Advanced Training
In the advance training section you will be given some general guidelines on how to start training, how to test adds, what to expect from your horse, how to find a race ,and a post race analysis of what the numbers and times mean. Part of this was written by Kiwi a long time trainer who was lost to us last year in an accident involving a horse. Kiwi was known for his dry wit, love of his family, and his love of horses. He continues to be missed.
TRAINING MY HORSES.
This process evolves as horse matures and will be dealt with here, in several stages.
Stage One….
Bringing my horses to Full Condition (green zone)
Why?. When a new horse is created,His ‘Major Meters’ are at 50/100..These being his Condition and Stamina meters. Optimum for these meters is between 95-105,known as the green/green zone. This Zone, is our aim during this first stage…. Approx.7-11 days.
Method.
Day One.
WHAT …..Work horse twice at 5 furlongs on dirt with 120lbs, and trainer on board.
WHY …….Twice because it will allow 3rd meter ‘Consistency’ to start movement toward Optimum level. 5 furlongs because anything less is considered of little value by community consensus. Dirt because its desirable, value wise.120lbs is considered average weight and fair weight.Trainer because jockey suitability varies with each horse can confuse issue.....Whereas trainer is consistent and always available.
HOW …Click on horse name…takes you to individual horses page.
Click on ‘Train’……...takes you to option page
Select…5furlongs….Dirt…..120lbs….trainer….and click ‘WORK’
Your horse is worked and you receive a breakdown report immediately. It reads like a standard racing form workout
Q What can I learn from this report?
A. The point most concern themselves with is, finish time. This can vary substantially horse to horse, dependant on many factors. The major 2 being Age and Sex.
Q..Whats a good finishing time?
A.. Keeping in mind horses arrive at different stages of maturity, the following is a guide to first work times that should make you smile..
2yr…..Colt…..Sub 1.11…Filly…Sub 1.11
3yr ….Colt…..Sub 1.10…Filly…Sub 1.11
4yr…..Colt…..Sub 1.09…Filly…Sub 1.10..
note#…Times slower than these are not necessarily a bad sign…Time is only real gauge. Early in their lives 2yo horses run at about the same speed until the colts mature and get stronger
My Horses Meters?
Your horses COND / STAM meters after two works will be somewhere in vicinity of 72 / 42..This is result of gains in Condition from each work of approx 9-12 points, and a Stamina loss or approx 25-30. Standard Train will put your meters about 83/32. HRP has said that horses begin their natural improvement when the Condition meter is above 95. You now let your horse rest overnight.
Day Two.
My horses meters changed?
Each night rest causes horse meters to move in opposite directions. The Condition Meter drops between 1-3 points, whilst the Stamina Meter gains 6-12. The average being –2 condition and +8 stamina. Higher or lower numbers are not at all indicative of a horses ability.
Todays Training ?… A standard train
WHY ?….Your horses meters are at approx. 81/ 42…remember we need to get the condition meter to 95+ before our horse starts to improve.
How long will this take? They should be at or above 95 by Day 3
With average movements your horses progress will resemble the following figures;
Day 2…..93 / 35
Day 3…..100/ 36
After your horse gets above 95 let it rest until the condition meter falls back below 95. The day it falls below 95 standard train your horse. This will take the condition meter to 105. Once again, let your horse rest until it gets below 95 on the condition meter. Do another standard train if it is necessary. You are looking for the horse meters to be green/green. It should take anywhere from 7-11 days for your horse to become green/green
STAGE TWO.
Preparing horse for first race.
Objective..
Over the next few weeks we will try to ascertain a little about our horses immediate ability, and preferences for available adds (Accessories). This is achieved through working, against to clock, over several distances on dirt, with a variety of accessories. Information regarding ‘accessories’ influences are available through HRP’s Help menu.
Method
With horses Meters in green zone…..eg 96-102
What….Work horse 5 furlongs dirt 120lbs trainer.
Why….5 furlongs is distance we will use to measure horses early. Dirt 120lbs and trainer for each subsequent work will give us consistent guide to horses progress.
Result…Meter movement of approx +10 condition and –28 stamina points…eg. 106 / 74
Recovery…from this workout it will take 3-4 days to recovered stamina to green/green. Once green/green is achieved we will work again, repeating this process using a variety of distances and accessories as outlined below.
2nd Green/Green work. .
WHAT …….Repeat 1st green/green work 5 Furlong dirt 120lbs trainer.
Result …You now have completed two workouts at optimum condition, both of which should be significantly faster than those performed on day of creation..
With the 3rd through 6th workouts we will introduce accessories one at a time, removing each after the work. The pattern you follow should resemble the following but in no particular order.
