Got a few basic questions if anybody could be so kind as to drop an informed answer it would be very helpful.

When breeding to improve the horses long term is it wise to breed matching ground prefs?

Similar to the last question can breeding be manipulated to create crops that will enjoy multiple grounds and distances at the highest level?

Finally is there a realism aspect to the breeding where you will be just looking to hit around a certain time per dist/ground?

Sorry for all the questions folks I know there is a vast amount of info about and I have been scouring these are just a few subjects I haven't come across.

Thanks in advance.

Anybody? Apologies if what I'm asking is personal strategy just trying to increase my knowledge base for the upcoming game release.

i never worry about ground prefs when breeding

its all about breeding the best with the best generation after generation
using game horses you dont own in breeding barn is good

at start of season look through diary look at royal ascot and look for horses that ran beter than standard time
then look for them in breeding barn and breed with your own horses if you find 1 that beats ascot track record then breed the heck out of it
you will get some machines by doing the above hope it helps

Thanks mate, that's along the lines of what I have been tinkering with so far. I guess a disciplined approach running multiple games is the way to go until you find the beasts you require.

most really only play multiple games when building a team for the Lge

hope you find a superstar

I've also got a couple of breeding questions.

How many 2yos do you guys have each year? I'm getting like 15-20 but they're having to compete in all the same races so none of them are able to build a good career.

Also, has anyone found any implications from inbreeding? I've got a lot of young horses from my best stallion and now he's sired a brilliant filly and colt who I'd like to breed with each other.

I usually go for about 20 2yos a season. I do try to breed different distances to avoid placing several in the same race.

My 2yo schedule works pretty well with they type I'm getting. I have 2 decent Irish maidens I start my top bred 1m2f on which gives me an indication on how good they'll be.

The rest, I slow build with, maybe 5 races a year.

I'm about to get my inbred horses tonight. Father and Daughter and brother and sister, I'm quite keen to see the results.

25 is my maximum

classic distances
6 x 1mile
7x 1m4
2x 1m6

other distances
5x 1m2
2x 5f
2x 6f
1x 2mile

Well im hooked, spent all day yesterday playing through multiple fresh games looking for breedng potential. The clock flashed from 7am to 9pm in the blink of an eye.

It has left me with a few more questions I suppose though...

Is selective breeding a poor method in finding superstars? Im thinking the mass breeding I did (1 Hit for 10 Misses say) was more fruitful than when I was breeding proven winner with times to proven winner with times as quite often they where yielding total flops.

The sprinters in particular I was really struggling to maintain a strong lineage. I was hoping to mass breed until I found a couple of superstars with great times of each gender and build from there. Problem was though that when breeding those to each other the foals where just poor. Totally regressive time wise and they could win the odd race but not close to the consistency of either parent.

I found the classic distance horses alot easier to breed, once you had one star they tended to throw one or two stars in each yield which performed very close to there standard.

I also spent awhile tinkering with the horses Thunderspark had uploaded on another thread. He had a selection of some sprinters and some mids...
Again I stumbled upon the same issues the mids I had no problem maintain the standard of and managed to breed a few that progressed in the CK but the sprinters again total flops. The ones he had uploaded could basically win every sprint unchallenged on my default schedule. The ones I bred from his where pretty much using the same methods as I used for the mids, hnut through game after game noting the fastest times game breds could do and gonig from there.

If my problem is that im reaching for the stars when im just a newbie I do apologise for the constant questions, just I have a week off work and I usually throw myself into things fully lol

Also again a BIG thankyou to all the people that put effort into these forums and share there knowledge. It makes the transistion for a newbie into the game so much easier. It is very much appreciated.

ya guys like thunderspark and scatters put masive amount of there free time into building league teams
they play thousands of seasons to reach the targets you mention i tried to match there standard times in ck and believe me it
took along time to even reach one i reached a few in the sprints mainly but it was along time but has paid off 3 weeks into the season
and i have notched up 8 winners way beyond my wildest dreams shows the hard work does pay off

i do think you are reaching too high if you are looking to match those guys i think you should play the game to enjoy it
in all fairness i lost alot of enjoyment for the game building my lge team because you have to fly through so many seasons
constantly transfer horses and constant breeding i was very glad to see the lge start & have not played so4 since


that is what you have to put in to be competitive at high level in the lge but there is no point in you doing that until so5
i think most people will play so5 to enjoy it and not go all out to build super lge teams i wont be anywhere near as solid as i have been this season
will just play the game to enjoy it


it takes several season of breeding to get some major superstars but very reachable in a week
i would warn you though breeding can go bad at times and you have to give up and start a new game and transfer in your best
always make multiple copy's of your best horses you will never no when you need them to start again and every game is different


hope that advice will help all the best

Yes Pj, all advice is taken onboard. Im like a sponge for game information lol

I havent missed out on enjoying the game(Played crazy hours on my own). I have played all Marks horse racing games back to The stable Masters series on the Amiga, I have played all the SO games but I just never thought about the online league as I used to play Stableking which provided me with my online fix of competition adn it was a great game but alas those days are gone. The more I look around here though I believe I may have been in the wrong game as SO online league looks really entertaining, really competitive and a great bunch of people taking part and running it.

I am itching for the new version right now, I will play my solo games for personal enjoyment as always but I will also be looking to get a foot into the league and enjoy that side of the game. Although the breeding side has me engrossed right now.

In fact im gonna go toy about with a sprint line from scratch and see what I can do. Gotta try and find some logic to this breeding before my holidays are over lol

enjoy mate

Until a few weeks ago I had never had a sprint G1 winner in SO4 (I've had the game since the day it came out in 2009 [I think]) so I decided to start games on easy mode and find sprinters given to me at the beginning rated 85+ if they won G1's on easy they were transferred into my main game on hard mode and raced for a season if they won a G1 in this game they'd be retired to stud to breed. I have gone a bit sprinter mad and most of my current 3yo's are 5-7f horses! But I have had two homebred G1 sprint winners and seem to be breeding some nice types now. It may be seen as cheating by some but I just enjoy having horses who will win every G1 in the game and for now that's all I want out of it.