Bought the game last week and already in full flow as I had played once before.
I started with SO PRO and then upgraded to SO 2 but I just noticed the deterioration potential bar and can't remember it ever being in the earlier games.

Although in the earlier games, I used to make loads of money gambling first and then just buy all the best horses, I thought that this time round I would play from scratch to see how it went.
Selling original horses right away and buying others from weekly sales, then winning a few races before selling them for profit and buying better.

After 4 or 5 attempts where I finished up broke and with no horses, I finally struck gold with a horse that could win listed races and was also good enough to run in group races.
I eventually sold this horse for over a million and spent the lot on a "great" horse only to struggle to win anything with it and ended up selling it again for a major loss and having to more or less start again.

I now have 2 very good horses capable of competing in a lot of the top races so I hope to build from there.

I would have to say that starting with very little and having to keep an eye on the ratings to pick and choose the best races for your horses is much more addictive than simply bashing your way through the game buying all the best horses and winning all the best races.

Anyway back to the deterioration bar. Is it better for the red line to be longer or shorter?
I guessed that shorter was better but thought I better make sure before I continued.

Thanks in advance for sticking to the very end of this long drawn out question.

Shorter

Both the deterioration bar and your answer!

cheers guys

apologies for the mini novel.

No need for apology Rob, just found the response humourous!