Virtual Horse Racing News

Nomination fees are a necessary evil of horse racing that helps to identify the horses that owners feel are the best of the best and allow for the giant prize pools seen at the championship level of racing. We take every dollar (and then some) that is paid for nomination fees and roll it into prize pools for our championship horses to run for.

New Player Guide:

The first thing you will notice is that there are a lot of things to do, but don't get overwhelmed, we will guide you through the initial phase of racing your horses. This is a recommended guide that players may follow to help guide them on their way to creating a dominant racing and/or breeding stable.

Step 1: Your First Horse(s)

First things first, you will need horses to race. We have given you 3 vouchers with which you may purchase up to 3 new horses to compete in our Beginner division [Grade 3]. In order to use them follow these instructions

Navigate to Market > Sales Ring or click here to open in a new window
Choose the Beginner[Grade 3] Tab
Note that your horse will randomly assigned a gender; hence the mixed designation.
Select a horse name, this may be changed up until the horse records it's first start.
Choose the number of horses - you should select between 1 and 3, anything more than that will deduct additional funds from your balance.
Select the number of vouchers you wish to use, we recommend you using 1 voucher for each horse you are creating, thus equaling a free purchase.
The total cost will update to reflect the number of horses selected to purchase with the credit for the vouchers used deducted.
Once your order is complete, click 'purchase horses' and the sales ring agent will locate horses that meet your criteria and send them to your stable! You will notice that a link to the horses will appear below which you may click on to view your newly purchased horses.

Optional Step: Deposit Bonus

As a new player you are eligible for our $100 bonus for your first deposit. This bonus money can be put towards new horses, horse evaluation, breeding evaluation, and much more!

Step 2: Training

Now that we have a horse or three in our stables we should find out what kind of runners they are! This is probably the most difficult task for all trainers and while easy to learn, is very difficult to master. The instructions below will give you a tutorial on how to train your horses for the first time.

Open up your stable page via Stable > My Horses or click here to open in a new window - This is probably the most frequently visited page by all our players as it provides a great overview of your currently active horses.
Training is an important element of the game that not only improves the fitness of your horse (increases stamina bar), identifying a horses likes and dislikes, but it also helps with horse growth.
You will notice the second to last column contains a horseshoe (green if training is available for the day, red if not) which we will click on to being training an individual horse.
You will now be able to setup your training runs, note that new horses receive 4x (8 vs 2) the normal amount of training runs for the first day of their existence to help owners identify their preferences faster.
Now this is an area that varies greatly from trainer to trainer as to how to go about discovering how far a horse should run and over what surfaces and conditions it likes to race. We recommend to new players that they make their initial train with these settings:
Surface + Conditions: All
Distance: shorter - such as 1000m. The shorter distances are easier to evaluate and every horse should be able to cover the 1000m without becoming tired.

As horses run out of stamina they become tired and run significantly slower.

Runs: 4

Why 4? because there are 4 unique combinations of surfaces and conditions and this will allow you to run once over each surface at one single distance and perhaps get a grasp on which ones the horse prefers.

Click on train

Your results will be listed, with a summary first, followed by detailed information below. For now you can ignore the growth charts, but can find more information on that in the help section.

Step 3: How do I know what a good time is?

Training times are going to be slower than race times (most of the time) and so it is important to not compare them evenly (usually you want to subtract a second or two) to race times. At this point you have multiple options to evaluate the times:

When you look at n individual horses training records you will notice there is a section that gives you a star rating. Those stars indicate which percentage of the training times the horse is in (globally). These should not be used as absolutes but they do provide a guidance for race placement and about the class of the horse.
Use the leaderboard times for the 2yr olds under leaderboards
Compare against other horses in your stable - since you presumably only have 3 this can be challenging, but you can use stable > daily training report to view a summary
The third option is to look at maiden race times and compare against that, this is the preferred method

Alternatively you could goto the track and ask other players to try and compare your times

The final option is to use our premium features for a more detailed analysis of your stable's horses

We strongly suggest purchasing premium access for your stable. This will provide you with summarized information about your stable and the ability to automatically train your horses.

