Horse racing sims?

[Arles]

I know this topic comes up about every couple years, but I wanted to know if people have any favorites for PC-based horse racing sports management games?

I'm basically looking for the standard stable management, betting, claiming, ... horse racing career sim. Are there any good ones out there to check out? Or, am I destined to head back to the oldy (but goody) Hooves of Thunder?

[Lathum]

I miss hooves of thunder. I may need to fire that up

[Yellow5]

Starters Orders has a demo.

Starters Orders 4 – Free horse racing game demo (http://www.startersorders.com/)

I've played old versions and enjoyed them. Lost interest and never looked at the new version.
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[TCY Junkie]

The Racing Breed!

[Arles]

The Racing Breed!
I used to play this a bunch 4+ years back but I don't have the game anymore. Is there a spot I could buy it from? That and HoT were my default games.

[Arles]

Starters Orders has a demo.

Starters Orders 4 – Free horse racing game demo (http://www.startersorders.com/)

I've played old versions and enjoyed them. Lost interest and never looked at the new version.
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Thanks, downloading the demo and will check it out. I read that you can't do show bets or any non win/place bets (quinellas, exacta, boxing, superfecta). Is that right?

[thesloppy]

I've put many an hour into Starters Orders 4, and it was great fun, with the caveat that it had a somewhat fatal flaw of occasionally leaving it's almost-prime races under-run, letting the user slap some glue-factory reject into a 4 horse race with a big purse, and collect sizable gains from coming in dead last by 20 lengths.

That said, it only happens occasionally, and you can keep yourself from abusing it pretty easily, if you so desire.

[thesloppy]

Thanks, downloading the demo and will check it out. I read that you can't do show bets or any non win/place bets (quinellas, exacta, boxing, superfecta). Is that right?

That is right....no wait, you might be able to some lame form of exacta, but that's about it.

[Arles]

OK, so if I care about the following (in order):

1. Ability to manage your own stable. Buy claims, sell horses, develop horses in the hopes of having a top race horse at some point in time.

2. Good horse simulation engine with hints at winners, but enough randomness to add a challenge (while not being completely random to where you feel your decisions don't matter).

3. Ability to make all kinds of bets on your races and others (exacta, trifecta, quinella, boxing,...).

4. A user interface I can atleast get used to over time.

5. Some decent graphical display showing the races. Doesn't have to be 3-D or extremely pretty. Just a way to watch the races with some excitement on who will win.

What's the winner if those are the criteria?

[Izulde]

Just saw the SO4 guys also make a greyhound racing manager game that I'll be trying out. My family and I used to own racing greyhounds back in the day and I miss it.

[Tim Tellean]

Hey Arles is looking for horse racing sim....Hmmm.....Competition check....Maybe he's looking for BBHR. (Bowl Bound Horse Racing). :)

[Arles]

Hey, if I had the time I'd definitely try and make a horse racing game. I think it would be a lot of fun.

[jbergey22]

OK, so if I care about the following (in order):

1. Ability to manage your own stable. Buy claims, sell horses, develop horses in the hopes of having a top race horse at some point in time.

2. Good horse simulation engine with hints at winners, but enough randomness to add a challenge (while not being completely random to where you feel your decisions don't matter).

3. Ability to make all kinds of bets on your races and others (exacta, trifecta, quinella, boxing,...).

4. A user interface I can atleast get used to over time.

5. Some decent graphical display showing the races. Doesn't have to be 3-D or extremely pretty. Just a way to watch the races with some excitement on who will win.

What's the winner if those are the criteria?

Ive looked all over for this as well. The closest that Ive found was starters that was previously mentioned.

The betting portion isnt real great and you need to put in some house rules to make it a challenge but fun none the less.

[path12]

Hey, if I had the time I'd definitely try and make a horse racing game. I think it would be a lot of fun.

The Racing Breed developers shut it down earlier this year -- the website definitely went away.

Hell, if you could somehow get that source code from them and build an interface and some basic improvements around that engine you might just have the ultimate horse racing game IMO. I still play this all the time.

EDIT: I am a huge fanboi of TRB though so take that into account. .

[Coffee Warlord]

Hey, if I had the time I'd definitely try and make a horse racing game. I think it would be a lot of fun.

Hear hear. I wish I knew anything close to the amount of stuff I'd need to know about horse racing to make a decent game.

[QuikSand]

OK, so if I care about the following (in order):

1. Ability to manage your own stable. Buy claims, sell horses, develop horses in the hopes of having a top race horse at some point in time.

