Horse Racing Fantasy Community

Congratulations to the winner! No, I'm not going to tell you who it is - you'll have to go check it out. But, the very first race, part of the first tournaement, is now officially over. The tournament, appropriately called "The First Trainer Tournament," it's first race the "Best Pal Grade 3 Cup" was an exciting race. More importantly than the fact that it is our first race where players in our game were able to compete against each other, it's the first opportunity for our trainers, who own these beautiful virtual thoroughbreds, to get a first-hand idea of what to expect.

Puddles posted a great blog today on how important it is to look at all the data when preparing your horse and picking the right tournaments and races in those tournaments to enter. The successful trainers in our game will not only understand their horse's ability inside their game while practicing, but they will also examine every detail of how their horses performed in the actual races. There are so many factors to consider outside of the training that can play a major role in how our horses will perform in the tournament races and, of course, the tournaments. Like Puddles said, everyone is posting about these high speed ratings. Forget that. Just like in real racing, your horse will act somewhat differently when competing.

In order to make a virtual race more realistic, we created a two-tier process. The first represents the general results of what you see based on training your horse. This is a good overview, but until your horse is actually racing, there are a ton of factors you have to consider. Check out Puddles' blog that he posted this morning and read it and then read it over again. I'm telling you guys, we spent a lot of time talking with real trainers and jockeys. Training is one thing and racing is another.

So, congratulations to the first race winner and everyone else who had the guts to jump into the first tournament. I have a feeling that this is going to be a very exciting part of our game and community. Build up your stables. Take care of your horses. Enter them in tournaments that make sense and you should find the winner's circle often.

- Fantasyhandicapper