123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012
*********************************************
Winning Post
A Guide by Greg Hartman
Contact: good_catholic_boy /at/ yahoo dot/ com
aolim: goodcatholicboy9
-if you are lame, don't bother contacting me
-if using email, please indicate in the subject that you are asking me
about this guide. very rarely do i bother opening emails from people i
don't know that have blank subject lines. If contacting me via my aol
screen name, be warned that other people very often use my computer and
close my im windows without telling me, so I very well might not get your
message. Email probably works best.
-i find it weird to say this, but the only language i can speak with any
degree of clarity is english. please, if you are contacting me, do so in
english (although if you require an answer that is only half-intelligible,
german might work also). definitely do not bother emailing me in any
other language; i won't even respond.
********************************************
Version History
Version 1.0 (1/16/04)
Version 1.01 (1/18/04)
-typos, typos, typos
Version 1.02 (2/9/04)
-change in legal
Version 1.03 (2/26/04)
-change in legal
Version 1.04 (03/16/04)
-minor typo corrections
********************************************
Contents
I. Intoduction and Preface
II. Starting the Game
III. Weekday Commands
IV. The Races
V. Track Commands
VI. End of the Month and Special Inter-Month Events
VII. Credits
VIII. Legal
********************************************
I. Introduction
Winning Post is a forgotten game on Sega's forgotten system. There
are a myriad of reasons for this. The Saturn itself never sold well in
the United States. The game itself does not really appeal to the majority
of Americans either in gameplay or subject matter. As a result, almost
nobody in the US has even heard of it or would even understand why
someone would play, much less write a guide, for a game about managing
Japanese racehorses.
Certainly the game had many obstacles to clear before acceptance to
an American audience. In the end the game does manage to overcome these
potential barriers, but it does require a certain amount of time to play
through them. The game is really an overlooked gem and I'd recommend
picking it up if you happen to come across it somehow (and somehow have a
means to play it).
That much being said, Winning Post is a simulation game made by Koei
that allows a player to live the life of a thoroughbred racehorse owner
in Japan. Although you do not control the horses in the actual races, you
are responsible for training and breeding a number of horses in order to
become the top racehorse owner in all of Japan.
**********************************************
II. Starting the Game
The first decision you have to make in which region to start your
horse racing empire. For this purpose, the makers of the game have divided
Japan into halves; one region is in the east, one region is in the west.
There are several differences between the two regions. Most importantly,
you can only uses trainers that are based in the region in which you choose
to be based. The region will also determine, to a degree, which races your
horses will be entering, although this is only a minor concern, as horses
can travel between regions for the more important graded races. You will
also be competing more directly with the owners in whichever region you
decide to call your own. If you are just starting out, it does not much
matter which region you decide to start; I usually play in the East, but
it is really just a matter of personal preference.
Next you'll enter your personal data, starting with your name. You'd
better hope that your last name is shorter than 'Hartman,' however, because
for some reason the game designers only allow up to 6 characters for either
your character's first or last names. Next pick your gender and age.
Ideally, you want to be at least 21, because you can't place bets on your
horses until you're that old. After that you'll be asked if you want to
use surnames for your horses. If you play the game for a while, you are
eventually going to have to break down and use them, because it will be
difficult to come up with so many names for horses. I usually put my
surnames in front of the name, just so that it is easier to find my horses
out of a longer list, but, again, it's personal preference.
The final step for starting the game is selecting your starting
horses. You get to choose one three year old horse and one two year old.
The horses are displayed by the names of their sire (father), the names
of their dam (mother), and their gender. For the most part, all the horses
you can choose here will be average at best. Selecting a horse from the
list will bring you to another screen where your assistant will make a
trite comment about the horse. For the most part, you can ignore her
comments here.
**** A quick note about pedigrees
The most sure way to determine the value of a horse is, obviously, its
pedigree. Horses with strong pedigrees are more likely to be win races
and yield better offspring. Occasionally a horse with a poor pedigree will
outperform his or her genes, but this is a rarity.
When evaluating pedigree, the single most important factor to
consider is the sire. This is because the sire plays a larger role
genetically in determining the value of the offspring. The second most
important ancestor in a horse's pedigree is the grandsire, followed by
the dam and the maternal grandsire. This is not to say that the dam is
insignificant; in fact, the dam plays a major role in differentiating
between a good horse and an excellent horse.
An example to illustrate this point: Sunday Peace is a very strong
sire, but, every year, he mates with 8 different dams. Since Sunday Peace
has an impressive pedigree, it is very likely that his offspring will be
contenders. But, at the same time, there are probably going to be 8
different horses sired by him every year. The "x" factor in determining
which of these horses will be winners is the quality of the dam each farm
chooses to mate with him. The offspring with very strong dams are even
more likely to become big winners, while the offspring with weaker dams
are less so.
When you are starting the game, Airport Adams, Sunday Peace, Adam's
Time, Mikado Bourbon, and Southern Runner are among the strongest sires,
so keep your eyes out for them when choosing horses to buy.