2. Good horse simulation engine with hints at winners, but enough randomness to add a challenge (while not being completely random to where you feel your decisions don't matter).

3. Ability to make all kinds of bets on your races and others (exacta, trifecta, quinella, boxing,...).

4. A user interface I can atleast get used to over time.

5. Some decent graphical display showing the races. Doesn't have to be 3-D or extremely pretty. Just a way to watch the races with some excitement on who will win.

What's the winner if those are the criteria?

My opinion:

The Racing Breed
QuarterPole Plus
Hooves of Thunder
(nothing else worth playing)

[Buccaneer]

Every once in a while I think about starting up Hooves of Thunder or QPP. Looks like I have to look at Racing Breed.

[Arles]

Is there any way to still purchase The Racing Breed? I'd love to try it again but don't have my copy anymore.

[Arles]

Ive looked all over for this as well. The closest that Ive found was starters that was previously mentioned.

The betting portion isnt real great and you need to put in some house rules to make it a challenge but fun none the less.
OK, I may check this one out for starters. What are some house rules people tend to employ?

I still have QPP and HoT laying around somewhere as well.

[Buccaneer]

If I recall from years ago, HoT was much better than QPP on finding young horses in low stakes and building them up to a winner. QPP seemed to have been more random. QPP, I think, had more elements to the game than HoT but it was the core game of moving horses up in HoT that hooked me.

[jbergey22]

OK, I may check this one out for starters. What are some house rules people tend to employ?

I still have QPP and HoT laying around somewhere as well.

Realstic choosing of races to enter is a big 1. The computer does kind of a poor job of filling some if its higher stakes races so if you dont use some self control you can get in 500k races with only 2 horses entered and lock yourself into a huge profit.

The betting can be taken advantage of as well. I use it as only a fun part of the game and not trying to make huge money to buy horses from. I like to build a stable without using any of my betting winnings.

[path12]

Is there any way to still purchase The Racing Breed? I'd love to try it again but don't have my copy anymore.

Not that I'm aware of unfortunately.

[weegeebored]

Hey, if I had the time I'd definitely try and make a horse racing game. I think it would be a lot of fun.We could always hope....;)

I was also going to buy Racing Breed even though I tried the demo and it was real hard to get past the so-so graphics. I was following path12's (I think) dynasty and he sounded like he was having a blast with it. I settled on SO4 which I put some time into. It's pretty good but I don't like the fact that it is geared more for UK racing. I put in about a dozen hours or so working on a US schedule with new horse names as well. It still needs tweaking so maybe I'll have to get back into SO4 again now that the BC is over.

[EagleFan]

Starters Orders 5 has just come out.

Like to the new features: Starters Orders 5 (http://www.startersorders.com/so5/)

[lcjjdnh]

Has anyone played the iPad version of SO4?

[QuikSand]

Has anyone played the iPad version of SO4?

had no idea ... will check it out now

[PilotMan]

Anyone have a good, used horse racing sim that they'd part with?

[Flasch186]

Anyone play SO5 yet?

[lcjjdnh]

had no idea ... will check it out now

Did you ever get a chance to try the iPad game, QS?

[QuikSand]

Did you ever get a chance to try the iPad game, QS?

I think I took a look and then didn't bother, for whatever reason.

[QuikSand]

Weird coincidence here... I opened this thread as I was simming a few weeks ahead in The Racing Breed. I don't play it that often, but happened to be doing so today amidst odd circumstances.

Anyway - one of my stable just won a Triple Crown race for the first time. Second in the Derby, and then a nice win in the "Preakness" -- first time I have had even a legit contender for the classics. Pretty cool.

[path12]

Congrats Quik, it's a great feeling isn't it?

Still waiting on a Derby win myself. But did have a BC Classic win awhile back.

BTW, are you running it in Win7? I'm moving on from XP soon and am worried about getting it to run.

[QuikSand]

I am running in Win 7, it's unreliable and crashes, but it seems to work.

Oh, and a non-threatening 3rd in the "Belmont" for my charge, KING DADDY.

I have been mostly running lower-level horses and looking for turf-switches, but I did manage to take a claimer all the way to a win in the BC Mile several seasons ago, and now have a few of my former runners show up occasionally with their get in the yearling auctions.

Only recently have I been bold (and wealthy) enough to sink $250,000+ into individual yearlings in hopes of landing something special. KD is my first major payoff from that as a 3yo.

