Almighty Farms II: The Race is On

[thealmighty]

Question 1: If a horse is run in a claiming race, can you decline an offer on your horse if one is made?

Question 2: I think, if we buy at the auction, we should get new 1 year olds to level out our ages (if that's what is offered, as we suspect). What do y'all say in that regard? Should we maybe buy an older, proven mare to breed or wait until we are ready to breed our own girls?

[daedalus]

For Question 1 . . .

I don't know how the game handles it but, to the best of my knowledge, the horse in a claiming race is definitely sold if a claim is put in (think irrevocable waiver).

It works both ways, too. If your horse breaks down during that race, the buyer is still stuck with that purchase.

For Question 2 . . .

I'd like to see you do a bit of both. Obviously, there is a certain satisfaction to buying yearlings and raising them yourself. But I'd really like to see how the game handle breeding and how well the bred horses are generated, as we can see that auction horses are generated pretty strongly.

[Lokugh]

Originally Posted by thealmighty

Question 1: If a horse is run in a claiming race, can you decline an offer on your horse if one is made?

Question 2: I think, if we buy at the auction, we should get new 1 year olds to level out our ages (if that's what is offered, as we suspect). What do y'all say in that regard? Should we maybe buy an older, proven mare to breed or wait until we are ready to breed our own girls?

Question 1: Er, this game is weird, but in real life, no, you do not have the option to decline a claim.

Question 2: Raising and training your own is fun, but it would be interesting to see the breeding side too. Especially good to experiment before you get Beautiful Ladonia to the age of retirement.

Lokugh

[kingfc22]

I'd say get an older horse and a 1 yr. old.

[thealmighty]

Well, as to question 1, the game does let you take back your horse from a bid (fortunately, since I didn't even notice it was a claiming race or I wouldn't, obviously, have entered it).

Question 2 is moot for the time being as the auction was for 1 year olds only. List to follow sometime for your perusal.

[thealmighty]

03-20-04: Auction

Horse	Sex	Colour	KM	Speed	Accel	Techni	Adapt	Discip	Resist	Form	Injure	Endur
Arnaqueur Grand Amour	male	grey	1:00	87.9	79.3	1.1	11	62.5	79.8	93.1	3.2 / 75.3	88
Esotico de Belle Lieu	male	chestnut	1:01	78	88.9	7	1.9	27.8	40.7	93	1.2 / 39.2	85.5
Gem Girlie	female	chestnut	1:01	78.6	88.8	2.8	2.3	18.4	43.9	88.1	1.8 / 42.2	89.9
Important Girl	female	chestnut	1:01	89.7	81.5	3.9	1.6	72.3	50.8	87	1.4 / 45.8	86.5
Jeune	female	black	1:00	90.1	79.9	7.1	8.2	71.3	68	92.2	3.8 / 62.5	80.1
Ogive Du Clavecin	female	bay	1:02	78	79.6	6.1	8.1	41.7	64	87	5.3 / 62.5	88.3
Patty Girl Friend	female	bay	1:00	86.7	85	7.4	3.2	33.4	39.2	89.3	2.3 / 34.7	82.3
Purple Tearse	female	bay	1:01	81.8	90.1	9.1	13.3	95.2	77.7	84.2	5.5 / 75.1	81.3
Selle Jardin	female	black	1:00	87.1	80.6	4	4.2	52.3	58.5	80.7	9.3 / 54.3	84.5
Tourbillon Historiant	male	black	1:00	87.7	86.2	5.1	8	61.2	36.3	91.7	9.6 / 31.2	78.7
Vainqueur Mister	male	grey	1:01	79.7	87.5	8	2.7	22.8	60.6	81.1	1.9 / 58.5	78.5

Here are the available horses at the auction we are attending. We have room in our stables for up to 3, but sometimes less is more. And perhaps none of these animals look good to you and you think staying with what we have is the best option. Here is a brief look at what the statistics are supposed to indicate:

1. KM- fastest time for 1 kilometre
2. Speed- maximum possible speed
3. Acceleration- acceleration speed
4. Technique- ability to overtake horses in a race
5. Adaptability- to the behavior of the jockey
6. Discipline- capacity to progress through training
7. Resistance- capacity to sustain injuries
8. Form- readiness for the next race
9. Injure- shows how close to injury and how much an animal can take before it gets hurt
10. Endurance- ability to sustain in longer races

What would you do?

[kingfc22]

I like Arnaqueur Grand Amour but he does not accerlerate very well.

Tourbillon Historiant has some nice stats too but he looks like he will get injured often.