****
Anyway, back to the set up - don't worry too much about picking your
horses here, they almost assuredly won't be that good. The one thing to
consider though is to pick male horses, only because 9 times out of 10
they hold up much longer than females, and you probably want your first
horses to last as long as possible, even if they don't win too often. The
last real horse decision you'll have to make is to pick who you will have
train your new thoroughbreds. You'll be given a list of trainers from
which to pick one. Since you are starting out some trainers won't be
interested in you, and you won't be able to use them (presumably these are
the most experienced and best trainers - Oka comes to mind). When you
pick a trainer, you'll be given a list of his attributes which are:
Jockey: This displays the name of the jockey who works at the trainer's
stable. For the most part, these are almost always rookies who will later
leave the stable to be independent, although certain trainers never
release their stable jockeys. When it comes time to race, the stable
jockey will usually take the less important (in terms of purse and rank)
mounts. Also, the stable jockey generally serves as a somewhat reliable
backup if the jockey you ask to ride your horse declines the offer. It's
probably not a good idea to give your horses to a trainer simply because
you like their stable jockey.
Personality: Two kinds of people here - calm and short-tempered. This
does not really seem to have much (if anything) to do with how he trains
the horses, rather it seems to control what kind of commentary the trainer
will give you on your horses. A short tempered trainer is more likely to
express plainly his disappointment in your horses.
Principles: Idealist or Realist. Idealist trainers are more likely to
book your horses into races that are stretches for their talents, whereas
realists run your horses closer to what they deem to be their skill levels.
On the one hand, you might have more glorious 50-1 longshot victories that
cause the tote board to explode in a burst of andre champagne with an
idealist trainer, but on the other you might have more consistent wins
with a realist. When you have more horses, you probably want a mix - send
some horses to an idealist and some to a realist.
Back-to-Back: Either Rarely or Occasionally. This indicates how apt a
trainer is to book a racehorse in races that take place on two consecutive
weekends. This is almost always a bad idea, as it greatly increases the
chances of a serious injury afflicting your horse. It is very rare that
one of your horses will be booked back-to-back, so don't let this trait
determine who trains your horses, just be aware of what it means.
Naming Jockey: Anyone or Prefers own stable. Um, this one is pretty
self explanatory. If a trainers prefers his own stable he is more likely
to ask his stable jockey to take the mount. For the most part, trainers
with 'prefers own stable' also tend not to release their stable jockey
once he is no longer inexperienced.
Training: Caring or Spartan. Spartan trainers work the horses harder in
training, but their condition is usually somewhat lower due to the extra
strain. The extra training, however, usually balances out the lower
condition, and vice versa; you can have excellent racehorses with either
style of training.
Assessment: Careful or Bold. I'm somewhat less sure about this one. I
think Bold trainers are more likely to ask you directly to train a
promising horse. If you are in the East, be prepared for John Hammer to
harrass you about almost every horse; don't feel bad saying no if you
don't want him to train your colt/filly.
Experience: Well, this one is the most important, and, of course, you
don't get to see it at the beginning of the game. The higher this number,
the more experienced (and, thus, better) the trainer is. Low experience
is not disasterous, but you're probably better off picking someone with
a higher level.
After you pick a trainer, you'll make the final decision about the
game - the difficulty level. On beginner you start out with 10 million
dollars; on average 5 million; and advanced 1 million. I don't really
notice any other difference between the levels, but I also haven't really
researched it very much. The game starts after you make this choice and
you'll be taken to Early January (or as I call it, the inter-month period).
*****************************************************
III. Weekday Commands
During the week, you will make the majority of your decisions about
where and when your horses will be racing. As soon as the week starts,
if you have a horse entered in a race that coming weekend, the trainer
will call you and ask you to pay the entrance fee and to approve the
jockey (if you have enough experience). You will go through this process
for every horse you have entered in a race that weekend. After that, you
will be free to either review your horses conditions, their training, etc
or go to other farms and stables and talk to the workers there. All of
these commands are detailed below.
A. Weekend - this command ends the weekday process and brings you directly
to the weekend. If you have any races that you have marked to watch
(through the options command 'race') you will then go to the track. See
the Weekend Commands section for more info.
B. Info - this command allows you to review a variety of different
information.
1. Horses - This will bring up a list of all your horses that are
currently being trained at a stable (ie 2 years - 6 years old). The
horses are sorted first by age, and then by ranking money. Ranking money
is the sum of half of the total purses collected in first place finishes,
and half of the total purses in second place finishes that occured in
graded races. Second place finishes in non-graded races do *not* count
towards a horse's ranking money. Once you pick a particular horse, it will
bring you to that horse's info screen. There will be four particulars of
info that you can see.
No matter which choice you select you will always see the following info:
a. At the top of the screen will be the name of the horse and a
picture of his/her head.
b. Underneath that is the color of the horse.
c. Next is the horses age, type and condition. Age is in years, all
horses age one year in January. Type is tied closely to age:
female horses that are 2 or 3 are fillies, otherwise they are mares.
Male horses that are 2-4 are called colts, older than that they are
simply called horses. Condition is on a scale of A-D, where A is
excellent and D is poor. D generally means your horse is really
tired or he is injured. Horses with a low C or D condition very
often should be sent to their home farm to rest rather than risk
training, as it could lead to an injury. Your trainer will often
suggest this if it is necessary.
d. Under that is the name of the stable where the horse is trained.
e. Finally, under the stable your horses type will be listed. This
does not appear unless your horse is 4 years or older, as training
and maturity could change this. The types are as follows:
Sprinter - shortest distance, very low stamina, but high speed,
aces best in 6 furlongs to 1 mile (a furlong is 1/8 of
a mile).
Miler - still a short distance runner, races best at 1 mile
to 1¼ miles.