[TCY Junkie]

I usually look at the maiden claiming and get a few with the best workouts, mainly because I'm interested in buying offspring of my runners later and that's the easiest way to get a good horse. The point was, my only triple crown winner wasn't that good of a stud. I run through a lot of horses so it is very rare to win a triple crown so I was a little disappointed in his offspring.

[path12]

I'm about ready to start a new stable and retire my current game. After long enough (it's 2019) you get to a point where you can buy any horse for any price and that gets a little stale, finding those rare cheap yearlings or maidens that become stakes horses is the most satisfying part of the game for me.

[lcjjdnh]

I think I took a look and then didn't bother, for whatever reason.

Ah. Thanks for the response.

[QuikSand]

Quick comments on The Racing Breed:

(1) Not many games get me engaged enough to force me to shout at my computer "motherfucker" at any point -- and this game has gotten me to do that a few times.

(2) Sadly, they have all been when a game crash wiped out an important race -- in this case the Ky Derby, where my top colt was a reasonable 6-1 "player" and now the race will simply not be run (meaning the history books will show no results for that race).

Motherfucker!

[QuikSand]

...and now it appears that not only did I lose that year's Derby with the crash, but now that colt (my top 3yo) cannot be entered into any race, as he is listed as being "entered for today" and therefore ineligible to be entered anywhere else, like in the hypothetical second jewel race coming up. Yes, I have deleted the Derby entry and advanced the game -- looks like i'm just fuct.

MF

[TCY Junkie]

...and now it appears that not only did I lose that year's Derby with the crash, but now that colt (my top 3yo) cannot be entered into any race, as he is listed as being "entered for today" and therefore ineligible to be entered anywhere else, like in the hypothetical second jewel race coming up. Yes, I have deleted the Derby entry and advanced the game -- looks like i'm just fuct.

MF

Yeah, sometimes I've had horses entered in a past race and had to switch auto enter on and off...... But don't think I've had them entered into a race involving a crash. Several little glitches that's for sure.

[path12]

Quick comments on The Racing Breed:

(1) Not many games get me engaged enough to force me to shout at my computer "motherfucker" at any point -- and this game has gotten me to do that a few times.

(2) Sadly, they have all been when a game crash wiped out an important race -- in this case the Ky Derby, where my top colt was a reasonable 6-1 "player" and now the race will simply not be run (meaning the history books will show no results for that race).

Motherfucker!

Motherfucker! Dude, that truly sucks. Condolences.

[QuikSand]

Had to sell the colt (I got $340,000 in condolence dividends at least) and so far I have yet to see him run anywhere - I fear he'll be charged with the sort of "mystery ailment leads to premature retirement" that is common in real racing but basically absent from this game.

[weegeebored]

So, me and a couple of other people are going to write a thoroughbred management sim for the PC. We are in the design stage, and I don't see that we would have an alpha version for at least three to four months. That said, for those of you who would be interested, what are the must have features? What are some things that you would like to see in the game? What things don't matter and can be left out?

The focus of our game is on management, as in trainer/owner, as opposed to a Gallop Racer "ride the horse" arcade game. Our starting point for design is a North American version of Starters Orders. I know that path12 and someone else had started their dynasties with The Racing Breed, but sadly I did not get around to playing it. Sounds like the sim engine was very good in the game. There are hardly any references to it now on the Interweb. The only other games that I've played were Omniplay Horse Racing on the Amiga, and a really bad game for the PC that was endorsed by the Daily Racing Form.

Let those ideas flow; FOFC members are our target market. ;)

[Buccaneer]

The main thing for me is watching my horse race and seeing it perform visually. The splits can give me an analysis but only in the context of how I knew the race was being raced. HoT did this well.

[Lathum]

have to have a breeding feature, would be sweet to own a great horse and breed it to see how its offspring did.

[BYU 14]

The main thing for me is watching my horse race and seeing it perform visually. The splits can give me an analysis but only in the context of how I knew the race was being raced. HoT did this well.

have to have a breeding feature, would be sweet to own a great horse and breed it to see how its offspring did.

Both of these for me and the ability to create a jockey would be cool. (And of course edit your Horse's names)

[PurdueBrad]

I think looking back at the old OminPlay horse-racing it was really a great way to build a game, perhaps my favorite I've encountered. There are seven big keys for me:

*Seeing the races run in some sort of graphic manner

*A breeding simulation for my stable

*A solid auction system that gives decent lineage info

*A pretty, easy to maneuver interface

*A challenging game with some luck/randomness

*Different starting points (meaning that I will usually start with a smaller, poor stable but, every now and then, it is fun to start with a wealthier stable to experience the big races)

*A passable news function/feature that allows me to see what is happening within the horse-racing world I've created.