[daedalus]

Purple Tearse is first and foremost in my book. Best Acceleration, Technique, Adaptability and Discipline in class to go with good Resistance. (Can you tell I'm a big fan of secondaries, regardless of game or sport?) And Arnaqueur Grand Amour as the male representative of the class. It'd be interesting to see if AGA would eventually be able to pass the Speed and Endurance on, if breeding one of your horses is allowed.

[Junior 19]

One through three.. Important Girl, Purple Tearse, and Tourbillon Historiant. I see something in Girl (no jokes..lol) that looks like she'd be a winner. I'm with daedalus with PT, I also like TH but I don't like that low injury rating(if i'm reading it right that is)

BTW.. just how much f***ing money do you have? I know rasing all these horses ain't cheap, but you keep renting out stables and WINNING all the races I say buy my three... for the remaining stables

[Junior 19]

Oh, I was looking for this game and couldn't find it Bugs and all it sounds pretty fun. Know of a link or maybe some comparable horse sims?

[daedalus]

I don't think those races are making him big bucks yet . . . some of his bets, on the other hand, are serious, serious money.

[thealmighty]

daed is right about the races. None of them are big purses yet at all. However, I am pretty much set in the money department for several years, if I don't lose a $10 million dollar bet or something stupid like that.

Junior 19, I found the game in the CompUSA bargain area. No idea where you would get it at this point, but I'll keep an eye out for you.

[thealmighty]

03-20-04: Auction- STUPID ASS IDIOT

Just to prove playing a game late at night is sometimes not a smooth move, or to prove I am an idiot, I fucked up...

We went to the auction and the first thing we did was notice that none of the horses had run in any races. This is the most noticable thing you see at first because there is a long list of 1st, 2nd, etc... place columns for races run already. All these columns were empty for every horse. We therefore assumed, since they had no racing experience, these horses were all 1-year olds.

Well, guess what. They weren't. We had made our first auction purchase already and were deciding what else to do; which, if any we should also get when, LO AND BEHOLD, while deciding to bid on Arnaqueur Grand Amour because most of our stock are female, we saw ALL THE HORSES ARE 2-YEARS OLD.

That sucks. Since we had 6 2-year olds already, it is tough trying to keep them from racing against each other as there are not that many races available anyway, and half of those are the dreaded steeplechase variety.

We refuse to go back and fix our mistake. We will not sully this dynasty by redoing any poor choices, nor will we rerun races for more favorable outcomes.

The end result of this is we have bought one horse from the auction and will buy no other because, no matter the potential they may seem to carry, to many of the same age horse is not, we believe, constructive.

[thealmighty]

So, after screwing that bit up, we do need to introduce our newest horse at Almighty Farms. Our purchase was... (insert drumroll here) Purple Tearse.

With her 95 discipline score, she should train faster than any other horse we own. 78 resistance will help keep her healthy with the training, which can focus more on the speed and endurance than other horses because her adaptability and technique are starting higher, as a pair, than any horse we already have.

She may be a late bloomer, race wise, but we will start her off in low level races and see how her training progresses.

Good luck, Purple Tearse, newest member of the Almighty Farms family.

[thealmighty]

03-13-04: Race Day

Horse	Imperatrice
Type	Steeplechase
Place	Churchill Downs		Jockey	Saaed Salviaque
Race	Spring Cup		Fame	37
Distance	2500		Temper	Excessive
Purse	$47,810		Control	79
Declare	0 < 100924		Exper	36
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$500
Conditions	none
Ground	grass
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Hold
Type	Steeplechase
Place	Churchill Downs		Jockey	Saaed Salviaque
Race	Spring Cup		Fame	37
Distance	2500		Temper	Excessive
Purse	$47,780		Control	79
Declare	0 < 99084		Exper	36
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$500
Conditions	none
Ground	grass
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Feline
Type	Steeplechase
Place	Churchill Downs		Jockey	Saeed Salviaque
Race	Spring Cup		Fame	37
Distance	2500		Temper	Excessive
Purse	$82,300		Control	79
Declare	0 < 245953		Exper	36
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$500
Conditions	none
Ground	grass
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

[thealmighty]

03-13-04: Race 1- Holy Moly

This race is LOADED with talented 2-year olds. These are many of the horses that Almighty Farms will be contending with in years to come. For whatever reason, Imperatrice gets stuck running against them all in this single effort. It should be a doozy.

Horse	Speed	Accel	Techni	Form	Endur	Jockey
Dark Cowgirl	85.9	85.6	22.3	89.3	80	3
Imperatrice	89.9	81.4	7.6	98.1	88.7	5
Zara	80	88.8	18.3	90	86.7	1
Zanzara Joy	81.8	81.1	17.5	90.6	80.8	6
Hylas de Suede	83	85.4	5.7	85.3	84.8	2
Dauphin De Vieux	88	81.3	16.6	80.3	83.9	7

There are, of course, other horses in the field and one could make a bold statement by winning this race, but one would assume the top three will come from this group of outstanding 2- year olds.