Once you have analyzed and decided what surface(s) a horse prefers you should uncheck the boxes from the ones that don't match in your preferences filter and then click 'set preferences'. One note of caution, a horses preferences can certainly change as it ages so you will have to occasionally check to see how it progressing naturally. You also must note that training a horse on any given surface + condition (or going) may result in improvement by that horse up to it's maximum ability!

Step 4: FAQ

It is important that as you explore new features of the game or have questions that you refer to the FAQ. This is a living document that is frequently updated with questions from our player base and will likely have an answer for you!

Step 5: Entering a Race

Now that you have the basics down and an understanding of your horse(s) the final step we will cover in this introduction is finding a race:

There are multiple ways to find races for your horses, but we will start with the most basic. Open up the details on one of your newly trained horses and let's review the horse preferences section.
The first thing that you must have is a 'category' of racing selected, they are as follows:

Claimer: this is the easiest level of racing. A large majority of horses will end up at this level
Stakes: This is the middle level of major racing and contains the bulk of the racing schedule (besides claiming) and is comprised of better than average horses
Championship: This division is filled with the best of the best and these races are generally either Invitationals, Derby's, or Championships. The championship schedule is detailed in our help section.

One of these division must be selected in order for your horse to find any races, often multiple divisions are chosen.
Next we must select distances, often horses have a range of distances they can run. This is very trainer specific and will vary greatly from person to person and horse to horse.
Our final step in preparation is that we must have at least one surface + condition (going) selected in order to find matching races, so use your horses training times to help identify those.
Now that we have our preferences set, we can click on the RACE button and it will bring up a list of races matching our criteria - find one that you like and click enter, and then confirm if that is what you want.

After confirming your race entry you will be directed back to the enter race page and you will see a list of other options from your stable that match the conditions of the race. If you are a premium member you will also see the top training times and race times for your stable of horses who are eligible at these conditions.

One important thing to note about this page is that to the right of the 'enter race' you will see icons, a D (which means the distance matches the horses preferences) and a S (which means that the surface type is a match).

Have you ever wanted to know what it's like to be a race horse owner and/or trainer? Sport of Kings offers you the chance to do just that in an easy to learn and fun to play environment. The thrill of owning and racing a digital horse is best summed up by one of our loyal players.

" Horse racing is the best game in the world. I have had the privilege of taking part in some of the greatest racing in America in the 22 years I have been soulfully attached to this great industry. So to find a game to match the excitement you have when you actually stand in that winners circle for the first or the last time it is the greatest feeling in the world, and if I get that feeling playing this simulation/game then you are doing your job. Well done guys. We just need to bring this simulated joy to all the other racing fans."

--Parks Racing 10/21/2013

We allow you to either buy an existing horse or breed your very own horse from existing bloodlines many of which will be familiar to modern day handicappers. You are then responsible for the exciting process of discovering the horses ability and preferences. Much like real life this can be a simple process or one that goes on for the life of the horse. Our horses have a life of their own and evolve and mature in a very realistic manner which makes every horse a thrilling and unique adventure. One key to making the game enjoyable is that we operate on a 3x timeline to real life, meaning that each season (1 year of game time) takes only 4 real life month. This means far less wait time between races (the average layoff is 7-14 days) and an opportunity for a fresh crop of horses to hit the track every 4 months.

The races themselves are realistic simulations that allow horses to showcase their running style preferences and tendencies. We have horses that simply need the lead to win while others will sit back off the pace and look to make one big run at the wire. We provide detailed data that you as the owner are able to dig through to try and solve the puzzle that is each horse or you can simply use the training times to try and place your horse. You are able to be as detailed and complex or as simple as you choose, it's all up to you.

Apart from racing we offer owners many other things to do including private sales, public auctions, and breeding. Breeding is one of our most popular features that allows owners to continue on the bloodlines of their champion horses. The unique horse development that we offer includes a sophisticated bloodline based breeding system that has no equal. Breeding and our horse evolution are key features to our game and make us very unique in the online horse racing game industry.

Come join the over 13,000 registered players and take your spot in the starting stall for the thrill of a lifetime.

Breeding

This is a key element to the long term success and enjoyment of this game and therefore we have dedicated much of the last 30 days working on improvement the interface and user experience when it comes to breeding and breeding related items. We know just how important this area is and want it to be an enjoyable and engaging experience.

The first thing of note is that we have added a totally unique feature in that owners can now sell breeding rights to their horses privately to other owners. This means they do not have to make their breeding stock publicly available in order to allow other owners to breed to them.