[Lathum]

a few more things

- Multiplayer
-I agree with a way to watch the races
- I like the concept of creating a jockey

[MJ4H]

Came across this Japanese horse racing "sim" today and thought you guys might enjoy it. Might be missing a few desired features.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sdmsRcsl_xA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[TCY Junkie]

Different tracks. A few big ones, a couple more good size ones and more smaller ones.

Be nice to start at a crappy track and then work your way up.

....... Starters orders isn't very realistic as in the breeding. You can inbreed with little penalty. Plus horses tend to improve over breedings and the original game horses can't compete. Need to have claiming races like here in the US, the racing breed did a good job on that. As far as auctions the lineage is needed but also some note on body conformation for more indication would be nice. But definitely still a gamble. Might even include experts who will attend the auction with you for certain prices and have different ratings.

[jbergey22]

Starters Orders has a demo.

Starters Orders 4 – Free horse racing game demo (http://www.startersorders.com/)

I've played old versions and enjoyed them. Lost interest and never looked at the new version.
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Has anyone played the 5th version of this? Is it much different than the 4th?

[TCY Junkie]

One thing I really liked at the auction in the racing breed was seeing the dam's offspring racing records.

[jbergey22]

One thing I really liked at the auction in the racing breed was seeing the dam's offspring racing records.

So it sounds like racing breed is better than SO5? Ill check it out.

I guess I played SO4 and had a good time playing it but I certainly seen some flaws such as I entered a high stakes race with only 2 other horses so I was guaranteed to make 600k just by showing up. Little flaws like that I seen once in awhile.

[TCY Junkie]

Has anyone played the 5th version of this? Is it much different than the 4th?

I have it but haven't played it in a long time, there were some improvements but not really excited about it. I really liked the second version as it involved breeding and no other game really lets you breed your horses with horses you want, but the original games horses aren't competitive and after a while I lost interest.

[TCY Junkie]

So it sounds like racing breed is better than SO5? Ill check it out.

I guess I played SO4 and had a good time playing it but I certainly seen some flaws such as I entered a high stakes race with only 2 other horses so I was guaranteed to make 600k just by showing up. Little flaws like that I seen once in awhile.

The racing breed is no longer for sale, one of the few mentions of it is on orlworld. I asked the moderator post it there years ago.

Well I could keep myself from entering those type races, haha. But it's just not as realistic as I want it to be.

[path12]

You would become my favorite FOFC'er ever if we got a good new racing game.

Can't get Racing Breed to run since upgrading, and have tried the demo of Starters Orders a bunch of times but can't get there with it.

[path12]

One thing I really liked at the auction in the racing breed was seeing the dam's offspring racing records.

Right? Especially after a couple years I'd note the dams of some nice youngsters and specifically look for their offspring in the auctions.

[weegeebored]

Thanks for the input; keep it coming. Nearly everything that has been mentioned so far is in the design already. PurdueBrad's recent post (and Arles earlier one) summed up the basic features pretty well. Auctions will definitely be included (Note taken about the dam's offspring records). Claiming races to buy/sell horses as well. Other major race types also -- MSW, MCL, ALW, Graded and Non-graded stakes. All three surface types (dirt, turf, AW) with track variations based on real par times. Multiple difficulty levels that are likely based on the number/quality of the horses at the start, starting bankroll amount, and the amount of information that can be seen via ratings (easy -- lots; hard -- much less). A basic financial model. A graphical display of the horses in training/racing. Possibly 3D, but don't hold me to that. A betting option with WPS, Exacta, Trifecta, and Pick 3 wagers. (If there's demand, Superfecta and other Pick X bets.) An easy-to-use interface (easier said than done). A fairly large horse database to prevent too much name resuse and to help eliminate the three horse (or less) stakes race.

Multiplayer is not likely in v1. One idea that we're thinking about is kind of a party hotseat betting game. Something on the order of selecting the number of races on a card, printing out the PPs for those races, and then players making virtual bets to see who has the most virtual money at the end of the card. We used to do this when we played Omniplay. Everyone would put $5 in a pool and the person who won the most virtual money would take the pool.