[thealmighty]

03-13-04: Race 1- Imperatrice

Stat Leaders
	Imperatrice	Dark Cowgirl	Dauphin Des Vieux	Zanzara Joy	Hylas de Suede	Zara
Speed	1/15	3/15	2/15	5/15	4/15	6/15
Endur	1/15	6/15	4/15	5/15	3/15	2/15
Accel	4/15	2/15	5/15	6/15	3/15	2/15
Jockey	5/15	3/15	7/15	6/15	2/15	1/15
Conditions
Partly Cloudy		Ground is relatively soft.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Hylas de Suede		Dark Cowgirl	3/1
P. Ricardo		Dark Cowgirl		Hylas de Suede	3/1
				Imperatrice (4)	15/2
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Show
Race:	Dark Cowgirl and Hylas de Suede run to the front with Dauphin Des Vieux third and Imperatrice in fourth, pinned on the rail. At jump 1, Cowgirl leads by 1 over Hylas with Legende Du Briel in third. Jump 2 sees Cowgirl still up by 1 with Imperatrice now in second, pinned by Legende in third. At jump 3 Hylas has moved even with Cowgirl with Imperatrice third and Legende moving up on the outside. Legende takes the lead by a whisker over Hylas by jump 4 with Cowgirl and Zara next. Jump 5 has Cowgirl leading Hylas and Legende by a head, and she extends to 3/4 over the pair at jump 6. At jump 7, Cowgirl leads by 1 1/2 lengths, Hylas, Legende and Imperatrice even behind her. AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME, Hylas moves past Cowgirl for the lead and Legende and Imperatrice also pass her into contention. 400m to go and Hylas leads by 1 over Legende, Imperatrice 3 lengths back. With 300m left, Hylas takes charge, extends to 3 lengths over Legende and Imperatrice. 200m to go and Hylas looks like a winner, Imperatrice is second. Coming to the wire, Imperatrice makes her move, coming to within a length. However, Hylas is too good today, pulling away with 50m to go and winning the race, 3 lengths ahead of the field.

[thealmighty]

03-13-04: Race 1- Results

WINNER		Hylas de Suede		2) Imperatrice
				3) Dark Cowgirl
Race Statistics:		Time	Per Km	Almighty Gains
(Almighty Farms)		2:35	1:02	$9,562
My Wager		Amount
Outcome		$133,192
Jockey Race Notes:		When I urged for more effort, the horse didn't give it all. Thought she would be fresher at that point.

All-in-all, we are not to upset with a 2nd place finish in this race. I have never seen such a strong field. We will take this and move forward.

(It would be interesting to run this race 20 times or so and see what the outcomes are, given that we have the statistics on all 6 of these animals. Maybe I can load up an old save and get to this point again and see...or maybe not.

Another mild irritant is the weather conditions in the game. No matter what, it always has the same thing, partly cloudy- actually, it just has a picture with the sun peeking out a bit from behind some clouds. Even when the race is actually run in the rain, it has the same picture and I just change the thing to say it rained. Minor, but still shows how little they did to fix this game.)

[thealmighty]

03-13-04: Race 2- Hold

Stat Leaders
	Hold	Selle des Bros	Best Count
Speed	1/14	4/14	5/14
Endur	1/14	7/14	8/14
Accel	1/14	8/14	3/14
Jockey	2/14	4/14	6/14
Conditions
Usual		Ground is very soft.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Hold		Hold	5/2
P. Ricardo		Short Clementine		Short Clementine	7/1
				Jimo Orange	7/1
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Win
Race:	Hold moves to the front immediately followed by Selle des Bros. At jump 1, it's Hold by 1 1/2 over Ukir with Selle in third. Hold retains the lead over the 2nd jump and has a length on Ukir after jump 3. Selle closes to 1/2 length of Hold at jump 4. Jump 5 sees Jimo Orange making his move in to third behind Hold and Selle des Bros. At jump 6, Hold still leads but only by 1/2 length over Jimo and Selle as the rest of the field closes the gap. At jump 7 Hold leads by a length over the trio of Selle, Jimo and Fidji Bruyere. AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME, Hold maintaining but Fidji on the move. 400m left and Poule d'Elloin comes from nowhere to take the lead on the outside. 300m left it's Poule and Hold, Hold and Poule. Back and forth until the 200m mark, where Hold begins to take charge. 100m to go and Hold lengthens the lead on Poule to 3 lengths. It's Hold the winner by 3 over Poule d' Elloin.

