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  • Newbie Guide Part Three

    Tips
    The following tips contain more of my own views on getting started and some gentle reminders from the earlier discussion:
    • Check your Private Messages. Once you log in to the forum, you will see your private-message box in the upper-right-hand corner of the forum. Often, members will send advice (or offers for free horses) to your PM box.
    • Don’t rush. When you are first starting and have only a few horses, the game will seem uneventful. There will be a temptation to overtrain your horses or work them out on consecutive days. Be patient. Working your horses out or racing them with dismal meters doesn’t tell you much about your horse, and overtraining your horse will get you into meters problems that you aren’t prepared to solve until you have more experience with the system. Keep track of the rest days. Either do so on a piece of paper or follow Thunder's rest-on-the-fives approach, which he describes as follows: rest every horse in your stable on a day that evenly divides by 5. This is a tried and true method and ensures that the meters will behave themselves. For example, on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th of each month, no regular training is done.
    • Don’t uncritically accept advice from unofficial sources as the Gospel. Know what is fact and what is opinion. For example, some stable owners might tell you that testing accessories is a waste of time or that you should never spend more than 3K on a sire fee. Many stable owners disagree about many points, and you should try to get multiple inputs before structuring your training around traditional wisdom. Of course, much of what I’ve offered you here is unofficial advice, but little of it is controversial and it provides a safe starting place on most matters.
    • Reminder: The meters tell you how good of shape your horse is in, and that is all. You cannot see your horses’ actual attributes, nor can you impact them by training.
    • Reminder: Once the meters (excluding fitness) hit 95-99, they are stuck there, and you cannot increase them to 100 without “resetting them.” Resetting means doing a timed work or race which will cause all the meters to drop. Sometimes, the meters just get sloppy and you have to reset them, rest a day, and then start over.
    • Claiming races are a good place to find horses. Don’t assume there’s always something wrong with a horse when a good trainer offers the horse for cheap. One man’s trash can be another man’s treasure. That said, don’t obsess over the 2K-5K claimers – take the jump up to 10-30K and you can find some horses that belong in allowance races. Don’t give up on your horses too early—and take advantage of trainers who do. The DD trend seems to be that if a horse loses 2-3 races at a class, the trainer will drop the horse in class. Often trainers are dropping horses, not because the horses can’t compete, but because the horses just had a couple of unlucky races or ran into monsters. 1/5 is considered a stellar winning percentage, but for whatever reason, most trainers lose sight of this in the context of particular horses. Also, you can often find a steal by finding a horse that has been rushed into racing without having its preferences tested.
    • Horses age and cycle. Many horses get better or worse at the start of the next season. Even before the season changes, though, horses go through up and down cycles. Don’t give up on horses too early, particularly if the horse is well bred. And if you have a champion who starts to run poorly, work him out a few times and see if he cycles back up. Do not retire horses because of a discouraging early work. Some horses race much better than they work, and some horses improve drastically early in their careers.
    • Do read things carefully. This document, the help section, and the forums are starting resources. Merely skimming these documents will probably cause you to waste money, and you don’t want to be one of those persons in the forums who has his questions answered with cut-and-pasted statements from the help document. People are happy to help, but you have to do your part. For example, Carl (the face of the admin) is great about adding races requested by members, and the forum describes what information admin needs to set up the race: distance/surface/age/entry fee, etc. Writing “need more cheap claimers,” probably won’t get you the result you want.
    • Ignore the "chicken littles" in the forum. Chicken little, of course, overreacted to a minor event and thought the sky was falling. Such is the case with certain forum members. The game is safe, and the customers are generally happy. Remember, the dissenting voice is always the loudest, and DD is no exception. (Also, as an aside, a quick proofread of your forum post to ensure it at least resembles an English sentence is generally appreciated).
    • If something seems silly, it probably is. Often, new members are perplexed by some bizarre things they see other trainers do. Don't assume all actions are rational. For example, after you acquire a horse, you'll see some wacky timed workouts where you think I can't possibly tell whether this horse likes blinkers, what am I missing? Probably nothing. Or, you might ask why a trainer would fill up a three horse race with three horses from his same stable. Doesn't that guarantee a loss of money? Of course it does. Why would a trainer scratch when there is no refund of entry fees? To pad his stats. Don't search too hard for good reasons.
    • Don't use multitrain at the start. Using the multitrain feature for timed workouts is not a good idea when you are first starting. While certain respectable trainers have found a use for these workouts, those trainers have developed a system over time that works for them. Multitrain timed workouts generate very different times that do not correspond with the current racing environment. It will be very difficult for you to know what you have. Wait until you've mastered the training and racing before you start fiddling with multitrain.
    • DD is a very helping community. Engage in the forum discussions and chatroom on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s a competitive game, and wheeling and dealing under the table is accepted. But one thing DD members unite against is taking advantage of newbies. It’s essential for the game that new blood come, stay, and invest, and you can be assured of a sincere effort from DD patrons and admins to make that happen. Recently, there have been more old vets in the chatroom during the races on weekdays. James, Jamie and others are always willing to offer advice, and they know their stuff.)
    • There’s an obsession with the leaderboard’s “wins” column, which is really a silly measure of success. By focusing on profit and accumulating good horses, you will set the framework for a self-sufficient stable that will someday support itself. Similarly, don't oversimplify the measure of success by looking at numbers like winning percentage. That number, too, can be easily manipulated; and nothing is funnier than watching stables scratch horses because of bad draws to save their numbers, even though there is NO REFUND for scratching after the fields are drawn!
    I hope this helps. I am confident that forum members will be happy to answer your remaining questions. **Thanks to Norm, Brian, and Bill for comments on earlier drafts.