Breeding Page

We have updated the breeding page to not only include user selectable filters such as distance or surface preferences but very useful description and explanations of the basics. Allowing users to search by the distance of the sire or broodmare allows for much quicker discovery of the desired horse.

Sire / Mare Standings Page

This is probably one of the most important pages we have when it comes to identifying a sire (we have a similar page for mares) for your breeding pairing. There are all kinds of ways to filter this data and we expect players to spend hours combing through the data as the pools grow and breeding becomes a prominent feature of the game. Each of these columns could be considered important and therefore they are each sortable. We realize there is even more data that could be put on this page but we had to stop somewhere and the other information is available on the individual horse details page. One feature that is brand new is the display of the surface (if it's been flagged as a turf horse you will see the turf symbol) and / or the distance preference badges.

Breeding Evaluator

This is often the final step before confirming a breeding and is one of our most popular features. It has seen a tremendous amount of work go into redesigning the interface. We have also added a number of filter options that make identifying a horse significantly faster.

We are constantly striving to improve the game and your experience playing it. We look forward to seeing what you do with the updated breeding features and hearing your feedback.

Until next time,
Admin

We have undergone some major changes in the past few months and training will resume in less than 48 hours on April 1, 2016. Racing will resume on May 1, 2106 (30 days) with thousands of dollars up for grabs. If you have never played, come give the most exciting and enjoyable horse racing game on the market a try. If you have already played, come back and see all the things that have improved. We will see YOU at the track.

Core Changes

Purses are now fixed and do not change based on the number of entrants or fee paid.
Minimum number of horses has been raised from 3 to 5. This number is now the multiple of entry fees that the purse will be based off of. So a minimum number of 5 horses means the purse will be 5x the entry fee. Contests that fail to meet the required minimum will be invalidated and any entries refunded.
Should a race (and hopefully most will) exceed the minimum number of entrants we will offer players a rebate on their entry fee. A page with these details will be released in the upcoming days.
The race fees have been reduced by 1% total. We removed the house take from the calculations while the jockey fee has been adjusted up to compensate.
Super Sprint division has been eliminated.
Nominations will now be done each and every season rather than for the lifetime of the horse. The fees have been reduced accordingly. We are working on finalizing a plan for discounting horses previously nominated.
Reduced the number of weather conditions from 4 to 2.
The number of training runs per day has been reduced from 3 to 2. This is in response to the reduced number of combinations and in an effort to keep the database manageable.

New Features

Divisional Racing has been implemented into the regular schedule. This is handicapped racing based on the number of wins and is in place for senior horses.
Added maidens have been introduced in the mix. Grade 1 will feature $20 added while Grade 3 will have $6.
Qualifiers will feature purses with split added and bonus. This is now clearly identified. Each G1 qualifier will have $25 in added cash and $25 of BC. Grade 3 will have $25 in bonus credits and no added cash. The finals are TBD but each will be comprised (in part at least) of cash.

Other Changes

Premium access, for those that had it, has been extended 4 months from the previous expiration date (meaning no lost time).
Removed one of the classic distances to bring each division to an equal 3.
Annual non-championship stakes races have been pulled in favor of returning cash prizes to the championship series and maidens.
The added races, such as the juvenile maiden added, will show up under stakes rather than championship.

Viewer Updates / Progress

We are continuing to make progress on our new viewer. This is indeed a massive project but you can see our most recent progress updates here.

A more immersive and complete stand alone viewer experience

New AI for the horses and jockeys

The season ending championships are finally here to mark the end of the 4th season at SportofKings.us. We could not be happier with the way things have progressed as we are continuing to see new stables find their way to the winners circle in the top level racing and fuller fields.

The finals will be held on the 29th and 30th will be two action packed days which will see over 40 championship finals go off. The juvenile division, as always, will be the most anticipated battles as these horses are finally hitting their stride and looking to lock horns with the best of the best in their respective division.

View the Breeders Cup Championships for Grade 1

View the Breeders Cup Championships for Grade 3

Updates / Notes

There are two new programmed racing series coming online for the 5th season.

The first is the Legends series which will offer a chance for older horses to strut their stuff outside the championship division.