[thealmighty]

03-13-04: Race 2- Results

WINNER		Hold		2) Poule d' Elloin
				3) Selle des Bros
Race Statistics:		Time	Per Km	Almighty Gains
(Almighty Farms)		2:39	1:03	$23,890
My Wager		Amount
Outcome		$285,131
Jockey Race Notes:		The horse was sharp. I think we work well together.

Good to get back in the win column after lots of the other option. Don't know why all the good horses were in the other race. Maybe because it was the first race of the day. Another thing I may or may not think about looking for in the future.

Another weird thing is that the horses running in this race were all either Listed or Level II, but there were no Level III. Wonder why it skips a whole level. If there are Level II horses that are eligible, shouldn't there be Level III also? Whatever, as usual.

[thealmighty]

03-13-04: Race 3- Feline

Stat Leaders
	Feline	Etoile des Hautvents	Chateau Magesty
Speed	3/11	2/11	1/11
Endur	1/11	2/11	3/11
Accel	1/11	3/11	2/11
Jockey	2/11	5/11	3/11
Conditions
Partly Cloudy		Ground is relatively soft.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Kidy Quartz		Chateau Magesty	5/1
P. Ricardo		Chateau Magesty		Vilolet	11/2
				Feline (8th)	16/1
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Place
Race:	Jeune Malie Lou breaks clean but Chateau Magesty beats her to the rail. At jump 1 it's Chateau by 1 with 5 wide vying for second. Chateau still leads at jump 2, but now with 3 horses chasing in second. Jump 3 shows no change and Feline is locked inside on the rail. Chateau by 1 length over Kidy Quartz at jump 4 and still by a length at jump 5, but Feline moves into second over Kidy Q.. Chateau still by 1 with Feline in second at jump 6 with Jeune Malie Lou moving into third. Jump 7 has Chateau by 1/2 over Fidgi with Jeune in third. AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME, Jeune overtakes Chateau by 1/2 with Feline third trying to get off the rail. 400m to go Jeune still by 1/2 over Chateau and Feline is now clear in third. Chateau regains the lead with 300m left and here comes Kidy Q. up to third. Chateau gets the whip and spurts forward by 1 1/2 over Feline and Jeune with 100m to the finish. Chateau takes control and wins by 1 1/2 over Jeune with Feline in third.

[thealmighty]

03-13-04: Race 3- Results

WINNER		Chateau Magesty		2) Jeune Malie Lou
				3) Feline
Race Statistics:		Time	Per Km	Almighty Gains
(Almighty Farms)		2:36	1:02	$9,876
My Wager		Amount
Outcome		-$100,000
Jockey Race Notes:		The horse was very sharp and I think we work well together.

Somewhat dissapointing for Feline to go down to defeat, but you can't win them all. Another strange mix of horses in this one as entries ranged all the way From Listed to Level I Nationals. Very weird to have that great a range, though the interval was, of course, 0 < 240,000 for qualification. Just don't see why the game would enter a Listed horse in the race with ratings in the 40s against that high level of competition.

[thealmighty]

03-20-04 (mm-dd-yy)

---> Hold moves up to Level III following his latest race performance.

---> The dietician visited Purple Tearse and gave a recommendation.

---> Beautiful Ladonia is the #2 ranked gallop racer in terms of value at $2,256,430. The top-ranked horse, with a value of $2,286,170, is Gato.

---> Fame is now at 69. Almighty Farms is tied in 45th position out of 151.

[thealmighty]

03-20-04 : Training Update

Upon reviewing the gains in statistics for our horses, it has come to our attention that very little progress has been made for the most part. With this in mind, we at Almighty Farms, in order to ensure the highest quality and best trained animals in the country, have decided to do a 2-pronged change in our approach. To wit:

1. We will, for now at least, hire some lads to do our training in a more specialized way, and
2. We will cut back on the number of races run to see if overactivity is partially to blame for the poor results of our training program to date

More information will be forthcoming as we make some decisions in this regard.

[thealmighty]

03-20-04 : Training Update, cont.

	Ursulo	Favorite	Hold	Imperatrice	B. Ladonia	Feline
Sex	male	female	male	female	female	female
Speed	0.2	0	0	0	0	0
Acceleration	-0.7	0	0	0	2.4	0
Technique	1.4	4.3	0	3.7	0	4.9
Adaptation	1.3	4.8	0	3.4	0	4.5
Injuries	-1.1	-1	-2	-2	-2.5	-2.5
Endurance	0	0.7	0	0	0	0.5

Here is a look at the changes, or lack thereof, for our stock from training. We hope the next update in this area has a bit more in the black.

