The game uses final odds to replay races. I go to the following website to print out races once they have completed.
http://www.tvg.com/racinginfo/default.asp
I try my best not to read the actual winners and rarely ever do until my replay has completed.
A word about jockey ratings. I included jockeys who ride for top two level tracks and did my best to include their year to date stats. If you decide to play a lower level track, you can do this pretty easily. My range for jockey ratings is based on win percentage:
21% & up = 4
16%-20% = 3
11%-15% = 2
6%-10% = 1
5% & down = 0
Also, if a jockey is not listed, his rating should be zero as well. The only time it might be higher than zero is when a stakes race takes place and horses are imported along with jockey from around the world. These are usually the top jockeys from outside North America so they should be rated accordingly.
To keep your jockeys updated or to create individual tracks that you will be using, follow this link for jockey stats:
There are 248 jockeys included in my file. Ordinarily, I did keep them sorted by track, but because track meets end and others begin, it didnt make much sense including individual meet stats because Churchill just ended and Hollywood Park and Belmont will be ending in the coming days. Then it will be Saratoga and Del Mar as the top two tracks. It takes a few weeks before there are enough stats to create the ratings. If anyone has a better source for year to date jockey stats, please pass along to me. I can also get them from the Daily Racing Program that my friend Bill sends me from upper New York.
Speaking of friends, two helped me complete this latest version of TVG. Patrice Corouge created the oval turns, something I never could figure out how to do. He did a great job! Robert Camp worked on several aspects of the game. Once again, he created the horse icons and with this version, they look better than ever. They include color coordinated horse blankets and jockeys. Rob also helped with playtesting and offered several ideas including the additional sequence charts and the fractional chart. He continues playing and incorporating his own innovations; something everyone is free to do.
If you have APBA track or even APBA horse cards, you can use them with this game. For cards, just disregard the odds conversion and simply convert the APBA horse rating (7-25) to the default movement.
If you have any questions, please send them directly to me. I'll then add a FAQ in an effort to better explain some of the things I may not have illustrated quite as well in the initial offering.
