I just finished the final comms for this season - The final day's racing is full on with some crazy close finishes in all grades!

Well done to the team who put this all together for the 13 weeks and the lead up races as well. It's seems like a crazy big job and I have absolutely no doubt that next season will be the best ever running of the league - so well worth sticking around!

Also well done to all trainers who put forward horses into their stables and competed.
For the gun trainers it will be business as usually during the break and the rest of us will be breeding away to find that group winner or to take the next step with a stronger stable.

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement for my calls - they really have been appreciated - it's been a back to the future moment for me - as a kid I used to do race calls with horse racing games and winning all sorts of races on the old rocking horse lol
So it's been a lot of fun for me!
In the words of Young Mister Grace - "You've all done very well"

Tunisia breaks his maiden tag by winning the Highland National. My stayers are by far the best part of my jumps team. Tuvalu was also a close second.

The flat was awful. The big trainers won the G1 handicaps which shows their class. What a run by Allegreto, giving all that weight away in the Sydney Cup. Fair play ghost, that is a monster.

One day to go, wishing you all the best of luck. shame we all can't have a winner tomorrow.

I'm gonna miss waking up to Dougs voice. My wife on the other hand......

Was a bit concerned about this yes the big trainers should have a chance off top weight but
I think top 4 trainers (James Steve john & Davy) won every one of the G1 handicaps a little
sad that some of the lower end trainers did not bag at least one its a bit of a concern really
I came up with them at the time to give every single trainer a chance at a Group One.

Im not complaining just found it a bit of a concern I get great enjoyment out of Lower end
or rookie trainers doing well is all but fair play to those lads who defied top weight to win
just maybe something to be looked at in future i know if i was one of the lower end trainers
id be a little disheartend by the dominant forces winning all of the g1 handicap and we need them
to enjoy the experience too.

I kind of agree with Pauls thoughts on this its kind of a sad thing that trainers with horses not good enough to win Group Races and too high rated for Handicaps I put myself in that bracket couldn't pick up a G1H but fair paly to the top guys whos horse's can carry the weight to win maybe something in the future to have a Max Rating say 120 and add a few races Group 1's from Sha Tin Hong Kong etc for the top guys to aim at in the final week.

Gray

Kizzire won well finally after 2 3rds throughout the season. Zeo High 6th in the St Cloud and plenty of top 5's over the jumps but it's been a poor few weeks for me recently and probably won't break the top 10 in either code but I'm still very happy with how my season went with only 30 game time seasons and a few weeks of prep. 11 Wins on the flat including Death Rattle's 4 superb wins culminating in the G2 Long Distance Cup and 3 top 5's in G2 company, Flawless Victory snatching 2 wins plus a 3rd in the Queens Vase for Scorpion, Fatal Zeo top 5 3 times in heritage handicaps, Starzilla Quay's 5th in Gold Cup plus plenty of placings and Tiesto 2nd in the Royal Hunt Cup are the main highlights.

8 Wins on the Jumps as well despite that going nowhere near as good as the flat! Cola Cola won at Listed level and Dom Santiago also nabbed a novice event while placing in group company. Guardian Of The Galaxy nabbed a Hcap and 5th at G1 level. Key Of Caviar 2nd in G2 company and the Imperial Cup while Ninja Samurai was also 2nd in G2 company. Prezilla 3rd in a G3 while Robotnik's win in the Berkshire Novices Chase G2 was followed up with a 4th in G1 company but the highlight came with Simeone's 1st in the G1 Henry VIII Novices chase which was my only G1 in either code and Zeo also managed 5 top 5 places in group company which was very impressive.

Many thanks to everyone who helps run the league especially Gray and Leon. I've been involved behind the scenes and now done race running, handicapping and commentating and now exactly how much work goes in. It's not just the work but the time it takes to do things is astonishing and these guys have to give up whole days to run this smoothly and agree this has been the best one yet. Racerunners deserve a huge amount of praise as their job is painstakingly long and so is the handicapping which took up to several hours per day of my time 3 days a week. Also the commentating with Doug leading the way on that front especially this week doing all 60 races which must have taken him a good 12 hours at least. Unfortunately I will be bowing out from my duties as handicapper as I just don't have the time for the job and I probably won't be entering many as I haven't had the time to play the game since the league started! Hopefully it can continue in this fashion and if it does it will be very successful! Congrats to all winners, runners, watchers, commentators, handicappers, race runners and anyone else involved.

Not helped by my missing the cut off for the last week, but I would not have expected to feature in any g race period, outside chance in a poor G3 jump no chance on the flat. The gulf between those with league experience and those without is massive as until you play the league you do not really know what great looks like, as the game and the ck side are so disconnected, and you can be highly sucessful in game without really producing superstars for the league.

I have been very busy with multiple breeding games to augment my main game that I still play and have taken heed of all the advice here, and whilst I have improved all distances and totally refreshed my breeding barns, by a focus on speed and cruising burst, I doubt I am anywhere near the level of the best this far, and the frustration of finding your best ck trial horse came last in most game races and on paper at least looks awful is just baffling, along with the changing best distances when I trial them, cannot tell if this is a bug or an exposure of what the horse is really good at?