Ursulo is a bit of a mystery. He cannot regain, it seems, his form, which is why he has not been run lately. Don't know what to do about it, but now that we will be training with the lads, there is more opportunity to make a training schedule that conforms to what a particular horse needs. We will try to get him some fitness training or, perhaps, some rest, and see if that gives Ursulo the boost he needs.

More to come on this topic.

[damnMikeBrown]

I like the new horse, I think she'll do fine.

Love the dynasty.

[Lokugh]

Note that Feline lost in a steeplchase race. If you are cutting back on races, you might try avoiding those (I know you started running them because of a dearth of regular races). It may be your horses are not good jumpers.

Lokugh

[thealmighty]

Thanks for stopping by, dMB, and especially for chiming in. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was still reading this thing.

Lokugh, I have to agree with your statement, at least at this point. I will try to cut back, or end if possible, steeplechase races unless I have no other choice for a good bit of time. Thanks.

[MrBug708]

Im reading....is BL gonna make a Kentucky Derby run?

[thealmighty]

Hey, Bug. I don't know how the game works in a Triple Crown series, if at all, since I have never looked forward with a 3-year old horse. I do know that I have not seen Pimlico as an available race track, so I may have to improvise my own Triple Crown challenge somehow which, indeed, B. Ladonia would be in line to enter as she is already a Level I National horse.

It would be interesting to note that however it turns out, Almighty Farms could have several horses that would be eligible to race in a Triple Crown series, so we could be going against ourselves, if there is a way to run it.

[thealmighty]

03-27-04: Race Day

Horse	Favorite
Type	Flat
Place	Fairplex Park		Jockey	Edmund Van Gaal
Race	Colonel Grand Prix		Fame	33
Distance	2600		Temper	Flexible
Purse	$17,680		Control	77
Declare	0 < 42500		Exper	24
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$330
Conditions	none
Ground	grass
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Ursulo
Type	Flat
Place	Fairplex Park		Jockey	Willie Green
Race	Colonel Grand Prix		Fame	25
Distance	2600		Temper	Authoritarian
Purse	$16,960		Control	71
Declare	0 < 42500		Exper	25
Ages	2-3 year olds		Salary	$240
Conditions	none
Ground	grass
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Beautiful Ladonia
Type	Flat
Place	Fairplex Park		Jockey	Ramdam Risdale
Race	Colonel Grand Prix		Fame	58
Distance	2600		Temper	Bossy
Purse	$132,720		Control	77
Declare	151800 < 303600		Exper	57
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$1,830
Conditions	none
Ground	grass
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

[thealmighty]

03-27-04: Race 1- Favorite

Stat Leaders
	Favorite	Musical of a Miracle	Knock Driver
Speed	1/16	2/16	4/16
Endur	1/16	4/16	2/16
Accel	1/16	2/16	3/16
Jockey	1/16	4/16	2/16
Conditions
Sunny (finally)		Ground is light.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Favorite		Knock Driver	1/1
P. Ricardo		Knock Driver		Favorite	7/2
				Music of a M	15/1
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Place
Race:	Knock Driver takes command early with Musical of a Miracle in second a length back. 1st straight sees Knock up by 2 lengths over Musical with Favorite 3 back in third. Chief Berry makes a strong push into second, 1 1/2 behind Knock. Odd Majesty moves up on the outside to fourth. In the 2nd turn it's Knock by 1 1/2 on Chief Berry. In the second straight, Clever Duchess moves up strong into second behind Knock. The 3rd turn has Knock by a length followed by Clever, Musical and Favorite. 3rd straight at hand and Chief Berry comes up alongside Knock with Musical and Favorite fighting for third. AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME, Knock leading Musical. 400m to go and Favorite moves up on the outside to contend with Knock. Van Gaal gives the whip to Favorite and off she goes, leaving Knock behind. It's Favorite stretching it out, winning easily by 3 lengths over Knock.

[thealmighty]

03-27-04: Race 1- Results

WINNER		Favorite		2) Knock Driver
				3) Clever Duchess
Race Statistics:		Time	Per Km	Almighty Gains
(Almighty Farms)		2:43	1:02	$8,840
My Wager		Amount
Outcome		$315,420
Jockey Race Notes:		Horse was sharp. We worked well together.

The field was all Listed horses. Stats were in the 30s and 40s except for Knock, Musical and another horse that didn't fare too well. Not a great field but a good win nonetheless.

