Horse Development / Evaluation / Progression
This is probably the most talked about area on Sport of Kings so we thought that we should do a write up for our players (new and experienced) to help guide you on your journey as virtual trainers.
Horse Development
The virtual horses at Sport of Kings are made to be realistic from day 1 and follow growth patterns that you would see in real life. All horses purchased from the sales ring use sires that are historically based and will, almost always, offer some insight into the type of horse that you have on your hands.
An example of this would be a horse that is a progeny of El Prado (IRE) they will almost certainly prefer turf to dirt and you would expect them to like the longer distances. This is not a hard and fast rule but it certainly provides a great starting point for our trainers.
Horse Progression
The next thing that trainers need to understand is that horses are constantly improving and evolving. This means that every game day, training run, or race a horse could possibly improve, not simply once a season as some of you may be familiar with.
Horse Evolution
We have a creation system that allows our horses to be born as precocious (horses that will be almost fully mature as young two year olds and race ready) all the way to late blooming horses that may not fully mature until their four year old season (or maybe even later in rare circumstances). This is a very hard concept to grasp, even for some of our most experienced trainers, and it means that you should rarely be willing to give up on a horse until you get a full understanding of just how good a horse can possibly be (it's potential).
How do I judge a horses potential?
Every trainer wants to know from day 1 what kind of horse they have on their hands but we aren't just going to hand you that information, it is something you will have to decipher for yourself. The system does offer some insight on a rare occasion through site mail when the jockeys and trainers give you feedback on your horse, it's current ability or it's future potential. (Note that jockeys give you current ability information while trainers are able to better judge the potential of a horse). We also provide some visual tools on each horse page (or in the premium section) that give you meters which show the growth (or progression) of a horse as it ages.
Growth Meter Explained
The growth meter is a visual tool that allows our trainers to see how much their horse is progressing in it's training. It is vitally important that our trainers recognize that this is not an indication of ability or talent, but merely shows how much growth a horse has had since it was born. A longer meter simply means that the horse has improved a significant amount but it does NOT indicate a preference or ability level.
This is part one of a series of informative articles that our staff will be preparing for our players. Look for part two coming soon.