  • #2
    wing tips contain more of my own views on getting started and some gentle reminders from the earlier discussion:
    • Check your Private Messages. Once you log in to the forum, you will see your private-message box in the upper-right-hand corner of the forum. Often, members will send advice (or offers for free horses) to your PM box.
    • Don’t rush. When you are first starting and have only a few horses, the game will seem uneventful. There will be a temptation to overtrain your horses or work them out on consecutive days. Be patient. Working your horses out or racing them with dismal meters doesn’t tell you much about your horse, and overtraining your horse will get you into meters problems that you aren’t prepared to solve until you have more experience with the system. Keep track of the rest days. Either do so on a piece of paper or follow Thunder's rest-on-the-fives approach, which he describes as follows: rest every horse in your stable on a day that evenly divides by 5. This is a tried and true method and ensures that the meters will behave themselves. For example, on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th of each month, no regular training is done.
    • Don’t uncritically accept advice from unofficial sources as the Gospel. Know what is fact and what is opinion. For example, some stable owners might tell you that testing accessories is a waste of time or that you should never spend more than 3K on a sire fee. Many stable owners disagree about many points, and you should try to get multiple inputs before structuring your training around traditional wisdom. Of course, much of what I’ve offered you here is unofficial advice, but little of it is controversial and it provides a safe starting place on most matters.
    • Reminder: The meters tell you how good of shape your horse is in, and that is all. You cannot see your horses’ actual attributes, nor can you impact them by training.
    • Reminder: Once the meters (excluding fitness) hit 95-99, they are stuck there, and you cannot increase them to 100 without “resetting them.” Resetting means doing a timed work or race which will cause all the meters to drop. Sometimes, the meters just get sloppy and you have to reset them, rest a day, and then start over.
    • Claiming races are a good place to find horses. Don’t assume there’s always something wrong with a horse when a good trainer offers the horse for cheap. One man’s trash can be another man’s treasure. That said, don’t obsess over the 2K-5K claimers – take the jump up to 10-30K and you can find some horses that belong in allowance races. Don’t give up on your horses too early—and take advantage of trainers who do. The DD trend seems to be that if a horse loses 2-3 races at a class, the trainer will drop the horse in class. Often trainers are dropping horses, not because the horses can’t compete, but because the horses just had a couple of unlucky races or ran into monsters. 1/5 is considered a stellar winning percentage, but for whatever reason, most trainers lose sight of this in the context of particular horses. Also, you can often find a steal by finding a horse that has been rushed into racing without having its preferences tested.
    • Horses age and cycle. Many horses get better or worse at the start of the next season. Even before the season changes, though, horses go through up and down cycles. Don’t give up on horses too early, particularly if the horse is well bred. And if you have a champion who starts to run poorly, work him out a few times and see if he cycles back up. Do not retire horses because of a discouraging early work. Some horses race much better than they work, and some horses improve drastically early in their careers.
    • Do read things carefully. This document, the help section, and the forums are starting resources. Merely skimming these documents will probably cause you to waste money, and you don’t want to be one of those persons in the forums who has his questions answered with cut-and-pasted statements from the help document. People are happy to help, but you have to do your part. For example, Carl (the face of the admin) is great about adding races requested by members, and the forum describes what information admin needs to set up the race: distance/surface/age/entry fee, etc. Writing “need more cheap claimers,” probably won’t get you the result you want.
    • Ignore the "chicken littles" in the forum. Chicken little, of course, overreacted to a minor event and thought the sky was falling. Such is the case with certain forum members. The game is safe, and the customers are generally happy. Remember, the dissenting voice is always the loudest, and DD is no exception. (Also, as an aside, a quick proofread of your forum post to ensure it at least resembles an English sentence is generally appreciated).
    • If something seems silly, it probably is. Often, new members are perplexed by some bizarre things they see other trainers do. Don't assume all actions are rational. For example, after you acquire a horse, you'll see some wacky timed workouts where you think I can't possibly tell whether this horse likes blinkers, what am I missing? Probably nothing. Or, you might ask why a trainer would fill up a three horse race with three horses from his same stable. Doesn't that guarantee a loss of money? Of course it does. Why would a trainer scratch when there is no refund of entry fees? To pad his stats. Don't search too hard for good reasons.
    • Don't use multitrain at the start. Using the multitrain feature for timed workouts is not a good idea when you are first starting. While certain respectable trainers have found a use for these workouts, those trainers have developed a system over time that works for them. Multitrain timed workouts generate very different times that do not correspond with the current racing environment. It will be very difficult for you to know what you have. Wait until you've mastered the training and racing before you start fiddling with multitrain.
    • DD is a very helping community. Engage in the forum discussions and chatroom on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s a competitive game, and wheeling and dealing under the table is accepted. But one thing DD members unite against is taking advantage of newbies. It’s essential for the game that new blood come, stay, and invest, and you can be assured of a sincere effort from DD patrons and admins to make that happen. Recently, there have been more old vets in the chatroom during the races on weekdays. James, Jamie and others are always willing to offer advice, and they know their stuff.)
    • There’s an obsession with the leaderboard’s “wins” column, which is really a silly measure of success. By focusing on profit and accumulating good horses, you will set the framework for a self-sufficient stable that will someday support itself. Similarly, don't oversimplify the measure of success by looking at numbers like winning percentage. That number, too, can be easily manipulated; and nothing is funnier than watching stables scratch horses because of bad draws to save their numbers, even though there is NO REFUND for scratching after the fields are drawn!
    I hope this helps. I am confident that forum members will be happy to answer your remaining questions. **Thanks to Norm, Brian, and Bill for comments on earlier drafts.
    ** at 21:06, Brian joined the Lobby...
    Brian Ta Das...

