should keep it there most of the time but as I said exceptions can be made.
