Off Track Training

[Winning420]

So after experimenting with the OTT I have some questions.
1. If I buy a 2yo are the OTT meters set where they are supposed to be automatically or do they just not exist?
2. Since the training and the racing engines are different if I train and set the meters to get the fastest workout time can that still mess up a horse in the actual races? I believe by looking at a couple of mine it may.
3. Can the trainers give their opinions please?

[Chrisman]

Not sure here, but I believe the OTT is set for life.
It's my understanding the settings modify the horse's racing character similar to geld and other modifiers, and is locked in when turning 2yo.

My yearlings now 2yo, seems to be running with some expectation from the settings for better or worse.

[Trunoble Lodge]

I just think the OTT is a fine tuner for the meters. There isn't enough variance to affect the overall performance of the horse. I can only comment on observations with my yearlings. I found that the OTT Gate Speed was the most influential mechanism. I assumed that this affected the first 2f workout and each 'notch' seemed to be in increments of .10secs. I did not see much improvement with the Stamina and Strength aspects, however I didn't try over longer distances because of my offline pursuits restricting my online activity. Next season I'll try to get into breeding a few yearlings earlier. I bred 2 very good yearlings, Cosmo Spacely and Spencer Cogswell (Jetsons characters). Their best works before OTT was around 1:09.30.

With Spacely, his initial 2f split at 22.04, I had to go negative on OTT Gate Speed.which improved his 6f time from 1:09.40s to 1:09.20s, I then relaxed him which brought him down to 1:09.10s and then gelded him which brought him down into the 1:08.77 range. He won his yearling heat easily and battled for 3rd in the Xmas Day FInal but hasn't fired as a 2yo yet.

Cogswell was different. He had no early speed (22.50), so I used +3 OTT Gate Speed to get him down to 22.20 first 2f. The other OTTs didn't factor in at 6f. After gelding etc. his best work was around 1:08.80. He won his yearling heat well, failed from a wide draw in the Final but bounced back with a good win first up as a 2yo.

Now the interesting thing is, most of my other yearlings improved .30 secs at age change. i.e. 1:09.40s down to 1:09.10s which was the same as the previous season. However, Spacely, Cogswell and a couple of other faster workers did not improve at age change at all. Did not go any worse either.

Norm

[Cold Dog Soup]

Once your yearling turns 2 the settings should stay where they were at age change. If you breed a 2 yo you will have no OTT effects The three sliders though invisible will stay at 0 so no change to attributes just as if you bred a yearling and didnt do the OTT.

[Nut Brown Racing]

I had good experiences in re to OTT improving horses, and unlike Norm I found my results more spread out. For me gate training was the most predictable, but not always the most impactful. Some other observations:

First, the OTT worked in concert with everything else. If a horse was quick out of the gate and blinkers already made him quicker, then gate training could result in too much early speed if blinkers were on. Ditto meds.

Second, permutations and combinations mattered. Gate+strength increased gave one result, increasing strength while reducing gate speed another. This lead me to make some choices about what kind of horse I wanted to run. Of course I wasn't able to turn a horse that started as a 22.7- 45.X- 1:09.3 into a short sprinter, but for a lot of "middlers" there were choices to mold a more effective specialist out of a mediocre "jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none". Since most of mine were creates there were a LOT of 22.3- 45.X- 1:09.3X types that I started with. I shrunk a few, stretched a few, and both approaches so far seem to yield expected results.

Finally, I'm trying another experiment that will take a while to figure out. I targeted some yearlings as future breeders. For these I tried to guess what would optimize the meters for breeding, not necessarily racing. Since these were mostly fillies it will be mid 2020 before I get any indication of whether that was worthwhile.

[Winning420]

Thanks all

[Chrisman]

My findings were along the lines of NB's.

One note:
I wondered about the impact OTT may have on Breeding but just not sure.
OTT meters may just be Meds like, while the original meters are the ones used in breeding.
It would be nice to hear from Lone for Brian on this one. This could be a nice added dimension.

One additional note. I found with some horses is the sliders need to be wider to see any difference and has more impact on longer distances. So Norm's post is a derivative as well.

[Nut Brown Racing]

My findings were along the lines of NB's.

One note:
I wondered about the impact OTT may have on Breeding but just not sure.
OTT meters may just be Meds like, while the original meters are the ones used in breeding.
It would be nice to hear from Lone for Brian on this one. This could be a nice added dimension.

One additional note. I found with some horses is the sliders need to be wider to see any difference and has more impact on longer distances. So Norm's post is a derivative as well.

I believe Lone already said that the changes would carry thru to breeding.