Router - A medium long distance runner. Not a terribly large
amount of speed, but a good amount of stamina. Races
best between 1¼ up to 1¾ miles.
Stayer - Longest distance. Laughable speed, but ridiculous
stamina. Best for races between 1½ and 2 miles.
All-Round - Has both speed and stamina, and can run well at just
about any distance. Most of your really good horses
will be all-round type.
Choosing "Record" will display the following information:
f. The birthplace of the horse (Ex: Hayakita Farm). Horses can only
rest at or retire to their home farms. There are, however, two
exceptions for retirement. The first is if you own a farm, you
can retire a horse there at the end of the year to become a
broodmare, so long as your farm has room and another farm makes an
offer for the horse. The second is if you manually retire a horse
in the middle of the year, in which case you can send the horse to
any farm you like, but it will *not* be able to become a broodmare
or stud (don't do this).
g. The record of the horse, displayed in the following format:
x-y-z-a
x - first place finishes
y - second place finishes
z - third place finishes
a - fourth place and under finishes
h. Rank of the horse. Please see the following poorly made table:
ranking $| none | < 50k | < 90k | >90k
_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________|
age | | | |
_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________|______
2 years |maiden | open | open | open
_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________|______
3 years |maiden |3 years <50k | open | open
_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________|______
4+ years |4+ years <50k|4+ years <90k|4+ years <90k| open
_____________|_____________|_____________|_____________|______
Horses can only can enter races that are of their rank or below.
Thus a 3 year old horse that has not broken her maiden race yet
cannot enter a <50k race, nor can she enter an open/graded race.
Note also that there is no rank of "maiden" for 4 year old horses,
and no ranking besides "maiden" and "open" for two year olds.
i. Purse - The total amount of winnings this horse has brought in,
before the numbers have been adjusted to account for the trainer
and jockey's cut. I believe both take 10% each.
j. Rank Money - The total amount of ranking money the horse has
earned. (see III, B, 1 for more info).
k. Winning races - these appear listed off to the right and list the
major titles that your horse has won, sorted in order of importance.
Choosing "Recent" will bring up a chart of your horse's recent performance.
Most of this is self explanatory, but I will go through some of the less
obvious abbreviations. There are two pages, hitting the A button flips
between them.
l. Con - Condition of the track as follows:
F - Fast (good track conditions)
WF - Wet Fast (track is a little wet, but still fast)
S - Slow (track is wet, and the horses run more slowly)
M - Muddy (track conditions are poor; the horses are very slow)
m. Pop - well I have no idea what this abbreviation stands for, but
it reflects where your horse was predicted to finish in the race,
according to the odds. A pop of 7 means you were the 7th favorite,
a pop of 1 means you were the favorite.
n. Pl. - where you placed in the race (ie 1, 4, 12 etc)
o. Weight - the amount of weights added to your horse in either a
handicap or weight for age race. The higher the number, the more
weight your horse had to carry. These handicaps are in place to
prevent very strong horses from racing below their class simply to
rake in easy wins. As with humans, horses tend to move much
more slowly when they are heavily burdened with weights, so keep
your horse racing in competetive events unless you want some
particularly humilating defeats.
p. Time - the *winning time* of the race. *Not* how quickly your
horse finished the race. A very fast time for a mile is 1 minute
32 seconds.
Choosing "best time" will display your horses best times at lengths of
6 furlongs, 1 mile, 1 1/4 miles, and 1 1/2 miles. It will also show a
picture of your horse and the name of the man who takes care of it at
the stable (not the trainer).
Choosing "pedigree" will display three generations of your horses's
pedigree. All of the sires' names are in green, all of the dam's names
are in red. The names farther left are closer to your horse, whereas the
names farther right are your horse's more distant relatives. For more
info on pedigrees, check "A Quick note on Pedigrees" in section II.
2. Foals - Lists all of the foals you currently own. For the purposes
of this game, a foal is any horse that is under 2 years old and has
not yet begun training at a stable. Since foals are not named until
they are 2, they will be listed here by their sire and dam. As far
as I know, they are not in any particular order. Selecting any
particular horse will bring you to a similar screen that the 'horse'
info command did.
When you first open the window, the farm manager where the horse currently
is will give you his estimation of the horse's ability. They always say
something nice, so you can determine the strength of the endorsement by
_how_ nice what he says is. It will permanently display the following
information:
a. At the top there will be an S and then the name of the horse's
sire
b. Below that will be a D and then the name of the horse's Dam.
c. Next the color and age of the horse. A horse is a foal if it is
< 1 full year old and a yearling if it is between 1 and 2.
d. Finally, it will list the owner, which, if you accessed this foal
through this command, will be you.
Choosing "Sibling" will also bring up the following information:
e. A picture of the foal, and the name of the farm where it was born.
f. All the horse's active siblings (ie horses that are still racing).
Horses that have the word "all" written next them have exactly the
same pedigree as does your horse. All other horses listed only
share the same dam as does yours.
Choosing "Pedigree" brings up the same information as it does in section
1 above.
3. All horses - lists every horse currently in the game, sorted first
by region, then by age/sex, and finally by ranking money. Selecting
a horse from this list will bring you to the same exact list as if
you were looking at one of your own horses, with two exceptions.
The "Recent" command will only show the last race in which the horse
participated, and the best time command will show nothing except
a picture of the horse and his/her stabler.
