Do some jockeys perform better at certain tracks and certain distances? Like are there jockeys that seem to do better on sprint races than distance races? Also, do some horses prefer a certain track than other? I am not talking about just dirt , vs turf,etc. I am talking like a certain horse just always performs well at a certain track while sucking at most of the other trackes?

I tend to take the view they are just the passenger, but the horses, least some, certainly have track preferences, which could be number of turns incline etc.

You'll sometimes get a jockey feedback that a certain horse just likes a certain track. I suspect it is a quirk/preference in addition to some horses performing better on any track with certain features like described above.

On the jockeys, that I'm still trying to figure that out myself. Many times AI jockeys will ask to ride a horse again. Those combos seem to perform better, but I'm not sure as it could just be an artifact of my trying to repeat rides where an AI jockey asked as I'm learning and getting better at placing. Or maybe it is just based on the AI jockey's estimate that the horse might win more, so I see the request to ride that horse again more often on horses that had statistically strong wins. In tracking this, I'm waiting to see if certain jockeys tend to ride more of certain types.

One of my horses condition just had an S in the circle thingy about 2 days before the race. Then during the race he got injured, turned it out it was a viral infection. Does the S in the condition circle mean sick?

Yes, or some other problem, until you "Buy Diagnosis" it won't say. Don't race horses with red circles. Go to declare screen and remove them, then diagnose.

You can get a stable virus it doesn't mean its injured but I should think the S is for symptom which means its showing it might have the virus and if you run the horse this could cause a injury you should have a notice in your Stable Box on the right in the corner telling you your stable has the virus it lasts about two weeks.

Gray

P.S its better to not run any horses during that period even if you have to miss the Derby

In my years playing the game ive only ever had a stable virus hit twice, the first was in the February so with the UK schedule I didn't really miss any races, just a couple of international G1's. However the 2nd time came just 2 days before Royal Ascot where I had about 30 horses set to run, I always target that meeting and get some 'well-in' handicappers to mop up more prizes.

It's very frustrating but It does add a bit of realism to the game. Probably more frustrating for Ryan Moore who lost about 18 rides all with top chances!

I've had a virus hit a couple of times in the past month. I just played through - Didn't seem to affect my results. I had horses win and horses lose......I saw nothing unusual in my results.
Until I see all my runners tank during a virus I personally think it doesn't effect the game.

Horse Track Bias - Yes it does happen - not often. Also you may see a horse that prefers running left handed for example - but I've only seen that maybe twice and that was earlier on in my game.
I assume that with all the breeding I have done so far that those traits don't come along any more.

Doug.

I believe the jockey does matter. My apprentice tends to run into trouble more than my stable jockey, but I've also noticed my stable jockey is far too quick to go hands and heels in the final furlong when we have a 2 length lead, which has often led to frustration as we get pipped near the line.

Would be interesting to get confirmation either way, though.

Yeah. Noticed same on apprentice vs stable. But since I've also been experimenting with the general hire ones, and reusing if I got the "would like to ride again" feedback, I have seen this with them too. While I'm still not sure, there was this one hire jockey, just him, but not the others that was always getting stewards calls. Still not enough data on my runs alone to be sure, and I just stopped hiring him. lol.