The second series, which was also essential, is a weekly series of maiden and graduation GUARANTEED purse races which will be held for both juvenile and 3+ year olds. This series will be run on a strict distance rotation so there will be regular opportunities for all horses and owners should find full fields in most of these races.

Grade 3 Breeders Cup Preview

Juveniles

Turf Marathon

This race features a full field of 15 from ten different stables. The field appears to be a balanced group of two year olds, including a number of maidens that would love for their first trip to

Sussex Montjeu

the winners circle to be at the Breeders Cup. Logans Run from Precious Stable looks to be the class of the field if you ignore the last two races. She won those two qualifiers by 24 combined lengths and posted lifetime top speed ratings consecutively. She has not gotten much of a layoff and picked up additional weight from a win just a week ago in a non championship race. The sidley stud sends out a Sussex Montjeu, a son of Montjeu, who is another bright eyed competitor but got absolutely thumped in his last race. It is unclear what happened here but expect him to rebound and be near at the finish. As far as the maidens go, Crazee Syko posted a very nice work best of six that day over today's distance of 1 1/2m. He has a real chance to hit the board here.

Turf Super Sprint

This sprint will be contested over 4 furlongs (800m) on what is expected to be a wet, yielding surface. Precious stable's brings in two horses, each on a two win streak that will look to bring her home a Breeders Cup Trophy. Chief No Sack and Coolmore are both geldings that have shown a knack for getting to the line first. Chief No Sack appears to be the better of the two with nearly 5 times the earnings of his stablemate and comes in with back to back wins in qualifiers. One horse that has caught the eye of many clockers is Thunder Road, a maiden from Micks Heroes who posted a wicked 52 3/5 work , best of seven on Apr 9. This has yet to show the ability to bring that kind of speed to the track but would be right in contention if he could. Given the trainers history of getting the best out of his horses I must mention Bob Baffert and his entry, Indian Outlaw who will look to build on the most recent race which was a win in a 4f qualifier. He managed to keep his nose in front of Indian Outlaw for the entirety of the last race and a repeat might just be good enough to win.

Super Sprint

An overflow field is expected for this one and includes a star in the making with Bull Star from Double Star. In a slightly unorthodox move the trainer entered the horse in a non championship race and picked up a win , adding an additional two pounds putting him at a high weight of 134 lbs for the final; those two pounds could prove very costly in such a competitive race. Ravensdale Rise sends out Raven Mitch, a consistent son of Afleet, who will look to win his first championship caliber race in this loaded field. He has managed three wins, all of them outside of the championship division however.

3yr Old Division

Turf Classic

Anfield Road's Spankme looks to be the likely favorite coming off a victory at the exact distance and surface condition back on Apr. 7th. He defeated Carry on Thin Boy in that effort but has finished behind Sussex Miller in every other race. The distance appears to be a concern for Sussex Miller who appears better suited for the mile or mile and a eight distances.

Sprint

This is another highly competitive race that will be determined by a thin margin. It features horses that are familiar with each other and quality trainers across the board. Unsung Hero

Unsung Hero

comes into this race on five race losing streak but was privately purchased after the last effort by Black Cat Racing and the barn change may do this horse some good. Long Sermon comes in for Precious Stable with a two race win streak having beaten many of these two races back. This filly by Pulpit seems to really enjoy the mud and with her deep closing style could sit a good trip here. I like Unsung Hero in this spot, the problem is that he was defeated by Long Sermon at this exact distance and surface last time out.

The end of April brings with it the end of a season and that means two things, Breeders Cup and Yearlings!

The qualifiers are all wrapped up and the entrants are just about finalized for the Virtual Breeders Cup Series which will kick off this weekend at 6:00 AM server time. Every race features a competitive field and some of the juveniles look to really make their mark heading into the three year old campaign.

We are bringing back the $1000 giveaway from now until the beginning of the new season (May 1st). For every $50 deposited you will receive an entry into the pool! Read More

The field is getting ready to close on a contentious looking group of three year olds who will compete over a mile on the heavy turf at the Sport of Kings Track.

ML Favorite
#4 Mark Twain
The most experienced horse in this race returns to the mile trip here and is coming of a lifetime high 100 SR over 6 furlongs. I can't help but believe he is better suited to the slightly shorter trip but the fans seems to think that speed may hold this time as your short priced 6/5 favorite.