4. Owner - lists all the owners in the game, including you, sorted by
annual purse. Upon selecting an owner it will list the following
information, all of which is mostly self-explanatory: annual wins,
annual purse (unadjusted), experience, and leading earner. If you
pick yourself it will also list your current funds and your age,
and will show a picture of your lovely assistant, Sakura Arima.
5. Trainer - Lists all the trainers in the game, sorted by annual
purse. By selecting an individual trainer it will bring up much
of the same information that was shown when you first selected one
(see section II). Here it will also display the following new
information:
a. Record, displayed in the same x-y-z-a format as for your horses.
(see section III, 1, g).
b. Purse (unadjusted) - this is the annual total of all the horses
that patronize this stable.
c. Experience, the higher the better. The max experience for anyone
(that includes you) is 60000.
d. Friendship - this is on a scale of 0 to 100. As far as I know,
this has nothing to do with your trainer. Every time one of your
horses wins a race for the trainer, his friendship will go up to
varying degrees depending on the importance of the race. The more
important the race is, the bigger the increase. Experience goes
up in a similiar (if not identical) fashion.
e. You also might notice some of the names for attributes have
changed. "Careful" training has now become "Nuturing." They mean
the same thing.
6. Jockey - displays all the jockeys in both regions, sorted by annual
unadjusted purse. It displays a bunch of information about the
jockey when you select an individual.
a. At the top of the screen will be the Jockey's name and age along
with his picture. A Jockey's appearance will change after his
35th birthday from a "young" face to an "old" face. Jockeys
generally retire around mid to late 40s.
b. Stable - This lists the stable where the jockey is currently
employed. If the jockey does not work for any particular stable,
this will say 'free.' Free jockeys generally get more and better
mounts.
c. Purse - unadjusted purse for all his/her mounts for this year.
d. Exp - experience, the more the better. Jockeys with more
experience are more likely to use tactics other than their best
tactic, if the situation calls for it.
e. Stats - the annual record for the jockey, in x-y-z-a format.
(see section III, 1, g).
f. Friend - Your personal bond with the jockey. After this number
gets higher than 50, the he will give your mounts preference over
all others. Until this reaches 50, he will choose to ride
whichever horse is in the most important race for a given weekend,
and, if offered several horses in the same race, the most favored
horse offered.
g. Total wins - career wins for the jockey. You will never see
numbers that rival Okaji's (the best jockey in the game).
h. Best Tactic - what the jockey is best at. There are several
choices:
Bill Daly: The Jockey is best at running Bill Dalys, where the
horse will attempt to jump out in front and set the pace of the
race.
Pacing: The Jockey is best at using the Pace tactic, where the
horse will (ideally) run at a length or two behind the Bill Daly
horse, and then overcome it towards the end of the race.
Freehand: Supposedly, this means that the jockey likes to let the
horse run at its own pace, but in practice this usually means
he's best at the 'mid-pack' tactic. The horse will try to stay
towards the middle of the pack during the race, saving energy in
order to pass the other horses towards the last two furlongs.
In Hand: I don't even remember what the game claims this one does,
but in practice it means the jockey is good at mid-pack and
rally. The rally horse runs towards the back of the pack for
most of the race, and then shoots to the front by saving a large
amount of stamina.
I personally prefer Bill Daly, but there aren't many jockeys who
have this as their best tactic.
i. Personality - either calm or short-tempered. I'm pretty sure this
only affects what the jockey says after the race.
7. Breeders- this displays all the farms in the game, sorted by annual
unadjusted purse. Much of the info has already been explained, so
I'll only get into what is different or new.
a. Broodmares - The number of horses that are going to mother
offspring.
b. Studs (Hayakita and Shizunai farms only) - the number of studs
at the farm. Only the two largest trade farms raise studs (um,
daddy horses).
8. Rights - this shows who owns breeding rights for any studs that are
breeded through syndication. A horse is syndicated when it retires
if it is very strong, and then 8 shares of breeding rights are
distributed for a very high price. Owners of these shares can
breed the horse one time per yer per share for no cost, and no one
without a share can ever breed the horse. You cannot own breeding
rights if you do not first own a farm. Selecting a horse from the
list will display who owns the rights to that horse and his/her
total stud fees.
9. Schedule - view the schedule of races. You have two basic choices -
either weekly or by horse.
a. Weekly - displays all the available races on a weekly basis. If
you view a race that is on the coming weekend, you can see which
horses have registered for the race and who they are planning to
ask to take the mount. If you are viewing for a past week, you
can see the results of the race, including the betting payouts.
A letter D next to the distance denotes that the race in question
takes place on a dirt, rather than turf, track.
b. Horse - this commands views only the races that a particular
horse is eligible to enter. It only views forward, and only for
about 2 1/2 months.
C. Stable commands - picking this will allow you to visit any stable where
you currently have a horse training. After picking which stable to
visit, you will be whisked away there and there will be some new
commands.
1. Info - talk to people who work at the stable about your horses.
a. Trainer - the trainer will go through every one of your horses.
