Racing and Awards

RACING RULES

+ Races can have a maximum of fourteen in the field.
+ The minimum is two horses., though we prefer at least four.
+ Usually you will be allowed to enter up to three horses in each race, but the bigger races may take only two per member. (eg. the Breeder's Cup.)
+ You may not enter your own horses in a race you are judging.
+ Prospect races do not count towards a horse's career record. They are merely an indicator of what to expect from the horse in his career.
+ Please volunteer to judge races. It is a great help and will contribute to keeping us on time throughout the game year. Races without judges will be randomized.
+ 'Repost in code' means to use code tags. [code*][/code] Remove the star, and place the content between the tags. It's the C on the buttons
+ Ensure you keep an accurate record of every race your horse runs in.
+ Only one specific workout post may be done per horse per race.
+ Dead heats are banned. This is because they were occurring far to often and realistically they are rare.
+ If you are leasing a horse to someone else, you can't judge any race that the horse runs in. This is to prevent bias and keep races fair for all members.

GRADING SCALE

The grading scale puts horses into race grades depending on how many races they have won. Prospect is the only 'grade' where age is a restriction and there is no restriction on wins. Prospect is like a yearling show, and prospect races do not count towards a horse's career record.

Prospect (P) - 1yos only - any number of wins.
Maiden (M) - 0 wins
Grade Five (G5) - 1 to 3 wins
Grade Four (G4) - 4 to 6 wins
Grade Three (G3) - 7 to 9 wins
Grade Two (G2) - 10 to 12 wins
Grade One (G1) - 13+ wins

ENTERING RACES

First of all, we recommend that you have sideboxes or a HTML table at your stable that links you to your horses, along with their age, grade, distance and surface preferences. This will make it easier for you to enter.

Next, what is the race? Each race has a specific set of restrictions. These include grade, age and gender. If your horse does not fit these, it will be disqualified. Other restrictions, that will not get your horse disqualified, include the distance and surface. As you will be aware by now, your horse has distance and surface preferences. A horse that is good on dirt will be beaten every time by a horse who is great on dirt.

Here's an example.

Golden Start Stakes - M 7F D

This is a maiden only race. It is on dirt, for a distance of seven furlongs. There are no gender or age restrictions. Now as for the actual entering part, you are required to copy the code from the person who entered before you, and add your entries, then re post it in code. Check the judging guidelines for further information

JUDGING GUIDELINES

1. Eligibility
First of all, a judge must check to see that all horses are eligible for the race. The restrictions for horses eligible to enter a race are located next to the race title, like this:

Turn Up The Heat Stakes - 2Y0 C 9F D G5

Now, as you can plainly see, this race is open for two year old colts only, who are grade five only. The judge must determine whether each horse is eligible to run the race before commencing with the actual judging.

2. Preferences
Secondly, you need to consider the race distance and surface in accordance to the horse's preferences. If a race was on dirt, and the horse ran only good on dirt and great on turf, he would have to be placed behind all horses with better preferences than this, like a horse who ran great on the dirt and only okay on turf. As for distance, each horse has a range of distance he is able to run well in. A horse who is primarily a sprinter and can only run up to eight furlongs will most likely run last in a race of nine furlongs or more.

You may find the horses preferences anywhere on his page, as everyone does their horses pages a little differently, but usually they will be somewhere underneath a heading like 'Racing Career'. Preferences look something like this:

Dirt: Great
Turf: Okay
Distance: 9-12 Furlongs

As you can see, this horse runs better on the dirt than he does on the turf, and only from nine to twelve furlongs. On GHF, our races are between five and twelve furlongs in length. As for surface, there are four words used to describe how well a horse runs on each surface.

Great - The best.
Good - Second best. He will always be beaten by a horse who is Great.
Okay - The horse is only Okay running on this surface, and therefore will always be beaten by Good and Great horses. He should as a rule not be run on this surface at all to avoid preventable losses.
Bad - The horse basically hates the surface, and there is no way he will beat any Okay, Good or Great horses.

Some stables will have "Surface:" instead, where the answer will be either Turf, Dirt or Dual.

The surface preferences in above indicate that the horse is best running on dirt. He can run well on turf, but it would be advised that he only run on dirt.

3. Record
This is probably the most obvious part when judging a race. You judge on consistency, the *HOTY Selection races, and the record itself.

When judging on the record, check the horse's grade and his experience. See how many wins he has, and whether they are *HOTY selection race wins or not. (*HOTY Selection Races are the biggest races on the calendar - these practically decide who wins the the yearly awards. The biggest of these are spelled in capitals, such as *KENTUCKY DERBY, or *BREEDER'S CUP ). Also check the distance and surface of recent races. Horses who are run on both surfaces (dual) may show a preference for one surface in their race results, or a horse who runs 7-10 furlongs may do best at a mile. If a horse has been raced hard recently, perhaps they are tired and won't do as well as a horse who has had a week or two off.