Threats
#6 Sussex Miller
The sidley stud barn has been hot lately and they will be looking to pick off a solid field here when this Danehill filly returns to the track after winning her last at this distance on February 17th. She may not quite have the speed figures to compete with this group but we will see, expect her explosive turn of foot late.

#2 Ms Clean
Precious Stable brings this filly by Pure Prize to the qualifiers after placing 4th, only 5 lengths back in the last effort. She has shown the ability to run 1:51 which will put her right there at the wire. She should be fresh coming in for only her second race of the month and could be a factor, if she gets the setup, with her deep closing style.

#3 Chypmunk Dinner
The other horse from Anfield Road, this gelding out of Danzig has been ultra tough in his last 5 efforts, winning 3 of them and losing the other two by a combined 1.25 lengths. His owner keeps him on the turf after a solid second last out on February 4th.

# 1 Knivsbjerg
This gelding looks to carry the flag for Anfield Road and continue his three race wining streak. The horse could only manage to get to the winners circle three times as a juvenile but has clearly started hitting his best stride after being gelded heading in the breeders cup which he won by two lengths. He will be looking for a stalking trip.

Today we see a contentious field of 6 prepared to go the mile over soft turf. The field of six all appears to have a legitimate chance at picking up a piece of this purse with the exception of the unknown Bladerunner.

ML Favorite
#6 Bonsun
This filly out of Monsun is looking to return to her best form that she found over this condition and distance back on January 27th. She seems to need some pace to close into in order to be successful and it appears that she will get it from the heavily raced Captain Obvious. I would think that a repeat of her previous maiden form and a time of 1:51 would be good enough to find her in the winners circle yet again. This is her third race this month which is taxing for any horse so we will see what kind of toughness she will display in this spot.

Threats
#3 Vital Discussion
This maiden filly by Singspiel looks to be a closing type that will be well positioned here at the back of the field with Bonsun. West Coast Racing brings her in after a public work clocked at just under 1:54 so she will have to improve a bit off that which she has shown the ability to do with her debut race coming in at a time of 1:52.5. I don't know if she's good enough to win this short of a race, this early in her career but she shouldn't be too far off at the end.

#1 School Holidays
I like this Halo colt a lot and he looks very well placed here at the mile distance. He seems to have the ability to rate a bit and should get first jump on the deep closers. He beat Bonsun in his most recent victory in a game effort on February 16th, 2015. This should be an excellent rematch between the two as there is not much to separate them.

#2 Captain Obvious
Ewing Farms enters this Singspiel colt into his 6th lifetime race, a heavy race load, only second to Anfield Road's The New One who will be seeing the track for the 7th time as a two year old. Captain Obvious has yet to win in a qualifier but has won his two most recent efforts outside of that. He appears to be a versatile front running sort but may just not have the class to win at the top level.

This field is shaping up to be a large and good one that will likely help clear up the picture for favoritism in the finals which will be held over a mile and half on April 26, 2015

ML Favorite
#9 Sussex Montjeu
The early favorite appears to be a horse that is facing championship caliber opponents for the first time in sidley stud's Sussex Montjeu. This colt took three tries to break his maiden but did so in a very impressive fashion at Lingfield. He got loose on an early lead and kept a decent field at bay winning by an easy 5 lengths. His score was at a mile and half and he will be stretching out to 1 3/4 for this race which he has tried twice before with no luck. He draws a favorable post in the 9th spot and should have every chance to clear the field and take the lead early if he doesn't get into trouble at the gate.

Threats
#13 Blue Halo
I feel like the public must know something I don't here as in his only race Blue Halo beat the favorite by three lengths over the same distance but heavy turf. She posted a wicked speed rating of 111 in that lone effort. My one reservation is that while she is fast, she didn't improve much from her public work on Jan 8 to her race effort on the 19th, so you can expect the same here. I believe you can look for her to post a time right around 3:25 and I don't think that's good enough for this group. She is just a bit of an unknown but the most recent works indicate to me that she is dialed in and ready for this.

#4 Dyna Drill
This undefeated Dynaformer gelding is looking to win his third straight after beginning his career in dramatic fashion, beating the field of a $5 claiming race by 28 lengths. He returned to the track February 13th to pickup another win in style against a tougher field over a mile and 3/4 of yielding turf. He looms a threat but you have to say that with such humble beginnings this horse has already out performed expectations and finding himself in the money for this race would be a nice bonus.