Be warned, this command can take a long time, as the loading time
is far from impressive, especially if you have a lot of horses at
one particular stable. The trainer will mention how each horse is
being trained, it's strengths, and its next race. If the horse is
in a race this coming weekend, he'll let you know how he/she shapes
up in comparison to the rest of the field.
b. Jockey - the stable jockey will go through all your horses and let
you know what kind of training they are doing. If a horse has a
race this coming weekend, he'll let you know what kind of
condition he/she is in.
c. Stabler - Talk to the stable hand who cares for any one of your
horses. He'll give you a tidbit of information about how the
horse is training or his general condition.
d. Other - some random person at the stable will give you some
fairly random information. Usually this is about who the stable
likes to use as jockeys. If you like a particular jockey and your
stable does not ask him for mounts you should consider using a
different stable.
2. Register - this command lets you manually book your horse to
participate in a particular race. Most of the time, it is alright
to let the trainer take care of registering your horses, but the
one significant exception to this rule is if you have a very strong
horse that has limited stamina (ie is a sprinter or miler type).
The trainer will be predisposed to enter him in larger, more
prestigious races. Unfortunately, these races are almost always
too long of a distance for such a horse and you'll have almost no
chance of winning. In this case, you should manually enter your
horse into the corresponding short distance Grade 1 race. See
section IV for more info on races and the different grades.
3. Train - complain to the trainer about how your horse is being trained;
if you have enough experience, you can specify how you would prefer
to have the horse trained. There are there 4 fairly self -
explanatory options:
speed - focus on training your horse's speed.
stamina - focus on training your horse's stamina
agility - focus on training your horse's agility. I think this
controls how well your horse maneuvers from side to side and in
traffic during a race. If this is true, you probably don't want to
focus on it unless your horse has some kind of deficiency.
balanced - a little of each
*Side note: very rarely, if ever, do I mess with how the horses are
trained. I feel as though there are hidden variables that you can't
see as an owner that would determine in which way to train the
horse. So, if you are going to fool with these options, be careful.
D. Farm - visit a farm where horses are raised. You have 4 options:
1. Trade farm - A trade farm does not race any horses, but rather
only raises them for sale at the annual horse auction. Once
there you have the following options:
a. info - the farm manager will give you some information about
the farm's leading earner, generally where his/her next race
is. Sometimes, but rarely, he will mention someone he is
considering on sending to jockey training school.
b. foal - review the foals that are currently living at this
farm. The foals will be listed by the name of their dam and the
year that they were born. The information screen will be the same
as if you were looking at one of your own foals, but you will not
be listed as the owner (for more information see section III, B,
2). If no one yet owns this foal, you will be able to mark it for
bidding at the auction.
c. mare - review the broodmares that currently live at this farm.
The "pedigree" button is the same as for all other horses;
pressing the "produce" button reveals the following information:
Age: Age of the broodmare. Broodmares retire from birthing at
15 years old.
Stud: the stud, if any, that the horse mated with last year, and
whose offspring she will birth in April.
Value: The value of the broodmare. Good broodmares will be
worth around $500,000. Excellent broodmares will be worth
$1,000,000 or more.
Active offspring - lists all the offspring of the mare that are
currently training at stables. They will be sorted in order of
ranking money.
d. stud - review the studs that currently live at this farm. Only
the Hayakita and Shizunai trade farms have studs. The produce
button will reveal the following:
stud fees: how much it costs to have this stud mate with a
broodmare.
Age: age of the stud. Studs must retire at 25, but very often
if few farms are willing to pay the stud fee they will retire
sooner.
e. rest - review the active horses currently resting at this farm.
The info is identical if you were to view a horse using the info
command. (see section III, B, 1)
f. retire - manually retire a horse to this farm. The horse you
retire will not be able to become either a stud or a broodmare.
There is almost no reason to ever do this.
2. Owner farm - A farm owned by, well, another owner. The commands
here are the same as at a trade farm.
3. Prep farm - A farm that specializes in readying foals to enter the
stables. The commands are essentially the same here as at other
farms, but they are more limited, since only foals are ever here.
The manager will give you info about how promising any particular
foal is.
4. Stud farm - A farm where most of the studs are kept. You can
obviously only review the information about studs here. The stud
farm manager will give you information about which studs are
particularly popular at any given time.
E. Owner - visit, chat, and/or deal with another owner. There are several
commands you can choose from:
1. Info - the owner will chat about his/her horses, and mention if he/
she has any horses entered in this coming weekend's races.
2. Deal - attempt to make a deal with an owner. There are several
options.
a. Buy foal - attempt to buy a foal from the owner. If your
experience is low, or the foal has an especially strong pedigree,
the other owner may refuse to sell the him/her to you.
b. Sell foal - sell one of your foals to another owner. I'm pretty
sure he will always agree to buy one from you if you ask.
The following only apply to other owners who own farms, and only
appear if you also have a farm:
c. Buy Rights - attempt to buy breeding rights from the other owner.
If the rights are especially valuable, or you are a chump, the
other owner might not agree to sell them to you.
d. Sell Rights - bolster your cash by letting go of unnecessary
breeding rights. The other owner always agrees to buy them.
e. Buy mare - attempt to buy a broodmare from the other owner. You
need quite high experience to buy a broodmare from another owner,
particularly Masa Takeno, the best rival owner.
f. Sell mare - sell a broodmare to another owner. He or she will
always approve the sale.
3. Owner - same as the info -> owner command. Views data on the other
owner.
F. Assistant - these are somewhat of misc. commands grouped together.
Depending on the weather and the month of the year, your assistant will
have a different outfit and pose. The game designers put a startling
amount of effort into this. Anyway, the commands are as follows:
1. Horse racing terms - a very handy glossary of terms used in the
game.
