Showing posts with label virtual horse racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label virtual horse racing. Show all posts




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).



    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.

    virtual horse racing bonus


    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 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.
    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.
    I wanted to chronicle my experience as I joined a new online virtual horse racing game.  I had been playing various other games that allowed you to own, train, and race your virtual horses and compete against other stables for prizes, but, was not happy with some of fees and charges that were overly burdensome.  Sport of Kings has taken all the best features of many of the existing virtual horse racing games and combined them into a wonderful experience.

    The interface is easy to use, the developers are easy to get in touch with and very receptive to suggestions and addressing problems.  The game itself is a complex simulation that really puts the trainer in charge of a horses destiny.  As a horse trainer and stable owner you are responsible for identifying a horses likes and dislikes, including how long of a race to run and what surface best fits the horses running style.  There are three distinct levels of virtual racing that can essentially be classified as beginner, intermediate, and advanced.  These levels offer differing levels of prize money and competition and as a virtual stable you are able to compete in all three independently or simultaneously if you choose.

    The community is a growing one and the site is currently completely free to play.  The developers have announced their intention to deploy a second model that will allow stables to compete for real stakes in the near future.  Online virtual horse racing is a burgeoning industry and these guys have produced a superior product that I will continue to thoroughly enjoy.