[thealmighty]

03-27-04: Race 2- Ursulo

Stat Leaders
	Ursulo	Indien de France	Samurai Mystery
Speed	1/16	2/16	3/16
Endur	1/16	3/16	2/16
Accel	3/16	1/16	2/16
Jockey	5/16	1/16	2/16
Conditions
Sunny		Ground is light.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Samurai		Knock Driver	3/1
P. Ricardo		Knock Driver		Ursulo	7/1
				Samurai	8/1
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Place
Race:	Samurai Mystery and Indien de France head out together and take the lead. Into the 1st turn these two are side-by-side, Knock Driver in third 2 lengths back. Indien takes the lead by 1/2 over Samurai down the 2nd staight with Knock there to challenge. The next turn sees Artisanale moving up on the outside for third. Indien stretches the lead to a full length over Samurai with Ursulo moving to the front pack. AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME, Indien leads Samurai by 3/4. 400m to go and Samurai is the first to feel the whip and he leaves Indien behind with Ursulo third. 300m left it's Samurai still leading as Ursulo makes a charge to the lead. Samurai gets the whip once more with 200m to go and Ursulo cannot respond as Knock assumes second place. With 100m to the end, it's Samurai Mystery in front comfortably over Knock and Ursulo, who is tiring. Samurai Mystery wins by 1 1/2, Knock in second.

[thealmighty]

03-27-04: Race 2- Results

WINNER		Samurai Mystery		2) Knock Driver
				3) Ursulo
Race Statistics:		Time	Per Km	Almighty Gains
(Almighty Farms)		2:44	1:03	$2,035
My Wager		Amount
Outcome		-$100,000
Jockey Race Notes:		The horse was sharp. I think we work well together.

OK, it seems every bet we lose lately is on Ursulo. Maybe acceleration is more important than some other factors because that is the only stat where he is really lacking.

There were a number of excellent horses in this race, however, with stats in the 80s like Indien and Samurai. Plus, Ursulo had to come out of the 16th position (farthest away) from the gate which I assume could be a factor.

Also, it is getting anoying seeing horses run over and over. Knock Driver was in the last race with Favorite and then also in this race. I guess that's what you get with such a small names file, but it is irritating and will get more so as we go along.

[thealmighty]

03-27-04: Race 3- Beautiful Ladonia

Stat Leaders
	Beautiful Ladonia	Kupia	Fly Leader
Speed	1/16	2/16	5/16
Endur	1/16	2/16	7/16
Accel	1/16	5/16	2/16
Jockey	1/16	12/16	13/16
Conditions
Sunny		Ground is good.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Impressioniste		Impressioniste	3/2
P. Ricardo		Impressioniste		Fleur	4/1
				B. Ladonia (4)	11/1
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Win
Race:	Wind Over runs to the rail first, B. Ladonia in eighth. 1st turn ends with 6 wide racing for the lead. Down the straight it's Fleur leading by a whisker over Impressioniste with 7 horses strung across the front. Into turn 2 and still 7 wide and a bunched group behind with Impressioniste slightly out front. Impressioniste breaks from the group to lead by 1/2 over Fleur down the straight. The field in a huge bunch with Kupia trying to nudge to the front from the outside. AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME, Impressioniste by 1/2 over Fleur with Coquine De Marine third. 400m to go Impressioniste leads Fleur but B. Ladonia is finally clear and moving up. 300m left and Impressioniste takes off but Fleur and B. Ladonia are able to follow. Impressioniste fades with 200m to go leaving Fleur and B. Ladonia to fight it out. B. Ladonia pulls clear by 1/2 over Fleur and Quito Promotor. B. Ladonia holds off Fleur with 50m left. It's B. Ladonia by 1 length to win.

[thealmighty]

03-27-04: Race 3- Results

WINNER		Beautiful Ladonia		2) Fleur
				3) Quito Promotor
Race Statistics:		Time	Per Km	Almighty Gains
(Almighty Farms)		2:43	1:02	$66,360
My Wager		Amount
Outcome		$1,005,617
Jockey Race Notes:		Never panicked. Breezed through first part of the race but had to fully extend in the stretch.

All Level I Nationals, as it will be when the interval to qualify starts at over $100,000. There were none of the really high rated horses we have seen in other races, so Ladonia should have won, and she did. At some point, some great horse will beat her, or she will get stuck on the rail and lose a race, but until then, we will just bask in the glory that she brings to Almighty Farms.

[thealmighty]

04-03-04 (mm-dd-yy)

---> Facilities were down due to the weather so our new training effort was put on hold. Weather has improved and facilities are now back in use.

---> Several staff members have morale scores of 90 or higher and are therefore improving the efficiency of the staff as a whole (don't really know what the benefit is, but guess it can't be a bad thing).

---> Fame is now at 72. We are tied for 43rd position in the stable rankings.