3rd work…5 furlongs dirt 120lbs trainer “Bute”
4th work…5 furlongs dirt 120lbs trainer “Lasix”
5th work…5 furlongs dirt 120lbs trainer “Blinkers”
6th work…5 furlongs dirt 120lbs trainer..”shadow roll”
# Note…with a recovery period of approx 3-4 days between works, this will take you approx 20 days .
Reflecting….We now take a look at each of the 5 furlong works our horse has performed. The objective being to repeat the conditions under which the best time recorded to date were achieved.
Choose which option shows the best result and apply relevant accessory.
Work horse 5 furlongs under these conditions.
Result…We would expect through law of averages to see a time at least as good as previous best. If this is not the case, remove accessory if one had been applied and try conditions under which second fastest time was recorded. This process may involve shuffling through options for another 3-5 works and take up to 2 weeks. If confusion reigns, and no significant pattern emerges in favor of any particular accessory, try working again “naked” eg.. with all accessories removed.
WHEN CAN I RACE?
There are no hard and fast rules regarding this. Most horses will improve leaps and bounds after first race day start, so unless you have something that looks extra special, eg 5 furlong workout times of 1.02 or better. Workout times are generally 1.5-2 seconds slower than race times at 5 furlongs. Be studying what other horses in your class are running their races in. Look at the race forms to see what those horses are working. Placement is big element to winning a race, I’d recommend looking for a Dirt maiden sprint at low end scale track, to introduce the horse to racing and hopefully kick start major improvement. Remember few horses race near their best first up, so don’t be disappointed when you don’t win or place. If you do of course, enjoy the moment.
Stage Three: Post-Race Analysis
Analyzing the Race
The purpose of the race analysis is to catch a quick glimpse of your horse’s preferred running style. Knowing your horse’s running style will be helpful in how you use the pace instructions in the future with postposition draw.
The most important thing your horse should get out of the race, regardless, is experience. The majority of the horses don’t win their first time out. In fact, nearly 80% of them don’t finish “in the money (ITM)” (1st, 2nd or 3rd). There have been countless horses finish last their first race and come around to win easily in their second race, so don’t get discouraged if your horse performs poorly in its first race. If your horse happens to be one of the few who manages to place ITM first time out, then you have two factors to look at: (1) the quality of the race and (2) the race time.
Quality of the Race
HRP has said that the competition faced for the horses will have an affect on how they develop over time. So, by placing your horses very low at the start may have a negative affect on your horse as it develops and may prevent it from reaching its full potential. Also, if you send your horse to MNR or another low-cost track like SUF, BEU, or RD, and it wins its maiden there, it will be difficult to place them the next time considering it will have to face winners as you have already used up a condition. Finding the right balance between challenging your horse but not too much will improve your horse.
Race Times
Race times become important in seeing how your horse ran compared to the works. If you only used trainers before, the race time should be roughly two seconds faster than the fastest work. If you used jockeys prior to the first race, the race time should be similar if not faster. There are some horses that race slower than their works. These are what I like to call “Morning Glories,” who often have inconsistency issues which might make the prime candidates for gelding if they are colts. However, you shouldn’t geld them right away. Before you geld a horse, please read “The Effects of Gelding” in the HRP Help Section under item 29 – About Your Horse’s Abilities.
Working Your Horse after the Race
Once you have trained your horse back to green/green, you have the opportunity to see how your horse learned from its first race. The best way to do this is to try to repeat the last work prior to the race matching all conditions so that the only difference will be that the horse has raced. If you used a jockey instead of a trainer, try to use the same jockey if you can. If you used a trainer, please use trainer again. You should see a drop between 1/5 of a second to as much as 3 seconds, the higher the drop, of course, the better. Note that 2-year-olds are inconsistent to begin with due to the introduction of the pace instructions and may take up to three works after the race to see any significant change. What you do not want to see is no change or your horse getting slower. Sometimes, you may see this in horses that have won their first race. These horses will prove to be troublesome to you in the future and the best courses with them are either retiring them early (for fillies) or place them in claimers. Remember to give 2-year-olds three works before throwing in the towel for them.
Additional Tips and Hints
There are a few general tips that several trainers at HRP have suggested that will help you get through in placing your horses correctly in races and to help you start your way to success at HRP.
The 12-second or under Per Furlong Rule
Of all the suggestions given, this rule is by far the best rule there is. If anything, this should be the most important rule you should know. This rule is just what it means. Twelve seconds or under per furlong is the standard you should use to determine the quality of your horse. The longer it can hold onto this 12 second or under per furlong rate, the better the horse will be.