Next years team will be better, and I am targeting a group race win, but I'll put thoughts of a g1 aside, saves on the disappointment

Agreed, if you wanna give a chance to horses of lower quality, then a max rating will need to be introduced. Otherwise if your horse is rated 105 or less it is more likely than not going to be running out of the handicap.

Same here i'm afraid, just don't have the time to do the handicapping anymore, so i won't be able to carry it on next season. That's why not enough praise can be heaped upon the people that keep this league running, Leon/race runners/Doug/Mike but most of all Gray, don't how you manage to put so much time and effort into this mate, you've done a great job in what has been a brilliantly/smoothly run league this season.

I'm gonna miss waking up to Dougs voice. My wife on the other hand......[/quote]

Too funny

Well what a fun day that was
Team Howells was having a pretty miserable day, just a couple scraping into the minor money on the flat and the usual pulling up for no reason over jumps (will write about this later as I have sussed it) and then I come to watch the final race (20 over jumps) thinking things can't get any worse!!
Philipstown Vienna is settled nicely in midfield till making good progress 1/2 mile out and then going into the lead at the second last. He jumps the last with a 2 length lead and maintains it into the final furlong. THEN DISASTER STRIKES; the jockey, a certain L Maguire, decides he has done enough, stops riding, smiles and waves at his supporters in the crowd, shares a sandwich with a picnicking family, then realises too late that the others haven't given up and get nailed at the finish .
The horse was favorite so I assume the AI crowd have reacted realistically and L Maguire is unavailable to ride on day 3 due to currently being suspended (by his unmentionables from the top tier of Perth stand!).
very proud off the horse though who after appearing useless in it's first 5 races has since had form figures of 1131132 .

Congratulations to all the winners and to all the team involved, it's a huge effort and much appreciated.

Personally - as a first season trainer - it hasn't bothered me that I can't compete at the top level. I look at real life racing and in the G1's 2 & 3's it's usually the big trainers taking the spoils and in the game it is the experienced trainers and the trainers that have put in some hard yards to get to where they are at so I don't have a problem with it.
I know my time will come - it won't be the Autumn carnival (although I expect improvement) but it might be next year.

But as you all well know my thoughts - give plenty of lower grade races each week - even the odd 0-100 over the jumps - I know it is a big buzz for me to win a 0-85 and I am content with that.
That way the trainers struggling to find that formula or the trainers that just don't have the time to put a lot into the game or breeding have a chance to see their horses win or go close from time to time.

Personally - as a first season trainer - it hasn't bothered me that I can't compete at the top level. I look at real life racing and in the G1's 2 & 3's it's usually the big trainers taking the spoils and in the game it is the experienced trainers and the trainers that have put in some hard yards to get to where they are at so I don't have a problem with it.
I know my time will come - it won't be the Autumn carnival (although I expect improvement) but it might be next year.

But as you all well know my thoughts - give plenty of lower grade races each week - even the odd 0-100 over the jumps - I know it is a big buzz for me to win a 0-85 and I am content with that.
That way the trainers struggling to find that formula or the trainers that just don't have the time to put a lot into the game or breeding have a chance to see their horses win or go close from time to time.[/quote]

I agree completely with Doug on this, I think the only thing missing is some real low grade handicaps over the jumps.
However bad your horses are you can find races for them on the flat if you are sensible (I am proof of this big time) but over the jumps the opportunities are not there. Some weeks there are multiple races over near identical distances and some of these could be downgraded or even some of the non-handicap, non-graded races altered. It may be a case of doing away with some of the realism to suit the league as with the Sydney Cup on the flat.

I agree completely with Doug on this, I think the only thing missing is some real low grade handicaps over the jumps.
However bad your horses are you can find races for them on the flat if you are sensible (I am proof of this big time) but over the jumps the opportunities are not there. Some weeks there are multiple races over near identical distances and some of these could be downgraded or even some of the non-handicap, non-graded races altered. It may be a case of doing away with some of the realism to suit the league as with the Sydney Cup on the flat.[/quote]

I'm not one to change distances or ratings of real life feature races but I can't see why we can't make our own races for the lower rating races - why not celebrate the top trainers "The Steve Rann Stakes 0-80" or "James Harrison Hcp 0-85" for example or even top horses from previous season "The New Halen Chase 0-90" or "The Gray Clutterbuck Conditions Hcp 0-90"
Food for thought

I would agree with you on the jumps slightly. For example some weeks we do have more than 1 graded race at the same distance so maybe we can change these to 0-110s. I wouldn't want the rating any lower else we could be struggling a get field above 2/3.

The flat is fantastic. The only small thing I want change is make a note of the races that were fields of 1-3 and increase the max rating by 5. This way you ensure there is no walkover but at the same time keeping the race for the low end trainers.

Dougs idea about naming races after league horses is great. I'm pretty sure we have done that before. The old stayer Feat Ping had a maiden named after him I believe

ZE LAWNMOWER GOLD CUP

ya best give that one a miss