[condors]

heh i get one horse and tried to focus on it, i have had success getting lower level horses and selling them as soon as i can raise them a level, my auction purchases usually leave me scratching my head on what went wrong.

i am very interested in how purple tearse works out

[thealmighty]

condors, good luck with that plan. I could never get the lower horse to win enough to advance, and training was hard because I couldn't afford the upgrades to train them properly (unless the manual was wrong about how to go about training, which I don't doubt).

Purple Tearse could be a great one with her 95 discipline making her the best in training.

[thealmighty]

04-03-04: Race Day

Horse	Purple Tearse
Type	Flat
Place	Belmont		Jockey	Gerald Grosjean
Race	Reserve Trophy		Fame	38
Distance	2600		Temper	Calm
Purse	$23,080		Control	79
Declare *	0 < 52764		Exper	38
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$570
Conditions	handicap
Ground	grass
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Imperatrice
Type	Flat
Place	Belmont		Jockey	Willie Green
Race	Reserve Trophy		Fame	25
Distance	2600		Temper	Authoritarian
Purse	$47,710		Control	71
Declare *	0 < 98636		Exper	25
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$250
Conditions	none
Ground	grass
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

[thealmighty]

04-03-04: Race 1- Purple Tearse

Stat Leaders
	Purple Tearse	Iena d'Eve	Java
Speed	1/12	2/12	3/12
Endur	1/12	2/12	3/12
Accel	1/12	2/12	4/12
Jockey	1/12	3/12	11/12
Conditions
Partly Sunny		Ground is relatively soft.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Purple Tearse		Purple Tearse	9/2
P. Ricardo		Purple Tearse		Java	12/1
				Iena d'Eve	12/1
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Win
Race:	Iena d'Eve breaks first with Purple Tearse moving down from 10th gate into second. Into the turn Iena and Purple are neck and neck with Java running third. Down the straight they go and the 3 favorites are battling for position with Iena 1/2 length up. Vive D'un Amour tries to move up but is boxed in by Java as Iena leads. Moon Maker pulls into third as Purple edges into the lead. Into the final turn Purple and Iena still head the field by 1 1/2. AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME, Iena now up by a head over Purple and Java is on the move. 400m left Java and Iena get the whip and move ahead of Purple. 300m and Grosjean goes to the whip as well and Purple moves up with the leaders. Whips galore as the 3 favorites have 200m left and Purple moves ahead. Purple continues her charge, taking control, leading by 2, moving with ease as Java fades to third. Purple wins by 3 lengths over Iena, Java third.

[thealmighty]

04-03-04: Race 1- Results

WINNER		Purple Tearse		2) Iena d'Eve
				3) Java
Race Statistics:		Time	Per Km	Almighty Gains
(Almighty Farms)		2:44	1:03	$11,540
My Wager		Amount
Outcome		$451,965
Jockey Race Notes:		The horse took the lead and outran the competition in the stretch. We work well together.

A good first outing for Purple Tearse against Listed and Level III horses. Most ratings were in the 40s and 50s except for Iena d'Eve who had 70s.

[thealmighty]

04-03-04: Race 2- Imperatrice

Stat Leaders
	Imperatrice	Hugo	Very Joy
Speed	1/11	2/11	4/11
Endur	1/11	2/11	4/11
Accel	1/11	2/11	3/11
Jockey	2/11	1/11	10/11
Conditions
Partly Cloudy		Ground is relatively soft.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Jeu		Jeu	4/1
P. Ricardo		Very Joy		Pagan France	14/1
				Imperatrice (5)	17/1
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Place
Race:	Very Joy and Imperatrice break for the rail with Gala Banana third. Into turn 1, Very Joy and Imperatrice are neck-and-neck with Banana right on their tails. Turn 2 sees Very by a head and Jeu on the move. Down the long back straight Very leads by 3/4 over Imperatrice with Hugo now third. Horses try to gain position as they head into the final turn with Very still up front by 1/2 over Imperatrice with Hugo in third but stuck inside by fourth place Banana. AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME, Jeu makes a strong move from way back to take second behind Very. 400m left Very moves out with Jeu and Imperatrice following. Here comes a herd with 300m to go as Jeu takes the lead and Imperatrice falters to fifth. 200m left and a charge by the stragglers is in full swing. Vaporeuse des Bros comes from way back to lead. Following her to the front is Returns Egg as Jeu and Very fight for their lives. Vaporeuse leads with Returns second and Very third. 100m to the end and here comes another darkhorse as Double Bette mounts a charge. Vaporeuse tries to hold on as Very tires. Vaporeuse and Returns Egg run to the wire. Vaporeuse and Returns Egg. Returns Egg and Vaporeuse. At the wire it's Vaporeuse by a nose over Returns Egg.

