I have been playing for a little while, picked up a 3yo at thursday auction for £200k with an average breeding distance on the jumps of 4m.

I bought this horse primarly to enhance the stamina of horses from my breeding barn in future seasons.

I had previously bought a group 1 winning 6f horse which i now use for breeding, but getting poor stamina from the offspring.

However i have raced him lightly in 4yo season, and just started 5 year old season, yet to make a mistake over the fences, jumps and stays well, so may be a decent national horse.
I galloped him against another horse i had that finished 5th in the national a season before (and won 2 national trails in a row), he kept the pace well.

Can someone suggest a good race schedule i could use in the build up to his first national?

Anyone any tips on breeding future national winners?
(What should i be looking for from a sire/damsire?)

PS I am playing a combined schedule, Starting to get some decent milers from the sprint horse and a stayer that i inherited when starting the game.

You want to keep his rating as low as possible and he will probably only be competitive in the national from age 7 up.

I follow the following pattern. Hurdles until 6 and let them make there debut over fences at Cheltenham in the National hunt chase at age 6. Even if he wins this race his handicap rating will be ok

The following seasons I pursue the following pattern. Any one of 3 4 mile races at the start of December / mid November. The welsh national. The Eider. Then the grand National. Have had quite few national winners this, including a mare who won it 3 times and came 2nd once. She managed to win it with a weight of 12 stone off a rating of 173 when aged 10

I will give this a go thanks.

So i should give the national trial a miss?

I ran it with the previous horse which meant he weant into the national with a higher rating and listed among the favourites

i use the national trial for horses with ratings to high to get into the eider. MY triple grand national horse ran in twice

Have played 2 nationals since posting, no winners, another 5th with a new horse, a mare, "Fileuse" which i imported from my flat race game, won the irish national in its 5yo campaign, so put it in the national the following year, had a good run but didnt have the strength at the finish.

In the same year another of my horses imported from the same flat game, this one a stallion "captain ginger" won the Irish national. so may have those 2 competing for the national next year, along with another of my horses "adjucator" which has come from my breeding line, though his rating may be too high (currently 152), good jumper but may not have the staying power.

Common sense would suggest pairing the 2 irish national winners would give offspring capable of challenging in future years, but i am guessing its not that simple?