A couple of people mentioned the create-a-jockey mode. I am not exactly sure how that fits with this game. The first version won't have an arcade mode so there won't be a MyPlayer (MyJockey) mode a la NBA2K. Do people just want a simple RPG mode, like creating an apprentice jockey using X number of points to apply to different categories and then see him/her improve through experience?

The simulation engine is the most important part so we will work hard on getting that right. But having "the extras" can make a good game great, so hopefully we can incorporate all of the suggestions.

[TCY Junkie]

I mentioned taking an expert to the auction, if I recall correctly in winning post you could select someone and they'd recommend 3 to 5 horses. Might be easier and be more interesting to have that in the game instead of getting info on each horse from an expert.

[TCY Junkie]

Any updates?

[weegeebored]

We are still working on bits and pieces of the design, and most importantly, the race engine. I've gotten a bit sidetracked with some things (a handicapping program and I'm playing keyboards again), but I am not the main coder on this project. The other person is working hard at it. Assessing things again now, we are probably a couple of months away from an alpha version. Thanks for asking.

[TCY Junkie]

We are still working on bits and pieces of the design, and most importantly, the race engine. I've gotten a bit sidetracked with some things (a handicapping program and I'm playing keyboards again), but I am not the main coder on this project. The other person is working hard at it. Assessing things again now, we are probably a couple of months away from an alpha version. Thanks for asking.
Update, thanks?

[weegeebored]

A little bit further along, but I underestimated the difficulty of getting the race engine to work well. That's going to be the hardest part, and then getting the interface to be fluid and intuitive. I hate games (or apps in general) where the interface sucks. Fortunately I have a friend who is a very experienced UX principal, so hopefully I can get him to offer suggestions. Implementing them might be another story. :)

[SlyBelle1]

I know some folks were interested in horse racing, just saw that Starter's Orders 6 has released its first beta and also has a demo available for version 6. Appears the main new feature is 3D races.....

Starters Orders – Free horse racing game demo (http://www.startersorders.com/home/)

[QuikSand]

Appears the main new feature is 3D races.....

How unbelievably tone deaf.

[weegeebored]

I may pick this up just to gauge the playability, but from a consumer's POV I'm not impressed with the 3D I saw in the demos. The horse animation looks a bit off to me, a little unnatural. For my money, in this type of game the 3D is needed for being the jockey and "riding", but I'm more about the breeding/training aspect anyway. If anyone buys it I hope they will post a review.

Criticisms aside, I wish I could write code like that! ;)

[SlyBelle1]

I did end up buying it since was always interested in getting a horse racing sim.....but....I am clueless when it comes to horse racing so going to be awhile before I can comment on the game itself. Right now I find the user interface confusing and trying to understand all the horse racing lingo.

They have a beta forum setup you can browse to see what others think....seems like a fair number of concerns....but it is a beta so not sure what everyone expected.

Strategic Designs Ltd., forums - View forum - Starters Orders 6 BETA technical support forum (http://www.startersorders.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=26)

[weegeebored]

How unbelievably tone deaf.After reading the US tracks thread on their forum I get what you mean. There is a serious need for a really good US horseracing sim. ;)

[PilotMan]

No idea if it's any good, but Starters Orders 6 is on Steam as of yesterday.

[thesloppy]

The underlying engine is pretty much the same as always, for better or worse. You still eventually run into premiere races with only 1 or 2 other horses running. SO could actually be a pretty good game if he'd just fix the handful of seemingly simple issues that have plagued the series forever, but the effort seems to always get pointed somewhere else.

[EagleFan]

lol, I was just coming here to post this. Just saw it myself.

[PilotMan]

The underlying engine is pretty much the same as always, for better or worse. You still eventually run into premiere races with only 1 or 2 other horses running. SO could actually be a pretty good game if he'd just fix the handful of seemingly simple issues that have plagued the series forever, but the effort seems to always get pointed somewhere else.

Is it worth $25?

[thesloppy]

Is it worth $25?

Depends entirely on your expectations, if you can look past the fact that it doesn't always fill/schedule races correctly than it can be lots of fun, but if you're expecting a super thorough sim you'll probably end up disappointed and frustrated.

There's a demo:

Download « Starters Orders – Free horse racing game demo (http://www.startersorders.com/download/)

[Ironhead]

Sorry for necroing something so old but wondering if there have been any updated recommendations in the 10 years since this thread was last updated. I really have no background in the horse racing world but it seems like it would be an interesting thing to learn about.

[GrantDawg]

There is thread here somewhere more updated, but there is a game that came out recently called Horse Racing Manager that looks promising. It is still in early access.