    https://www.facebook.com/digitaldowns.us
    https://twitter.com/Digitaldowns_US

    Comment


    • #3

      Tips
      The following tips contain more of my own views on getting started and some gentle reminders
      from the earlier discussion:
      Check your Private Messages. Once you log in to the forum, you will see your private-message
      box in the upper-right-hand corner of the forum. Often, members will send advice (or offers for
      free horses) to your PM box.
      Don’t rush. When you are first starting and have only a few horses, the game will seem uneventful.
      There will be a temptation to overtrain your horses or work them out on consecutive days.
      Be patient. Working your horses out or racing them with dismal meters doesn’t tell you much
      about your horse, and overtraining your horse will get you into meters problems that you aren’t
      prepared to solve until you have more experience with the system. Keep track of the rest days.
      Either do so on a piece of paper or follow Thunder's rest-on-the-fives approach, which he
      describes as follows: rest every horse in your stable on a day that evenly divides by 5.
      This is a tried and true method and ensures that the meters will behave themselves. For example,
      on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th of each month, no regular training is done.
      Don’t uncritically accept advice from unofficial sources as the Gospel. Know what is fact and
      what is opinion. For example, some stable owners might tell you that testing accessories is a
      waste of time or that you should never spend more than 3K on a sire fee. Many stable owners
      disagree about many points, and you should try to get multiple inputs before structuring your
      training around traditional wisdom. Of course, much of what I’ve offered you here is unofficial
      advice, but little of it is controversial and it provides a safe starting place on most matters.
      Reminder: The meters tell you how good of shape your horse is in, and that is all. You cannot see
      your horses’ actual attributes, nor can you impact them by training.
      Reminder: Once the meters (excluding fitness) hit 95-99, they are stuck there, and you cannot
      increase them to 100 without “resetting them.” Resetting means doing a timed work or race which
      will cause all the meters to drop. Sometimes, the meters just get sloppy and you have to reset
      them, rest a day, and then start over.
      Claiming races are a good place to find horses. Don’t assume there’s always something wrong
      with a horse when a good trainer offers the horse for cheap. One man’s trash can be another
      man’s treasure. That said, don’t obsess over the 2K-5K claimers – take the jump up to 10-30K
      and you can find some horses that belong in allowance races. Don’t give up on your horses too
      early—and take advantage of trainers who do. The DD trend seems to be that if a horse loses 2-3
      races at a class, the trainer will drop the horse in class. Often trainers are dropping horses,
      not because the horses can’t compete, but because the horses just had a couple of unlucky races
      or ran into monsters. 1/5 is considered a stellar winning percentage, but for whatever reason,
      most trainers lose sight of this in the context of particular horses. Also, you can often find
      a steal by finding a horse that has been rushed into racing without having its preferences tested.