Turf or Dirt
In general, the turf times will always be slightly faster than the dirt. So how does one determine if their horse is better suited for turf over dirt? If your horse works 2 or more seconds faster on turf than on dirt, your horse prefers turf. If your horse works between 1 second to 2 seconds faster on turf, then your horse may not have a preference. With these horses, it is best to at least try racing on both surfaces and see how your horse performs. If it seems to have more kick on turf over the dirt, you may want to try turf for a while. If the horse works less than a second faster on turf, then naturally, your horse prefers dirt.
Sprinters Versus Routers
Sometimes this can be a bit challenging to figure out. Many dirt sprinters have the ability to run at a mile on the turf; however, turf sprinters seem unlikely to run dirt routes. The only way to tell is to try them in works first. If your sprinter can do sub-1:40, you may try them in a route race. Of course, the closer you get to that 12-second or under per furlong rule, the better suited your horse is to a particular distance. It might be a good idea to do some research on what horses are working and racing for a particular race so you can see if your horse is competitive. Also, it is important to note that if your horse appears to be charging hard in the final furlong in a sprint, it doesn’t necessarily mean it wants to go longer. It’s a common misconception that can only be tested in works and races.
When to Use Dry-Track Only?
This one appears to be a no-brainer, but sometimes you can get mixed signals from your horse as far as “mudding” ability. You may try working the horse on an off track to see. Generally, horses will run 3 seconds slower than their fast; 1 second per track condition increment. For instance, “good” condition should yield 1 second slower, “sloppy” or “yielding” should be 2 seconds slower, and so forth. These horses should have minimal problems on an off track. Some horses will run just as fast on the wet as over the dry fast surface. If, it appears that your horse just can’t get its footing or appears to continuously drift further behind finishing over 10 lengths out, then you should make note to use the “Dry-Track Only” option when nominating your horse.
*NOTE: Dry-Track Only, if selected and scratched from the race, will reset your horse’s preference date. However, you will receive 50% of your nomination back in return. This option can only be used when nominating your horse for race and may be changed up until the nomination deadline.*
How to Get the Most from Pace Instructions?
Everyone has their own preference and theories on using pace instructions, therefore, I will state what HRP has suggested in using these instructions. HRP has recommended that pace instructions can be used in works to determine if your horse can run a particular pace. You should be able to determine this by seeing which instructions give you the fastest final time. I have noticed that there are at least two instructions that your horse will tend to favor in addition to regular Horse Lead. Knowing this, you have the opportunity to determine which instructions you should use once the race draws to better suit your horse’s abilities. Remember that these are instructions for PACE and not JOCKEY or POSITIONING instructions.
Consistency Meter: Good or Bad?
Some people say this meter is useless while others swear by it. You should experiment with it to determine whether or not it helps your particular horse. In general, the consistency meter is supposed to keep yourself in check so that you are not overworking or over racing your horse. It also should keep your workout times somewhat close without varying more than a few seconds. Over racing your horse (racing 2 or more times per 30 day period) may lead to “bouncing,” a term used to describe a horse that had a big race and then flops its next outing. It can also lead to early “peaking” as well.
Distance Meter: When to Use It
This meter can be both helpful and harmful to your horse. It appears to be beneficial to have 1 or 2 L’s (Long) or S’s (Short) if you chose to use it. Anything more appears to have more of a negative effect on the horse than having less. One to two L’s is very helpful for “faders,” horses that have a lot of speed early but fade about a furlong or two before the finish line. It also helps some horses who are trying to lengthen (or shorten) a little in races.
Condition/Stamina Tracking
If you haven’t already done so, you should chart each of your horse’s overnight condition and stamina changes. Doing so will help you better train your horses prior to races to guarantee your horse is fit enough (green/green) come race day. You should track your horse’s changes over a 5-7 day period to get an accurate average of gain and loss. Once you have that, make a note of it in your horse’s notes at the bottom of your horse screen. Start paying close attention to your horse when you are 5 to 7 days from your race to start tweaking the trains so that it is fit for race day. I suggest tracking condition loss because some horses will lose less than others on condition per night and may come up 106 on condition if trained two days prior to the race. In general, it is better to be over 105 on stamina than it is to be over 105 on condition.
These are but a few tools that you’ll need to help you get started with your new stable. The best advice is to take things slowly and avoid the temptation to work your horse every single day. Following these helpful tips will hopefully give you a better understanding of your horses and therefore, a better win and ITM percentage.
Remember that this is a guide to racing here at HRP. The guidelines that were offered to you are just that…. guidelines. Some horses like to run with meters not green/green. Others like the mud. Others hate the consistency meter but love the distance meter. Every horse is different. Above all else, treat these horses like real life horses and they will provide years of fun for you. Learn what their likes and dislikes are and that will make you a great trainer…..just as it does in real life.
Good Luck and see you in the Winners Circle!!!
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