2. Top ten horses - a list of the top ten moneymaking horses of all
time.
3. Owner's ranking - shows how your experience compares to that of
the other rival owners. This command also shows your two highest
frienship levels.
4. Grade 1 trophies - displays all the trophies you have won from
victories in grade 1 races.
5. Hall of Fame - lists the information of any of your horses that
retired while on the top ten list.
G. Options - game options. These are all pretty self explanatory, so I'm
going to leave them without much comment. The only important one to
consider is the 'race' option as it allows you to control which races
you'll watch. I recommend only setting it to view your own horses,
but that is just my personal preference. It'll save you a lot of time.
**********************************************
IV. The races
I originally thought to just make this section a simple note, but then
I decided that it needed a little more explanation. This section will
go over generally how the grading system of races works, and then will
go into some detail about specific races that are important.
A. The grading system
There are several different levels of racing in Winning Post. The
most important of all the races are called graded races, of which
there are three types, called, uncreatively, Grade 1, Grade 2, and
Grade 3 (G1, G2, G3). The most important of these are G1 races, which
generally carry first place purses of between 1 and 1.3 million
dollars. G2 races generally bring in about $500,000 and G3 races
about $250,00-$300,000. Naturally, since G1 races bring in the most
prize money, they are also home to the fiercest of competition. A
horse that is a proven G1 winner has a high chance of being named
either horse of the year, or the most outstanding horse of its
gender and age class.
There are also races below the graded race level. There are two types
of these: open/special races, and rank races. Rank races are the
lowest level of racing in Winning Post and consist of maiden races
(generally horses who have yet to win a single race) and under 50k
or under 90k divisions. Horses may not enter into open races until
they get out of any of the applicable lower ranks for their age (see
the chart in section III, B, 1, h for how to advance in rank). All
horses start out with their rank as maiden and have to climb up to
the rank of 'open' before they can enter any graded or special race.
Some really weak horses may never get to that level, even given years
of racing time.
B. So what races do I enter?
Depending on your horses age and gender there are different races in
which you want to enter. For the most part, your trainer will take
care of this for you. For convenience, however I will outline the path
a top contender will take in his/her 3rd and 4th years.
1. Three Year Old Colt
a. February - some kind of graded race exclusively for 3 year-olds
(ie the Koyodo News 3 year stakes).
b. March - a qualifier for the Satsuki Sho (the Yayoi Sho, Wakaba
stakes, or the Spring Stakes)
c. April - the Satsuki Sho, the first G1 race for 3 year old colts
d. May - either a qualifier for the Japan Derby, or nothing at all
e. June - the Japan Derby, the 2nd G1 race for 3 year old colts, and
one of the most important races all year.
f. October - a qualfier for the Kikuka Sho
g. November, wk. 1 - the Kikuka Sho, G1, last in the Japanese triple
crown. The winner of the Kikuka Sho is also invited to the Japan
Cup, held in wk 4 of november, by all means go, but the competition
is likely to be too much for a 3 year old.
h. December - The Arima Kinen - a tough race for a 3 year old, but
worth entering.
2. Three Year Old Filly
a. February - some graded race exclusively for fillies.
b. March - a qualifier for the Oka Sho (ie the Anemone Stakes)
c. April - The Oka Sho, the first G1 race for fillies
d. May - either a qualifier for the Japan Oaks, or nothing at all
e. June - the Japan Oaks, the most important G1 race for fillies
f. October - a qualifier for the Queen Elizabeth Cup
g. November - the Queen Elizabeth Cup, the last of the G1 races in
the fillies' triple crown.
h. December - the Arima Kinen - a very tough race for a filly, but
still worth a shot.
3. 4+ year old horse, non-sprinter type, male or female
a. March - A graded race, probably the Nikkei Sho (G2)
b. May - the Spring Emperor's Cup, the longest G1 race at 2 miles
c. June - The Takarazuka Kinen (entry determined by popular vote)
d. The French Grand Prix takes place in October, but only really,
really, really good horses are invited. If you go to the French
Grand Prix, you won't be entered in the Autumn Emperor's cup.
e. October - The Autumn Emperor's Cup
f. November - The Japan Cup, entries determined by voting
g. December - The Arima Kinen
4. 4+ year old horse, sprinter type, male or female. Note: You
probably will have to book these races, as the trainer is likely to
"go for the gusto" and try and win the emperor cup or other long
distance races, which is highly unlikely with a sprinter.
a. February - either the Tokyo Times cup or the February Stakes
b. March - The Nakayama Kinen
c. May - Either the Keio Spring Cup or the Yasuda Kinen, or both
d. June - Either the New Zealand Trophy, the Hankyu Cup, or, if you
feel like the horse can stretch the distance, the Takarazuka Kinen
e. October - The Autumn Emperor's Cup
f. November - Mile Championship
g. December - The Sprinter's Stakes
Keep in mind that this is just a general outline and presupposes that
your horse is strong enough to compete in all of these races, and even
win some of them. It is not impossible to get to these races in other
ways, but this is generally the path that the strongest contender will
take. Since every horse is different it is likely many paths will
deviate to some degree from these examples.
****************************************************
V. At The Track/Weekend Commands
These commands are accessed by hitting weekend in the weekday menu.