      Horses age and cycle. Many horses get better or worse at the start of the next season. Even before
      the season changes, though, horses go through up and down cycles. Don’t give up on horses too
      early, particularly if the horse is well bred. And if you have a champion who starts to run
      poorly, work him out a few times and see if he cycles back up. Do not retire horses because
      of a discouraging early work. Some horses race much better than they work, and some horses
      improve drastically early in their careers.
      Do read things carefully. This document, the help section, and the forums are starting resources.
      Merely skimming these documents will probably cause you to waste money, and you don’t want to
      be one of those persons in the forums who has his questions answered with cut-and-pasted
      statements from the help document. People are happy to help, but you have to do your part.
      For example, Carl (the face of the admin) is great about adding races requested by members,
      and the forum describes what information admin needs to set up the race:
      distance/surface/age/entry fee, etc. Writing “need more cheap claimers,” probably won’t get you
      the result you want.
      Ignore the "chicken littles" in the forum. Chicken little, of course, overreacted to a minor
      event and thought the sky was falling. Such is the case with certain forum members. The game
      is safe, and the customers are generally happy. Remember, the dissenting voice is always the
      loudest, and DD is no exception. (Also, as an aside, a quick proofread of your forum post to
      ensure it at least resembles an English sentence is generally appreciated).
      If something seems silly, it probably is. Often, new members are perplexed by some bizarre
      things they see other trainers do. Don't assume all actions are rational. For example,
      after you acquire a horse, you'll see some wacky timed workouts where you think I can't
      possibly tell whether this horse likes blinkers, what am I missing? Probably nothing. Or,
      you might ask why a trainer would fill up a three horse race with three horses from his same
      stable. Doesn't that guarantee a loss of money? Of course it does. Why would a trainer scratch
      when there is no refund of entry fees? To pad his stats. Don't search too hard for good reasons.
      Don't use multitrain at the start. Using the multitrain feature for timed workouts is not a good
      idea when you are first starting. While certain respectable trainers have found a use for
      these workouts, those trainers have developed a system over time that works for them.
      Multitrain timed workouts generate very different times that do not correspond with the
      current racing environment. It will be very difficult for you to know what you have. Wait
      until you've mastered the training and racing before you start fiddling with multitrain.
      DD is a very helping community. Engage in the forum discussions and chatroom on Friday and
      Saturday nights. It’s a competitive game, and wheeling and dealing under the table is
      accepted. But one thing DD members unite against is taking advantage of newbies. It’s
      essential for the game that new blood come, stay, and invest, and you can be assured of a
      sincere effort from DD patrons and admins to make that happen. Recently, there have been
      more old vets in the chatroom during the races on weekdays. James, Jamie and others are
      always willing to offer advice, and they know their stuff.)
      There’s an obsession with the leaderboard’s “wins” column, which is really a silly measure
      of success. By focusing on profit and accumulating good horses, you will set the framework
      for a self-sufficient stable that will someday support itself. Similarly, don't oversimplify
      the measure of success by looking at numbers like winning percentage. That number, too,
      can be easily manipulated; and nothing is funnier than watching stables scratch horses
      because of bad draws to save their numbers, even though there is NO REFUND for scratching
      after the fields are drawn!I hope this helps. I am confident that forum members will be
      happy to answer your remaining questions. **Thanks to Norm, Brian, and Bill for comments
      on earlier drafts.
      ** at 21:06, Brian joined the Lobby...
      Brian Ta Das...

      https://www.facebook.com/digitaldowns.us
      https://twitter.com/Digitaldowns_US

      Comment


      • #4
        Not sure what's up with the formatting i was able to copy and paste it to notepad and fix it. I'll look for more if you see some I miss please let me know.
        ** at 21:06, Brian joined the Lobby...
        Brian Ta Das...

        https://www.facebook.com/digitaldowns.us
        https://twitter.com/Digitaldowns_US

        Comment


        • #5
          Should have read this,i rushed in. Settled down now ,reading alot on forum and finally joined discord,which i should have done asap

          Comment

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