Hi all,

Just wondering if there is a way of maximising a horses to it's "Absolute Potential"? I've been playing around, but don't actually know how to boost the "Realised Potential" to match the "Absolute Potential". So any help would be fab!

Thanks.

Jonh Same

I'm not nearly as much of a vet as others, but basically racing them is how you raise it.

That said, there's a few things to be aware of:
1. Only the first few races for a horse every year seem to raise potential, like the first 3-5 or so. At some point further racing has no effect.
2. Because of #1, if the spread between current and max potential is too great at the start of a year, you may never reach max potential as you only have so many races to raise it.
3. It also seems to me (I have no empirical evidence, however) that races which are too easy for the horse do less to raise current potential, especially after their 2YO year.

In a flat game, absolute potential (dark green bar) usually increases automatically each year by about 10% until it is about 4 or 5 years old. The realised potential (light green bar) usually goes up each year after the horse has had 3 or 4 races in a season. More than 4 races in a season does not increase potential any more.

I usually find that the maximum I can increase realised potential each year is about 20%.

First and foremost some horses simply do not make it, no matter what you do, but most as has been said will increase as a 2yo after racing ideally 5 in their 2yo season, then again as they turn three, with some improvement as raced. That's usually about it aside from the yearly changes as they turn 4 and again at 5. By 6yo they are usually going the other way, but a few with longer growth curves progress as they are older and other skills like jumping may come to the fore.

As to what races this does seem to matter, I have tried the same horse in multiple games with different outcomes.

Josh