Alphamatrix Guide by Alphamatrix
First of all decide how much you can spend per month and set a limit!This game can be expensive and if you lose control there is no turning back!
Second advice is that you read the www.raceclubs.com(newbie section) of the RC forum(i learned a lot that way and trainers will help you if you have questions).Also in that same section look for HRC Quick Training guide
There are 3 ways of buying a horse, it all depends on what you a aiming for.
- 1º Auctions :
Buying in the auctions is the best thing to do if you want to start with a competitive stable.I advise you to race G2 till you learn the game.See the auctions and claims section on the RC forum, there you will see which owners are willing to sell.Inbox them and ask for horses time trials (TT's).I suggest that you use the TT guide on my page to look for a good horse!
- 2º Claim Races :
If you want to buy a horse in a claimer i suggest you look for the following factors ;
Look for horses that have won races with extra weight in a large field this season.
Look for horses that have won with a poor random(jockey) this season.
Look for horses that have won Level Weight and WFA races in the present season.
If you are learning the game i suggest that you buy a 4yo or older horse because normally 4yo's and plus will help you to learn the game(study their race history and how their previous owners used to nominate them).Mind that if you are studying their race form it has to be related to the same age group they are in now, in this case 4 to 7 years of age.The reason for that is because if you study their form when they were 2yo or 3yo it can missguide you as the horse may have had a bad age change(know at raceclubs as A/C this can be good or bad for the horse racing skills).Horses have age changes when they age from 2yo to 3yo and from 3yo to 4yo.After that they will no longer have their skills affected till they retire at the end of its 7th year of age.
Don't buy or claim a 7yo horse on the last 30 days of the season(it won't make you the money back).
If you want to claim a 2yo or 3yo use the 1st 3 advices too.It is harder to find a good young horse in claimers as normally they are racing in claim races because they have reached their full capacities(amount of wins)and can no longer progress in the race track till level weight races or even wfa's(races where only the best horses can compete).On the other hand you can find good horses if you study all factors, some trainers are unexperienced and sell good horses on claim races by mistake.So study trainers and their results too!It's all about racing form and the random factor(jockey factor together with other factors like draw etc).
- 3º Sales Ring :
Here we are in the most delicate part of this game, the sales ring is the place where all horses are generated and it is also the place you buy 2yo and 3yo unraced horses generated by the website.It is here that you have to be very careful with your money, the SR can make you bankrupt.So my advice is, buy in auctions till you have learned the game and till you have recieved bonus credits from the site(you will get bonus when you reach 500 races or/and if you get 50 wins in a season).
Now that you have bought horses, learn how to train them :
When you buy a horse from the sales ring your goal is to find the best distance, going and track for your horse.
When you buy a horse from the SR the horse is delievered to you naked or bare and that means it has no alumites, blinkers, and for colts they are not gelded.Mind that since the start of this season horses bought from the SR come with free alumites but they are not applied.
First thing to do is to find the preferred distance for your horse ;
-In the training mode choose, one track, one going and do as it follows ;
1st run over 1000m(naked)
2nd run over 1600m(naked) if it has improved then keep adding 600m
3rd run over 2200m(naked)
4th run over 2850m(naked) if it has improved till this far try 3200m and if it runs the same or a bit more as 2850m it is a stayer that gets both 2850m and 3200m(some stayers don't get 3200m though)
Your horse has to improve 0.5 lengths per each 200m ahead of the training horse, so if it does 2.0 lengths at 1000m it would have to improve 1.5 lengths over 1600m and it would run 3.5 lengths ahead of the training horse.If your horse keeps improving 0.5 each 200m it is because it likes a bigger distance.If it does not improve then you have to try it at a shorter distance.Keep traning your horse NAKED over the SAME TRACK and GOING till you have found it's favourite distance.
Once you have found it's distance it is time to find it's best going ;
Train your horse at the same track, preferred distance and all goings, turf and dirt goings.It's easy to find it's goings and normally the improvement is obvious(note that some horses get several goings and others prefer only one)
When you have it's distance and going apply alumites(it shall improve around 1 length) and if the horse is raceable(you can check the tt guide as your horse will be on 90% or over at this stage) geld it(for colts).A good gelding effect can give you an improvement of 2 lengths and maybe more for G1's A class.
When you have found it's going then you can find it's track(i normally leave this for the 2nd cycle of training together with blinkers if the horse is raceable) ;
When your horse reaches 90% of fitness gauge you will now know if it is a G1 or a G2 and which class(rating) it belongs to(A or B for G1 and C or D for G2).Check the TT guide for G1 or G2 and find out what your horse is.
The class(rating) of a horse is for rated races purposes only(We will talk about this further on)
Nominating your horse
In this game it is very important to know how to nominate your horses, actually there is nothing more important than this, except for training.
When you are starting it is pretty much confusing to understand all the races and it's rules.So in this section i will give you some hints how to nominate your unraced juvenile G2 horse(s).
This is the normal sequence for nominating your horse for stakes races :
1 - Maiden Races :
Maidens are normally easy to win if your horse is raceable, if your horse runs at his preferred distance and going with a normal random(jockey) it should win its maiden.If you have raced it 3 or more times at these right conditions and it does not win, than maybe your horse is not raceable or does not like to compete.
2 - Novice :
This should be your horse's first race if you think he is good, i say that because the prize is bigger than maidens and if you race it with one win already then you will get a 6lbs penalty, which makes it more difficult to win and honestly i don't think that racing your G2 horses with weight pelnalty is a good idea.
3 - Progress :
Progress can be very competitive but it is normally here that you will have a better idea of how good or not your horse can be.So my advice is, aim to nominate your good horses for an EB progress and leave your less good horses out of EB progress races, just put your less competitive ones in a normal progress.
4 - C Division :
C division is the first race of the division races where you can nominate your horses with 2 to 4 wins.Division races can be and normally are very competitive.So my advice is don't race your horses with weight pelnalty and this goes for all division races.Try to stick to 120lbs for colts and 90lbs for fillies.
5 - B and C division
6 - B Division
7 - A and B division
8 - A division :
If your horse can win here in a full field than you have a really good horse.This is the last stage before you start racing your horses at Level Weight and WFA races.In this one you should try and race your horse with a weight penalty after its first A div win, as you only get 1lb of penalty per win.Don't forget that your horse has its own limit to deal with weight penalty so you have to know when to stop racing at A division with a particular penalty.
9 - Level Weight :
After your division races campaign you can race with the best here.A level weight race as the name says is a race that all horses carry the same weight, so as you can imagine the best horse will probably win(the random factor here is important as normally horses that compete here are pretty much the same).So try and stick to your horse fav distance track and ground here.
10 - WFA
If your horse has won or placed in a full field at level weight give it a try here.Also stick to favourite distance ground and track.
* Allowance Races :
If you want to race here your Colt should race with no more than 110 lbs and your filly no more than 80 lbs.These are also very competitive races especially EB races.
Rated Races
The class(rating) of your horse exists because of rated races.It works like this ;
The top rated horse will always race with the maximum weight of 140 lbs, if that same horse is rated for example C113 for every rating below that, you will get a weight allowance of 2 lbs.So again if the top rated horse is in this case C113 and your horse C112 then it will carry 138 lbs.This rule is applied to all rated races (A B C and D)