Thoroughbred Racing Tips Guide

After running and training Thoroughbreds for over 5 years on here, I wanted to create a smaller guide with all the insight I've gained to help newer owners and trainers out that are just getting into the game or oldies that wanted to find some new tricks to play with. This is pretty much how I play the game ALL the time, and hopefully it will be anyone else out that finds that they're struggling a bit or they need some more insight on how to really get their stable moving.

I will be updating this periodically when I have something new to add, so please check back often!

If you have any questions regarding any of this, feel free to PM me as well!

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Tip #1: Fully train your horses!
I cannot emphasize this enough! There are at least two active Thoroughbred training threads, so please utilize them to their full capacity! Too often I see a horse that's either completely untrained or a horse that has the mid-to-low 50s for its stats entered in MSWs or even stakes against more accomplished horses and I actually get really sad, because I know that horse doesn't have a chance. While Gallop Racer is more focused on abilities, stats also play a huge role - you're not gonna win against a horse that has 70s in its stats with incompatible abilities if your horse has only 50s for stats and even great abilities.

There is no limit on how many times you can train a horse per day/week, and once it has 60+ in at least four stats, the horse has a pretty decent chance on coming home in one piece and not 20 lengths behind the leader. I can say from experience that I've taken horses that I've just finished training, popped them in a maiden race and they've won against more experienced horses, just because I've given them the chance to compete fully trained, rather than going in half-cocked.

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Tip #2: Pick complimentary abilities!
Picking abilities can either be the bane of your existence or the most fun you've had all week. Each horse is allowed three abilities, with two positive and one negative. The negative one doesn't particular matter; they're all terrible, some less so than others, but they all work to the detriment of your horse, to give everyone what we call a level playing field. Your horse can't just be awesome at everything he does; sometimes he'll hate an off going, or he'll lose focus after getting the lead, or he'll decide to make a left turn at Albuquerque coming into the stretch. Horses have quirks and you can't really help that when you pick your negative ability.

HOWEVER, you can with your positives! Complimentary abilities are a pair of abilities that strengthen each other or play off your horse's leg type. For example, say you have a front runner; two great abilities to pick would be "Front Runner" and "Second Wind," which allows your horse to run in front, like he wants, and gives him another spurt to the finish. Do you have a closer? "Spurt" and "Stretch Burst" are also great to put together, along with "Spurt" and "Last to First," which are basically built for those one-shot runners. A stalker or follower may also benefit from "Last Corner Leader" and "From Outside," as they tend to roll around pace setters when they get going, and sometimes there's little you can do to stop the Thoroughbred Train.

READ all of the abilities to make sure you know what you're getting into, and can find a pair that really compliment each other.

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Tip #3: Play to your horse's track preferences!
This goes for both surface and distance. I've seen a number of trainers over the years of hosting races enter their turf horses in a dirt race, or vice versa. As a general rule, a horse that is great on one surface will not run well on a surface it is merely "okay" at; I learned this myself the hard way when I first started racing. I had a number of dirt horses that I entered in EVERYTHING, and as a result, I pretty much threw them against a brick wall. They tried, but couldn't compete against horses that excelled at turf racing and would often finish behind horses that weren't as accomplished but had a huge advantage because they were relishing the track surface.

As a rule, if your horse is a dirt horse, enter him only on dirt; the same goes for turf horses. If you do this, you give your horse every single chance it has to excel in its career and you'll generally find your in the money percentage and win percentage nearly double if you play to your horse's strengths.

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Tip #4: Enter your winless horses in Maiden Races only!
I say this because once you venture into stakes and handicaps, the quality of horses tends to skyrocket, as these horses tend to have wins and in the money placings that have ratcheted up their stats and give them a heady advantage over a newcomer that hasn't won a single race. While I do use a weight spread on all of my stakes/handicaps, there is only so much different a horse with an impost of 105 lbs can do to compete against a horse that carries 118 but has much higher stats.

When you enter a maiden race, you are generally on a level playing field and while you may occasionally run into a monster that was bred from high-statted parents, that likelihood is usually less than 10%. More often than not, you'll find horses with stats in the low 60s that haven't done much in their career yet and with everyone carrying the same weight, it's based sheerly on talent with no need to level the playing field by weight. If your horse has similar stats and isn't facing down a rival that's nearly Grade III status, you'll find you have a much higher chance of placing in the Top 3, if you play to both your horse's strengths and short comings.

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Tip #5: You DO NOT have to enter the maximum amount of horses!
Just because the limit is 3 doesn't mean you always have to enter that many. What I've found over the years is that sometimes you have a horse that is just completely dominant over any other horse you have running, and it pretty much smashes the rest of your string into the ground with its awesomeness. We're all in this game because we love horses and we tend to get frustrated if we see some of our horses consistently almost get there or finish far behind the next Secretariat - and that horse happens to be one of our own!

If you feel like you have a horse that is completely dominant - only enter that horse! I know, you feel like you're cheating yourself out of two extra spots but look at this way. If you only enter that big bad, you'll get him out of the way quicker if he's consistently placing in the Top 3, and you won't have your other horses with consistently low placings behind that horse to muddy up their records. I do this all the time - if I feel like I have a horse that just constantly is placing higher, I'll focus on that horse exclusively in its required niche, and put my others on a short layoff or spot them in other races where I feel like they can do well. You're not cheating yourself out of extra placings; you're putting your horses exactly where they need to be to excel.

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Tip #6: Don't jump grades too quickly!
I have seen this a lot and maybe it's just me being picky, but I can't stand it if I have a Grade III horse with a stat still in the 50s or a Grade II with a stat in the 60s. Sometimes you can't help it - you're running your horse in a race, it finished outside of the Top 5 and the race host gives it a point where the horse is then bumped up to the next grade. But if you have the choice, try to round out ALL of your horse's stats until you're pretty much forced to make it a grade higher.

I do this with all of my horses if I possibly can and I've found that this gives them a slight edge over the rest sometimes. A horse that has all 60s tends to be do better in graded events compared to ones that have 50s somewhere in their stats, while the same can be said for Grade II horses - a horse with 70s has an advantage over a horse with only two 70s stats and the rest 60s.

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