A. Race - Start and watch the current race. Before the race starts you'll
be asked to approve the tactic for the race: either Bill Daly, Pace,
mid-pack, or rally (see III, B, 6, h for information on these).
For the most part, you should stick with their advice, unless you are
the 12 post and no other horse is running a Bill Daly, in which case
you should run one. During the race, your horses will be flashing.
The jockey will give you a brief report following the race, and
sometimes the trainer will join in. Occasionally another owner will
come up and start a conversation if you both have a horse in the same
race. If your horse finishes 3rd or better and ahead of his horse,
he'll give you some advice, which will raise your experience level.
The higher the other owner's experience, the greater yours will raise.
B. Paper - two choices here, info and analysis.
1. Info - lists a great deal of information about the field. Most of
it shouldn't be new, but I'll go into the unfamiliar terms. There
are two pages, hit A to switch between them.
a. Wt - Weight added to the horse. (See section III, B, 2, o)
b. Off - how well the horse races in track conditions that aren't
'fast.' There are three options:
X - the horse races below the average horse under similar
conditions
<triangle> - the horse races no better or worse than the average
horse under similiar conditions.
O - the horse races better than the average horse under similar
conditions.
c. Tac - the tactic the jockey of each horse is planning on using.
d. On the far right there are abbeviations which are the initials of
the various analysts. The number underneath are their predictions
for where each horse will place. You need not take these
ridiculously seriously, but it doesn't hurt to keep them in mind
when betting.
2. Analysis - displays the opinions of the various racing analysists
that work at the track. They will say a little blurb about the
race and then offer their betting selections. It doesn't hurt to
take their opinions into consideration, but make sure not to
overvalue what they are saying, since they are frequently wrong.
C. Bet - place a bet on the race. You must be at least 21 years old to
make a wager. You can make up to 5 bets on any particular race, and
each bet must be between $100 and $20,000. Horse racing uses a
pari-mutuel wagering system, so if you bet $100,000 dollars on a 50-1
long shot to win, you will very likely lower the actual payout
somewhat. All the numbers listed on the page are the payout for a $1
bet. Thus if the odds are 10.5 and you bet $100 dollars, you will get
$1050 as a return. The horses are listed in the order of their post
position. Being on the inside is an advantage, as it creates a shorter
track to run. Keep this in mind when betting. There are three options
for wagering:
1. Win - bet that the horse will win the race (come in first place).
If the horse does not win, you lose your bet.
2. Show - bet that the horse will come in first or second. If it does
not, you will lose your bet.
3. Quinella - pick the two horses that will come in first and second.
If either of the horses do not come in first or second, you lose
your bet.
D. Board - view the results of this weekend's races on the tote board. If
the race has not yet been run, this command will give you the same info
as the 'paper' command. After you select a race, it will show you the
betting payouts, as well as a list of times of the finishers. The
'margin' column indicates how many horse lengths were between a
particular horse and the horse that placed in front of it. The NK
abbreviation indicates 'neck'; a NO indicates the distance was only
a nose.
E. Paddock - check out any of the horses in the current race at the
paddock. Select a particular horse from the list and either the
jockey or the trainer will muse upon the horse's chances for victory
in the race. Hitting the A button on the horse selection screen will
bring up a chart with various information, but nothing that isn't
under the Paper -> info command.
F. Next - skip this race and move to the next. If you have horses in this
race, you won't watch the race, but the jockey and trainer will still
give their reports. Dont' feel obligated to watch every race.
*****************************************************
VI. End of the month and the Inter-month Events
At the end of every month, Sakura Arima will present to you your
balance sheet for the month, totaling all your income and expenses. On top
of this, at the beginning of the next month a new issue of "Horse Racing
Monthly" comes out. Finally, there are several special events that occur at
the end of certain months, but before racing for the next month begins.
I'll deal first with the magazine.
A. Horse Racing Monthly - Sakura Arima will ask you every month if you
want to take a look at this magazine. Every Issue contains the following
information:
1. Top Jockeys - displays the jockeys with the top ten records and also
their corresponding purses and winning percents.
2. Top Trainers - displays the trainers with the top ten records and
also their purses, stable jockey, winning percentages, and leading
earner.
3. Top Owners - displays owners with the top ten unadjusted purses and
their leading earners.
4. Top Breeders - displays the breeders with the top ten purses and
their leading earners.
5. Top Analysts - sorts the analysts by ROI (Return on Investment)
percentage, and also shows how many times they have cashed on how
many wagers.
6. Graded Races - gives a little blurb about all the graded races that
are scheduled for this month.
The following information appears only in the indicated month:
7. January - the special section gives a brief bio for the two new
jockeys that have recently graduated riding school.
8. February - the special section gives a brief write-up for the top
contenders in the east and west, and how they fared in their last
race.
9. March - the special section looks at the top male and female 3 year
old in the east and west, and mentions what will likely be their
next race.
10. April - the special section looks as the Oka Sho and the Satsuki Sho
and picks the top contenders in each.
11. May - the special section looks at the Spring Emperor's Cup and the
Yasuda Kinen and picks the top contenders in each.
12. June - the special section looks at the Japan Oaks, the Japan Derby,
and the Takarazuka Kinen, and picks the top contenders in each.
13. July - the special section looks at the two most promising two year
olds that will start entering races this year.
14. August - the special section looks at a promising horse that will
be invited to participate in the Japan Cup. Alternatively, if you
are sending a horse to the French Grand Prix, it will have a little
news story outlining your intentions.