#3 Crazee Syko
This Singspiel colt owned by Nemesis Stud and bred by Ember Racing is still looking for his maiden score. Nemesis purchased the colt for $45 after seeing a public workout on January 8th. There is no denying the talent this colt has but his running style isn't clear and I am not sure he's up to this level of competition just yet.

We are in the middle of some exciting times here at Sport of Kings. Our virtual horses are seeing their values sky rocket and many of our owners have already gotten their hands into breeding and training the yearlings for the next season which begins January 2015.

Season 3 will see the introduction of the new format for our Elite Series (Grade 1) championships! We will be introducing the very popular qualifier series that culminates in a final invitational championship at the end of the season! The series will be rolled out in phases that are detailed below:

The prizes will be structured:

Quals - $15 entry with $40 added cash

Finals - $150 added cash

Season 3

2yr old championship series is converted to the new format

The two year olds will cease to have a monthly championship.

3yr,4yr+ will continue as normal for season 3 with their monthly championships.Season 4

2yr olds keep the new format

3yr old championship series is converted to the new format

The three year olds will cease to have a monthly championship.

4yr+ will continue as normal for season 4 with their monthly championships.Season 5

2yr and 3yr olds keep the new format

4yr+ old championship series is converted to the new format

The 4+ year olds will cease to have a monthly championship.

At this point all monthly championships will be replaced with the new format.Each season we will evaluate the number of entries and nominations and adjust our prizes accordingly.

The grade 3 series (previously known as the Blackman Stud Championship Series) will be renamed to the Tenderfoot Series. The purses for this series along with some aggressive new owners are what has driven the value of the grade 3 horses through the roof during the 2nd season. We have seen a number of grade 3 horses sell for $150 or more which is remarkable considering they can be purchased from the sales ring at a mere $4.

At the 3/4 season mark the Grade 3 Championship series has seen 83 qualifiers be run for nearly $8,000 in purse money! There has never been a better time to get involved in virtual horse racing with the prize pools growing and the community still learning together.

Other Changes

Championship races will now close 18 hours in advance - second instances will be created on demand (with bonus credits if applicable)
All other races will now close 30 minutes in advance.
Races will have the minimum number of unique stables raised from 2 to 3.
We will be reducing the genetic certification price to $25.
Triple Crown Races will now follow the championship payout schedule.

The second leg of the inaugural Virtual Triple Crown at Sport of Kings is set to go off November 16th with the big favorite Blessings looking to continue her quest to sweep the series and claim the jackpot prize.

She has been a dominant force since she came onto the scene winning her debut at Hollywood Park by a solid 4 lengths in a field of 7. Since then she has only tasted defeat three times over 14 races against some incredibly classy competition. She is currently riding a 6 race win streak including her most recent romp in the Churchill Derby where she pulled away from Scouse Pride to an easy five length victory. She looks much the favorite here in the second leg of the triple crown that will be contested over 1 1/8m (1800m) but the shorter distance and large prize pool of nearly $400 will certainly pose a threat and should bring in some new shooters like Liverpool Legend and Ozark Pete who will aim to disrupt her bid for the complete Virtual Triple Crown.

Grade 3 Championships

Qualifiers week 1-2 review

We will focus on the dirt horses for this newsletter but we had a large number of highly competitive races to choose from from the first round of qualifiers.

Dirt Classic

Parks Racing has found themselves a nice horse in the form of Harley who caught the favored Double Stars' Double Trouble just on the line to win by a head. The breeders cup juvenile classic winner Shandy owned by Ewing Farms turned up a disappointing third, perhaps a bit too far for this front runner to carry her speed.

Dirt Sprint

True Blue Stable took home the victory in this 6 furlong sprint over a slow track. His horse Wizard sat just off the pace and then pounced on Strawberry Fields' Hollywood Nights who pressed the pace the entire way before getting the lead and the third pole. The winner was chased home gamely by Shiraz who made a late charge but couldn't close the distance in time on this day.

