Jockey Bios

[Trunoble Lodge]

Can the jockey bios be updated? By updated I mean, information that actually means something. Some have minor hints to what races they are suited to but a lot don't.

For example:

Abarado J - "Useful miler and seems to score on Turf": This gives some insight to what would suit Abarado best.

whereas,

Baze T - "Not happy with the mounts his agent is securing". This tells us nothing.


Norm

[Cold Dog Soup]

I'll see what I can do Norm. I havnet had a chance to look at jocks much but when I helped lone come up with the bios that are there now i intended for the ones like Baze to be used on the crappy jocks. something amusing better than saying he sucks...but I'm not sure how they were applied. I wont change abilities this season but I will update bios to better reflect if Lone doesnt mind.

[Trunoble Lodge]

Thanks Brian and one further thing. In the case of Abarado, saying that he is better suited to a mile and the turf surface... is it actually stating his true values or is it just passed on from a stable that has had success previously with him under those conditions?

[South Jersey Stables]

I'll see what I can do Norm. I havnet had a chance to look at jocks much but when I helped lone come up with the bios that are there now i intended for the ones like Baze to be used on the crappy jocks. something amusing better than saying he sucks...but I'm not sure how they were applied. I wont change abilities this season but I will update bios to better reflect if Lone doesnt mind.

I personally would love to have more information, or maybe even an A-F rating on certain skill levels for jockeys. I know part of it needs to be unknown and random, but to simulate realism we should know a bit about these guys. In the past there have been hints thrown from the admin level that good jocks aren't being used, but in the players' defense it's not their fault that only the top chalk are selected each time. If we were real trainers, saw these jocks ride every morning, and saw them and talked to them in races, we'd know a bit more about them then the information currently provided. I do get that you don't want to give out too much information but I'd love to see some basic grades laid out.

[Cold Dog Soup]

will do both of these at the end of the season. update bios to better reflect their abilities and assign a grade.

[South Jersey Stables]

will do both of these at the end of the season. update bios to better reflect their abilities and assign a grade.

Without knowing how the back end works, it would be nice if possible to see a simple grade for things like sprint, classic, route, dirt, turf, consistency.

Please keep it no more detailed than a 1-4 or 5 scale to leave plenty of room for discovery. Using a simple 4 part A, B, C, D, and F would be great and doesn't give away too too much in detail. Also possible to keep some attributes listed as ? if they are newer to the track and reveal them as time goes on. Could use use the ? if a jockey has improved or decreased in that attribute until you randomly assign a time to reveal it. May require more babysitting the jocks page on your end but I think will make the jockey decision concept more fun and less random for the players

[Trunoble Lodge]

During this season, I bred a couple of 2yo's and with the aid of Unlimited Training, worked them at various distances, tracks, surfaces. Once I had established the best options for these, I started using jockeys that I hadn't bothered with before. The problem is because of the workout variances even with the same set-up, I couldn't isolate that a particular jock was better suited to the horse under different conditions. A couple did seem more consistently better on the horses so I used them in races on other horses and from memory I think I won one race out of 15 starters. I went back to the top 5 jocks and the win rate picked up again. In summary, I am saying that no stable can be absolutely certain that the best jock that they used in works will be the best jock in racing. For jockeys to have specific skill levels published will not 'spill the beans' to ruin any advantage another stable may think they have.

Norm

[Berkshire Barns]

Agree Norm...I have a horse called ipickjockeys I use him only to test jocks each week...just to see who in the top 5 or 6 is cycling higher (hot) during that period of time...I went from a career 13% win rate to 23% this season...without going into much greater detail I think you can surmise from there....I hope this helps the newer stables get going, not often we all share this kind of thing...

[Trunoble Lodge]

Agree Norm...I have a horse called ipickjockeys I use him only to test jocks each week...just to see who in the top 5 or 6 is cycling higher (hot) during that period of time...I went from a career 13% win rate to 23% this season...without going into much greater detail I think you can surmise from there....I hope this helps the newer stables get going, not often we all share this kind of thing...

How much do you want for Ipickjockeys?

[Orb Farms]

I agree, I do something similar, and Lagunes and Curatolo are giving me my best sprint times right now (different conditions and instructions), won't say here).......and that is just for the last 10 days, will change again likely tomorrow, next week..... soon. But I only use them when my top 4, and backup 2 are not available. So, we all have strange but useful strategies!

and my top 4 + 2 backups are not necessarily the sites top 4 + 2 best backups!

Why? Because some jocks are better at conditions - turf, route, sprint, mid-distance.....outside post, jockey decides, push, etc... Be careful. LOTS of factors play into it.

In the end, a better horse in my judgment overcomes a better jock in most instances.....not always, but most of the time, and a post position can equalize them both.

Orb

[Orb Farms]

Also newbies, there are some post positions that almost literally REQUIRE a certain jockey instruction, and one of my secrets I believe some jocks a: just don't like certain posts or b: have a stubborn style that is not suited to the post, regardless of instruction you give him/her. There is nothing more frustrating than putting 2 or 3 certain jocks on a certain instruction, at 2-3 specific distances, only to see them run like its a 50's movie on the Encore Westerns Channel. So, I try to avoid them in those situations, even when they are available and I have to pick a "lesser" jock.

One VERY successful jock simply cannot run from an outside post at a few distances, no matter what, unless a Secretariat offspring is standing on him

Orb