[thealmighty]

04-03-04: Race 2- Results

WINNER		Vaporeuse des Bros		2) Returns Egg
				3) Double Bette
Race Statistics:		Time	Per Km	Almighty Gains
(Almighty Farms)		2:44	1:03	0 (8th)
My Wager		Amount
Outcome		-$100,000
Jockey Race Notes:		I am disappointed by her behaviour. She did not give her all out.

Man, that sucked. Horses were Listed and Level II with ratings mostly in the 50s and 60s except for Hugo, with 70s. Imperatrice just flat out died at the end which makes no sense with her 88+ endurance. I guess this is the "Can't win them all" stuff, but that doesn't make it better to finish 8th against this group.

Still have no clue about how the jockey thing works. Have tried different types for her and none has worked, as far as the temperament goes. Maybe she needs a firmer hand. We will try again next time.

[thealmighty]

04-10-04: Race Day

Horse	Ursulo
Type	Flat
Place	Aqueduct		Jockey	Willie Green
Race	Rock Circuit		Fame	25
Distance	1500		Temper	Authoritarian
Purse	$11,140		Control	71
Declare *	11370 < 28591		Exper	25
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$250
Conditions	none
Ground	sand
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Favorite
Type	Flat
Place	Aqueduct		Jockey	Edmund Van Gaal
Race	Rock Circuit		Fame	33
Distance	1600		Temper	Flexible
Purse	$11,250		Control	77
Declare *	11078 < 30347		Exper	24
Ages	2-3 year olds		Salary	$280
Conditions	handicap
Ground	sand
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Beautiful Ladonia
Type	Flat
Place	Aqueduct		Jockey	Ramdam Risdale
Race	Rock Circuit		Fame	59
Distance	1500		Temper	Bossy
Purse	$105,500		Control	77
Declare *	128211 < 260694		Exper	57
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$2,150
Conditions	none
Ground	sand
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Hold
Type	Flat
Place	Aqueduct		Jockey	Saaed Salviaque
Race	Rock Circuit		Fame	36
Distance	1500		Temper	Excessive
Purse	$26,340		Control	79
Declare *	39261 < 89957		Exper	36
Ages	2 year olds		Salary	$530
Conditions	none
Ground	sand
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

Horse	Feline
Type	Flat
Place	Aqueduct		Jockey	Saeed Salviaque
Race	Rock Circuit		Fame	36
Distance	1600		Temper	Excessive
Purse	$26,010		Control	79
Declare *	49574 < 72101		Exper	36
Ages	2-3 year olds		Salary	$530
Conditions	handicap
Ground	sand
* - interval of gains to qualify for race.

[thealmighty]

Dynasty Note:

We will be streamlining the 'play-by-play' of the races for a while from the semi-complete announcer format to a few sentence recap. It has taken over a month to play little more than 3 months of the game and a big part of that is the recap, in that to do the write-up, I have to pause the race about a hundred times and check which horse is in what place and how far ahead and how far to go, and then write it down, then unpause again, etc....

That part of the dynasty can get very boring, what with the fact, believe it or not, I have no actual race-calling experience and I'm sure you get as tired as I (if you really read all the race reports) of reading the same stuff each race (how many ways can I say that a horse was hit with the whip?). Most are not very exciting, anyway.

I hope to get back to the longer version when I get some heavy action, but I really would like, and I'm sure those of you that ARE actually following for real would as well, to get to see if there is a Triple Crown, and to breed some of my own horses, and so on, before football season gets here.

Feel free to comment one way or the other. Though it is interesting to me to see how the horses do, I am also hoping y'all are eager for further developments soon as well.

[nfg22]

Honestly I dont read the whole race just the last few lines anyways. And I am most interested in B. Ladonia because I dont know the other horses as well, so in order to move this faster I say cut down on comentary as much as u have to.

[kingfc22]

Yea, I think it may be better if it was more streamlined because this game doesn't seem like it is that deep.

[thealmighty]

04-10-04: Race 1- Ursulo

Stat Leaders
	Ursulo	Etoile des Hautvents	Creole Bleue
Speed	1/18	2/18	3/18
Endur	1/18	2/18	7/18
Accel	2/18	1/18	5/18
Jockey	5/18	6/18	1/18
Conditions
Sunny		Ground is light.
Bookies		Choice		Betting Lines	Odds
L. Dominguez		Ursulo		Ursulo	5/2
P. Ricardo		Ursulo		Creole Bleue	6/1
				Pagan	8/1
My Wager		Amount	Type
		$100,000	Show

All entrants are Listed but the field is amazingly tough, leading us to wonder again if the first race on any given day is always chock full of bad-ass horses, compared to the other races.

Of the eighteen horses in the race, including Ursulo, 7 of them have major attributes of at least 70s. This is the toughest race we have seen to date.