Dirt Super Sprint

Dynamic Boy lived up to his name and put in a truly dynamic performance for West Coast Racing in a front running score that kept him 2 clear of the competition. This was only the second race for this juvenile colt out of Mr. Greeley and he seems to have figured it out quickly. We can look for this fine colt to be a major player in the super sprint series for seasons to come.

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.

The inaugural season at Sport of Kings is rolling along and building up momentum as we approach the half way mark. There are a lot of happening and events worth discussing but we will focus on some of the most interesting ones.

Anfield Road has certainly shown his willingness to engage anyone at anytime and the depth of his stable through these first two months. He has already accumulated 85 victories and 41 maiden winners! His top horse is Kiki Dee, which he purchased in auction for $60 from West Weston Westoner, and has earned over $160 in prize money. Kiki Dee was narrowly edged out in her last start, her first attempt at turf and will likely look to rebound on a return to dirt.

Ritchie Racing is another hot stable who has a horse that is proving to be a really tough campaigner. Honeybunny is a two year old colt that has already seen the track 8 times and has accumulated a record of 5-3-0 with $35.44 in earnings. His most recent race was a two length victory in the Hong Kong Sprint at Happy Valley where he posted a top speed rating of 106. This colt out of Unusual Heat looks to be a real prospect that will take some beating.

In future news the second round of Championships will be held this weekend and already features purses in excess of $1,250. We can expect to see some much anticipated rematches and some new faces that lurk just in the shadows, ready to pounce for a victory. Remember, it is never too late to get into the game and get a horse in the race, and with over $1,200 up for grab almost every month in the championships there has never been a better time to try and grab your piece of the pie.

The May Championships are in the books and saw over $1,300 in prize money paid out in a single day. The races were almost all competitive and very few stables walked away losers thanks to the large amount of added money that was available in the purses. The eight different races saw five different stables in the winners circle. This was a great start to the season and we expect to see many of the horses competing again next month.

Juvenile Sprint Championship
One of the best races of the day was a 6 furlong sprint over a slow main track. This race saw Kiki Dee, sent out by West Weston Westoner, stalk a fast pace set by Anfield Road's LFC Combat all the way

to the stretch and then surge in front to win by a solid 2 lengths. Those two were 3 clear of the rest of the field all of whom put in solid efforts chasing the top two around the track.

The winner took home a cool $95.50 for her efforts and will look to build on what is now a two race winning streak.

Our player base has gotten our inaugural season off to a flying start with over 300 races in the first 20 days and counting. The grade 3 monthly championships just concluded and saw 6 different owners send their horses to victory!

May 31st will see the first Grade 1 championships that have nearly $1000 in purse money up for grabs. Many of the prep races have yielded some very competitive results and you can expect more than a few unexpected winners coming out of the first championships. Anfield Road is off to a site leading 21 maiden wins with over $400 in earnings leading into this weekend.

With over 24,000 registered users we are consistently growing and improving and there has never been a better time to get in on the action!

There are only 7 days left until the grand opening and the racing begins!

This means that you only have 7 days to make your cumulative deposit of $50 or more in order to be eligible for our $1000 Giveaway which will occur on May 2nd, 2014. Remember, the winner gets $500 while 2nd place gets $300 and $100 each to third and fourth.

We have introduced a number of upgrades over the past few weeks, including giving sires to our sales ring horses which gives them some historical reference and provides the owners with some grounding in terms of the horse's potential running style.

As a reminder, we offer rewards to our owners who refer new stables to the site and make an initial deposit. Please see your account page for the specific URL that you should distribute to potential players to sign up.

We look forward to seeing you at the races and wish you the best of luck in the inaugural season.

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the live site on March 1, 2014. We are running a number of promotions and bonus contests to go along with this grand opening. The opening month will offer race cards with over $600 in added money.

The first promotion is a $1000 Giveaway! Entry to this contest will be open until the grand opening day. Details and rules for the $1000 giveaway can be found here.

The second promotion that is going on is a buy 2 get 1 free sale on horses from the sales ring. This promotion automatically adds horses to your purchase but only horses purchased with your cash balance.

Finally, we have added some guaranteed purse races that have a 0 entry fee. This will give new owners a chance to try and wins some money without risking a stake.

Card a Race Feature

One important feature that we have added to the site is the ability for our users to now card their own races. This will give those looking for a specific criteria a chance to create such a race.

We look forward to seeing you at the track!