TRACK CLASS – PLACEMENT PLACEMENT PLACEMENT
We all understand the benefits of placing your horses at the proper class level. Horses racing at the proper level give your horses the best chances to succeed. While proper placement has much to do racing conditions and levels such as claiming, allowance or stakes, there is also another class factor that is equally important, TRACK CLASS and SIRE TRACK CLASS. In real life we all know that there is a great difference from horses that race at Belmont Park and horses that race at Finger Lakes. Same can be said of horses that race at Churchill Down and Delta Downs. The same is true of the tracks in the SIM.
With the influx of so many new players to derbyfever, I thought I would provide my interpretation of TRACK CLASS and SIRE TRACK CLASS with a couple of charts that might be helpful to new and old players alike.
The TRACK CLASS chart is separated by regions. Each region is broken down from top class tracks to lower level tracks. Track class is determined by the purse structure of the MSW races at each track. The reason I use the MSW races for this breakdown is because Maiden Special Weight races are the one common denominator at every track.
Example: using the WESTERN AMERICAS Tracks, MSW races in Wyoming are $11,000 purses while in California the MSW races are $56,000 purses. You should expect that the horses entered in California races will be better horses. No matter what class you are running your horse at, claiming, Allowance, or MSW, California races will have the highest purse structure and will naturally attract better runners. Horse not running well in California and you want to stay in that region? Then try your horse at one of the lower level tracks in the region.
| WESTERN AMERICAS | |
| WY | 11 |
| OR | 16 |
| ID | 22 |
| CO | 28 |
| WA | 33 |
| AZ | 39 |
| NM | 45 |
| BC | 56 |
| CA | 56 |
The SIRE TRACK CLASS chart breaks down 849 sires and project at what level track you should expect your runner to be entered at a competitive level. I took the Sires number of runners, $/Runner, and average starts per runner, a few calculations and developed a Tack class level for each sire based on past performance.
EXAMPLE: The first column is the sire. The second column is the number of runner’s produced by the sire. The third column is the average earnings for the runners of that sire. The fourth column is the earnings per start for that sire. I used an average of 23 races per starter for this calculation. The last column is the Track Class that an offspring of that sire should be expected to perform at a competitive level. Using the TRACK CLASS chart above you should expect horses sired by AWESOME AGAIN, GIANT’S CAUSEWAY, and EMPIRE MAKER to be competitive in California and BRITISH COLUMBIA, while PEINTRE CELEBRE, POINT GIVEN, and MORE THAN READY might be better suited for Colorado or Washington
|
SIRE |
RUNNERS |
$/RUNNER |
$/STARTS |
TRACK CLASS |
| AWESOME AGAIN |
1722 |
$176,117 |
7657 |
56128 |
| GIANT’S CAUSEWAY |
1955 |
$172,054 |
7481 |
54833 |
| EMPIRE MAKER |
1401 |
$160,515 |
6979 |
51155 |
| PEINTRE CELEBRE |
992 |
$90,775 |
3947 |
28930 |
| POINT GIVEN |
1152 |
$90,548 |
3937 |
28857 |
| MORE THAN READY |
1021 |
$90,380 |
3930 |
28804 |
Is this an exact science? No, but if you have that horse that you just can’t seem to get placed at the right level, or that maiden making its’ debut, then maybe this is a good jumping off point to give your horse the best chance to win.
Trotter,
Interesting research, nice post
Most informative trot – the sire track class angle is one I did not consider – but will now ! Thanks !
Very Informative !
Thanks For Sharing !
Ron
Excellent read……I learned alot more now from this research
Nice work as always, Mr. Trotter.
I bid a lot of my races now at my home track in West Virginia, but in the old days I used to run dirt horses in Europe and turf horses in the US.
Zig when they’re zagging.
I don’t think you can equate class to purse structure. The sim is not real life. The “currency” of the SIM is bp’s, not money won or purse structure. Therefore to assume that most players look at the purse of a race when entering is a stretch. I know I don’t.
I think you missed the whole point…These stats are based on sim stats and not real life stats…Every sim track has a class level. The purse structure in Minnesota is much much lower than it is in Kentucky, both in the same region. If you are racing your horse in Kentucky every week and not succeeding it might benefit you to drop your horse to a lower level class track like Minnesota…the amount of bp’s you earn are the same, however your horse stands a better chance to earn those bp’s in a lower level track.
It is reasonable to believe that a Giant’s Causeway horse is much more suited to race in a higher class track like Kentucky as opposed to Demidoff.
Of course there are exceptions to every theory, and quite often horses outrun their pedigree, however I still maintain that you have a better chance of winning a MSW for 11k in Minny with a Demidoff than in a 56k track like Ky where you are likely to meet runners bred by GC, Distorted Hgumor. Street Cry and the likes.
The bp’s are the same no matter where you win a race and have no bearing on track class.
You can equate purse structure to class, but only in scenarios where the conditions are equivalent, and trainers take the initiative to run for more money. Without looking at Trotter’s stats, I find this to be true in Maiden Special races and first or second level allowance races. Whenever I have a well bred horse who can’t get it done in Kentucky or Japan, I send them to the same allowance conditions at a track like Wyoming or China. The $/runner for the population gives you an idea how the foals of the sire are doing on average… therefore, you know you’re being ambitious if you run your Demidoff in a MdSpWt in California as opposed to New Mexico.