I believe I have smoothed out some of the nagging details, and I think as not to get lost ahead of WCQ and some other things on the horizon, we'll try and get this going for a live fire drill.
Each nation will be allowed up to 3 entries, with a total of 3 horses per entry or a single entry with 4 horses. We will be starting out ICly as though it is the late summer/early fall, so for the moment, only 2 Year Old colts and fillies should be entered. (I promise we'll get to having more horses per entry quickly).
These will be "stables" or trainers who will compete against other horses of their own age group, but will be considered as a team for the purposes of tracking points, which will allow more successful trainers to enter more horses at various times through the season.
Each entry should also nominate a minimum of one jockey for their barn, who can ride any or all of the horses, or the barn can choose a jockey from the common pool of listed jockeys. There will also be score kept for submitted riders, which will boost their skill level, but common jockeys will be considered neutral and will remain relatively unchanged.
Every horse entered should be listed with a skill level between 5-15, however the total of multi horse entries shall not exceed 29, including any jockeys, who should have a skill range between 1-6.
The opening max skill will be 20, and there will be handicaps assigned to horses depending on age, sex, past performance; these handicaps will work in an inverse fashion (i.e., a 2yo filly will get an added skill bonus handicap running in a field with both colts and fillies, a 3yo will get a handicap when running against 4yo's+, a non-winner would get a handicap running in field where some horses have broken their maiden, etc.) Handicaps for a particular race will not carry over. Hence they are not a permanent addition to your horse's skill.
And of course this will be figured in with RP bonus, which will be graded on a scale similar to the range of handicaps (between 0.5-2.0 per MD) and RP bonus would apply to all horses a nation enters.
Here's a breakdown of how this all plays out in an example entry, which is my own:
Orange Cow Syndicate (J.D. Squane, trainer)
Count Floyd 2yo colt 7.5
Mister Reese 2yo colt 8
Old Gray Mare 2yo filly 7.5
Fernando Llama, jockey 6 (although, truth be told, Llama is a pool jockey, so his skill wouldn't be anything close to this!)
For each race, there will be points assigned to each horse finishing the race as follows:
Grade I races will have a point value of 10/7/5/3/2/1 for the top six finishers
Grade II & III races will have a point value of 5/3.5/2.5/1.5 for the top four
Ungraded/Listed races including allowance, maiden and conditions races, will have a point value of 2.5/1.7/1.2/0.7
Every horse finishing in points positions will get a skill boost of 10% of the points earned, so the winner of a Grade I race would get a 1.0 boost.
At the end of a particular segment of the season (5-8 RP days), the leading horses and jockeys will see a samll additional boost in their skill level heading into the following segment.
All horses will carryover the ending skill level to the next segment, which will be a template for what level of races that horse can enter. But a horse in the lower 1/3 of the standings, for example, could still do well enough to move to a higher classification as the season continues.
Races will take place at nominated tracks, which any participant can submit up to 4 in their own nation (to begin with). You can choose to set the conditions of the races held there, and the other pertinent info (metric distance vs Imperial, clockwise vs anti, straight or single turn, etc.
The Triple Crown of the Commonwealth of Baker Park will be the highlight of the 3yo season. ICly the races will take place over 8-9 wks in June & July (1st wkend in June, last wkend in June, 4th wkend in July), and are as follows:
Commonwealth of Baker Park Derby (or just the Commonwealth Derby, as there is also a 'Baker Park Derby')
The Victoria Plate
Prince Regent's Stakes
There will also be a Distaff Triple Tiara, open to 3yo fillies, which will be at bit earlier than the TC, so as to give an opportunity for trainers to switch their emphasis if choose to. Schedule to be announced shortly.
For horses not ending up being eligible to enter the TC or TT races, there will be a whole schedule of other races that will be run for a chance earn money, prestige and points towards the end of year final standings.
The Xkorinate auto racing program will be used to conduct the events, both the qualifying and race options will be utilized. There will be standardized ranges for min/max times and variance that will be made available.
In the results of each race, there will be the winning horse's elapsed time, then the other finishers will be classified by how many lengths behind the winner they cross the line, which will determined on the basis of 1 full length being equal to 0.25 seconds.
Example: Horse A wins the race in 1:33.455, while the second placed horse runs in 1:33.459. 'A' will be classified as winning by a nose (this will generally be considered a photo finish). If the time difference is more than .005 but less than .01, that will be a win by a neck, while a difference between .01 and 0.125 will be called a head. The difference between 0.125 and 0.25 will classified as 1/2 (one half) length.
These specs will also be made available for all to consult.
Sheesh...I think I've covered it all. You can begin to submit entries, nominate tracks/races and ask for clarification here. An optimistic start date would be 10-12 days from now...May 15/17?