15. September - the special section outlines the foal and yearling that
fetched the most money at the auction in August.
16. October - the special section looks at the Autumn Emperor's cup and
picks the top contender.
17. November - the special section looks at the Kikuka Sho, the Queen
Elizabeth Cup, and the Mile Championship, picking the best
contenders in each. It also lists the invites to the Japan Cup.
18. December - the special section looks at the Hanshin Filly Stakes,
the Asahi Cup Stakes, the Sprinter's Stakes, and the Arima Kinen,
and picks the top contender in each.
B. Other Special Events. The following events occur as soon as the
indicated month begins.
1. April - foaling. All of the broodmares who mated with a stud the
previous year give birth to offspring. You can choose to visit the
farms and watch this process; if you choose to do so you'll simply
see a list of which horses were born this season; if you choose not
to you'll simply continue on with the game. This event only occurs
if you own a farm that has at least one broodmare foaling.
2. May - breeding. You will be given the option to mate your broodmares
with studs. If you agree to do so, you'll be sent to the breeding
screen. One by one you will select a broodmare from your farm and
the stud with which you wish to mate her. The studs are sorted by
the cost of their stud fees, with the highest at the top. Generally,
you want to pick the best available stud you can. At the same time,
however, you want a good mix of genes, so make sure not to overuse
the same stud.
An example to show this point: Let's say that you have three shares
of breeding rights for Beyond, a stud, and three broodmares, all of
which are not closely related to Beyond. Let's also assume that
Beyond is the best stud you can use for stud this season. It is not
a good idea to mate all three of your broodmares with Beyond,
because you would have too many of Beyond's genes in your racehorses
of the future and inbreeding would ultimately become a problem.
Therefore, mate once with Beyond, probably with your strongest
broodmare, and then choose two different mates for your other two
females.
Your farm manager will give you advice on the selections you choose,
as well as information about each stud and broodmare. He will also
mention the risks of inbreeding. For the most part, inbreeding is
something that you will want to avoid, but under certain
circumstances it can strengthen specific traits. Your farm manager
will assess how close of an inbreed it is when you make your
selection. I generally don't inbreed unless it is to either a
third/fourth generation or a fourth/fourth generation (ie the stud
and broodmare either share a fourth generation relative, or a
third generation relative of the mare is in the fourth generation
of the stud - the game calls this 3x4 and 4x4).
There is a slight chance of the broodmare coming up barren after
mating, in which case you will be refunded 4/3 of the stud fee.
3. July - many of your horses will be sent to their home farms to rest.
There are not too many important races in the summer, so this is
usually a good idea if your trainer thinks it is necessary. Also,
this is when your trainer will tell you if he thinks it'd be a good
idea to challenge the French Grand Prix.
4. August - the auction takes place in August. If you don't have a
farm, this will be more or less your only way to get horses, so
don't take it lightly. Before the auction, if you have a farm, you
will be given the choice if you want to sell any of your foals at
the auction. If you choose to, you'll be given a list of all the
foals born at your farm, and will be able to choose from those
which you want to sell. Your farm manager will attempt to guess
how much money the horse will fetch at auction. After you select
which horses to sell, or if you don't have a farm, you'll be asked
if you want to bring a trainer with you for advice. Definitely do
this; he'll be a great help. It is better to pick a trainer with
high experience, although you won't be able to see this number
when selecting. Once you get to the auction, you'll see the
following commands:
a. list - lists all the horses at the auction according to age and
gender. They will be sorted by their first bid price.
b. advice - your trainer, if present, will pick out five horses that
look particularly promising at the auction. His advice is
generally good, so it would be prudent to check some of these
horses for bidding.
c. guide - Sakura Arima will give you a quick overview of how the
auction works.
d. auction - start the auction. You can only bid on horses that you
have marked previously, either at their farms or with the list/
advice commands at the auction house.
e. return - leave the auction without bidding. Be careful not to
choose this accidentally.
Finally, remember that no matter what you can have no more than 7
horses of any age, including foals and yearlings, and that this
counts the horses produced at your farm.
5. Late December/Early January - at the end of the year awards are
are given out for remarkable horses, trainers, ownwers, breeders,
and jockeys. Two jockeys will also retire. On top of this, all
of your racehorses and broodmares will age a year. No matter what,
if a horse turns 7, or a broodmare turns 15, they will retire.
Your trainers will also go through all their horses and give you
their advice on how much longer they ought to train and race. For
the most part, male horses can stick around and still win up until
they are at least 5, females generally retire around 4 or 5.
Generally, it is best to take your trainer's advice, unless they
are telling you to retire a proven winner who is still doing quite
well.
At the beginning of January, your trainers will go through all
their horses and tell you their general status and what their
first race of the new year will be.
***************************************************
VII. Credits
Thanks to Nicole Xhilone (pronounced X-ill-on) for reading this guide
over for me.
Thanks to Koei for actually releasing this game in the US.
****************************************************
VIII. Legal
This guide is copyright 2004 by Greg Hartman
The game is copyright 1996 by Koei
The only sites that are allowed to post this guide are:
http://www.gamefaqs.com
http://www.cheats.de
http://faqs.ign.com
http://www.neoseeker.com
If you are interested in posting this guide on your website, please
contact me and i will seriously consider your request. It is illegal
to post this guide without permission, and only a real weiner of a person
would think of doing so.
