Could someone advise me regarding flat horses? I have started to get young horses challenging for Group races.....win some, generally do well but don't dominate.

I seem to be hitting a peak with every horse of mine around 3/4 years old where they will start to decline from their previously top OR. I can never see any inidcation as to why and see many people feel they won;t deteriorate until about 7y/o?

I have been moving them to the breeding barn to avoid further drops in OR etc..........So a very short life-span.

Am I doing something wrong/missing a trick?

there OR only goes down if they dont win
i have horses go from 140 down to 133 when unluckly beaten finishing 2nd
has nothing to do with them deteriorating some times they can get boxed in and cant get out and they get beat and there rating goes down
you cant judge a horse deteriorating by its rating only by its ability bar if it starts going dark greaen or even decreases then they are deteriorating
should not happen until 6 or 7

Cool.......must me my ones that are turning 4y/o's........hitting better quality opponents than in 3y/o races and not doing as well in the process. As in your example, would your 133 (previously 140) turn back to 140 (or so) after a win........would it matter in what race if it does?

Thanks.

ya back to 140 when it won next time out

3yo races are fairly easy to win for instance a half decent bred 3yo colt might snap up the English Irish guineas and then the st James palace stakes
but when he step up against the older horse in the Sussex they could struggle to beat top class older horses it same in real life too

also some 3yo struggle when they get to 4 and no longer get that weight for age allowance they have to race on there own merits and some times they just might not be good enough

You will begin to dominate the game in next 10 years as your breeding lines get stronger then you will challenge your horses to see if they can get beat i have put some of my beasts in ridiculous races eg a 1m4f colt in a 6f sprint just to see if it can be beat

also ratings can be over rated could not resist that

the ability bar is important i still go shopping to see if i can find something special to freshen up my breeding lines

Cheers.

I know I asked you about breeding but....linking this over, will OR have any bearing on breeding or purely Potential (plus Consistency & Going adaptability as you mentioned?)

I ask as, where mine have started to drop and I didn't fully understand, I'd sharply take them out of racing life and throw into the barn. Now I know I don't need to!

glad to be of help mate

there ratings drop like a stone when they deterioate at 7+ but just keep checking the ability bar if its as high as it always has been they are good to carry on

Thanks again........ Appreciate all the help today, PJ.

glad to help mate enjoy the game

The best way to tell is when the deterioration bar goes fully red.

I have never noticed this change in any of my horses.

Deterioration potential bar Supercat - seen it in my games, its always red, just a matter of how much.

Yeah I know that, I just thought Ubar was meaning that it increases with age, as the horse deteriorates... I'd never noticed it... But then I have a really nice line at the moment with low deterioration bars.I've never paid any attention to them because I'm just trying to improve my breeding lines so most of mine race for a season, or less at the moment.

I've found it does appear to increase, so when it's full I gt them off to stud as quickly as possible.