Working out the consistency of a horse's record is easy enough. Add all the wins, seconds and thirds and divide by the number of races they have run in total. For example:

69-28-13-9

= 28 + 13 + 9

= 50

50 / 69

= 72%

This horse is quite consistent, and as you can see by the number of wins, this horse likes to win alot. He would usually do better than a horse with 50% consistency, but this is not always the case. If the 50% horse has been worked a few times for the races and the 72% horse has not been worked recently, the 50% horse should do better in the race.

4. Workouts
While workouts are important in all races, they are most important in the big ones. Everyone has different writing styles, and some are capable of writing super long workouts of 2000+ words while others may only manage 400 words. Don't penalize those who can't manage to put out a lengthy workout. A workout is a workout, and they all take some time and effort. Workouts should be done every so often, depending on the level of competition. A good rule to follow is one every two game months. This means by the end of the year, your horse should have six or more workouts for that season.

5. Bloodlines
Bloodlines are not particularly important, but if a horse is related to many good runners, he is far more likely to do well than a horse that is not. Take Bank On Silver and Merry Bay King offspring, for example. These two, the first and second horses to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame have produced no bad runners so far. They have been crossed together once to produce a Triple Crown and Breeder's Cup Classic Winner, who is Impressario. Bank On Silver has produced four grade ones so far (as of Y8), with one grade four two year old, and one filly foal that hasn't yet begun to race (obviously). Bank On Silver is notorious for producing top quality dirt runners. Merry Bay King is as famous for producing excellent turf runners, with the likes of Simply A Flyer, winner of over fourteen *HOTY Selection Races, and two time winner of the prestigious *Melbourne Cup. Not to mention various others.

Contrary to the belief, however, great runners don't always produce great runners. I'll use my own Vindictive Fury for example, who has recently run an absolutely crap 2yo season. Her dam, Rising Fury, is the single best horse currently in the HOF (in my opinion, that is) in the way of record and awards and achievements, while her sire is also in the Hall Of Fame for his great heart and talent. She should have been a top notch runner, right? but she's not. Yet. (As of Y11 she is xD)

So there you can see that great bloodlines don't always guarantee a great horse, and bloodlines should never be judged on heavily.

6. Class
Consider the level each horse in the field is at. Some horses may have been racing well at a high level (HOTY*) for some time, whereas others may have raced in undercard races for much of their career. Undercard races are easier to win due to the top competition generally running only in special HOTY* races. Therefore a horse that has been racing at a high level should be more highly regarded than a horse that has not.

7. Age
Age is important because with age comes maturity and experience. A fresh two year old for example should not be run in a field of three year olds. The three year olds are by now more physically mature and probably have several races experience. At the other end of the scale, is when three year olds are nearing the age of four and are facing four and five year olds for the first time. Consider what the three year old has achieved this season. If they have been running in the Triple series, they are likely to be very capable of beating a four or five year old now. After the majority of three year old races are finished for the season, three year olds should not be penalized for age and experience against older horses. Experience is not really important after about ten or twenty starts anyway, depending on the horse's age.

8. Fitness and Energy

As a rule, judges should check the dates of recent starts on a horse's record. If the horse has run two weeks in a row and is about to run it's third in a row, realistically it will not have the energy to compete with a horse who has had a week or two in between starts. Two year olds generally should not be running any more than two races a month until about half way through the season, and after that should not race more than three races a month. Month does not mean calendar month, but four weeks in a row.

RACE PURSES

Consult The Wire.


HORSE OF THE MONTH

Each month the best horses of the month get the opportunity to be crowned Horse Of The Month. Any horse can enter, provided they have won at least one race during that month. The two best horses nominated will go to the poll, and the horse with the most votes will be horse of the month for that month.

HORSE OF THE YEAR

At the end of each year, a select few horses are nominated for Horse Of The Year Awards. The nominees are then put to poll, and the horse with the most votes wins the award. In cases where horses receive the same number of votes, tiebreaker polls are used. Previous years award winners can be viewed in the Horse Of The Year board. If you want your horse to really be in with a chance at winning an award, be sure to plan its career path really well. HOTY* races are very important races to win so rack up as many wins in these as possible!

HALL OF FAME

The Hall Of Fame is where the best horses ever to race on Green Horse Fields are remembered. To be inducted in the Hall Of Fame, a horse must be voted in by members. The horse must have been a superstar to be considered for a poll. Hall of Fame Inductees can be viewed in the Hall Of Fame board.

RACING ON THE WIRE & BATTLESTONE DOWNS
The Wire and Battlestone Downs are sister tracks of Green Horse Fields and is run on the same time schedule. Therefore you cannot run a horse on all three tracks in the same week. The Wire and Battlestone Down races count towards Horse Of The Month and Horse Of The Year, so plan your horse's schedule carefully!