As all are aware by now HRP will be going ahead as planned with a race engine update to address the tight field finish results that have been occurring in over abundance over the course of the last year. In that time there have been many complaints by players stating that this needed to be fixed. There were just too many tight finishers. This really came into the limelight and drew everyones attention on May 21st 2011 in the PRK Stakes. In that race a field of fourteen 3yos finished within three lengths of each other in perhaps the most unrealistic race ever run here at HRP.
The cries went out almost instantaneously after the running of that race and rightfully so. This without question needed to be addressed. However months passed with little word from HRP on how they were going to addressed players concern. HRP finally addressed the issue on January 31st 2012 following months of debates that have been occurring in the forums. In that statement HRP announced a race engine update to be implemented.
This change will take place at the free track PEN on February 9th followed by full implementation into the game four days later on February 13th.
On January 31st the statement below was released to all HRP players.
1/31/2012 - Race Engine Update
As most know we have been reviewing the race engine to see where it can be improved. We will be pushing out an update to the free track (PEN, free races only) for races on and after Feb 9th. It will then be pushed out to all other tracks for races on and after Feb 13th.
The main focus of the update will be to try and address tight fields. This will be done primarily by making jockeys more aggressive in pace decisions. We believe this will also improve the overall racing feel.
This update will not directly address the number of dead heats occurring. With jockeys making more aggressive pace decisions the fields should naturally spread out more which should lessen the number of dead heats but we do not believe the number will be brought into alignment with how many occur in real life until the finishing accuracy is defined more closely than the current one hundredth of a second.
To not address it would be a major mistake by HRP
While this statement was welcome news to some players others players have questioned the effects that this will have upon the game. What will the impact be in regards to the jockey instructions? Also another concern expressed by players was how much of this is taking away the skill involved from the players hand? What exactly does the statement: jockeys making more aggressive pace decisions really mean? Will this lead to a Digi style of racing? There are many more arguments to be made even the timing before the Triple Crown races, which is a concern. However, to not address it would be a major mistake by HRP.
The SRF is glad to see that HRP is finally being active to the players concern. While some may think that no change is needed and have expressed their thoughts a majority of players believe that a change is needed. The SRF has submitted questions to HRP regarding the impact of the changes and asked for a more descriptive explanation of what the impacts may be. HRP has been slow to answer our questions but they did release the following statement to the SimRacing Form:
We are going to be trying to address tight fields by giving jockeys more leeway to be more aggressive in the second part of the race especially from trailing horses. It has become too customary for the front runners to relax on the lead and not have to work hard to stay there. They end up with significant amounts of reserves to fend off any late runs in the stretch. This is the biggest part of the update.
HorseRacingPark.com
This statement is somewhat vague and was not the descriptive response we had hoped for however it does shed a little light on what they are trying to accomplish. I believe the most important part of the statement is the wording, Giving jockeys more leeway in the second part of the race especially from trailing horses . What this says is that horses in those positions should be conserving energy. Then as the field moves into the second or later stages of the race these horses will then begin to exert more pressure on the front horses. This should take place not only with the stalkers and midpack horses but the late charging horses should begin to roll.
Another line in the statement that is important is, It has become too customary for the frontrunners to relax on the lead and not have to work hard to stay there. They end up with significant amounts of reserves So this further emphasizes the fact that the horses who stalk or who are running midpack will begin to exert pressure on the frontrunners as the race progresses. However a concern does arise here. That concern is if a horse has superior speed or is the lone speed he should have some sort of reserve that has him on the lead with a little something left in the tank for a late run. While we applaud the effort for closers and stalkers to be able to have the opportunity to overwhelm the speed it has to be rational. We dont want to see this going from a speed favoring bias to off the pace biased. On the other hand if there are two or more speed horses in the race and they decide to hookup in an early duel then their energy should deplete or exhaust accordingly and they should fade in the stretch. If the race engine fix addresses this then it will be successful.
As for tight finishes we believe that if the race engine does what HRP is saying it will do then it should correct this issue. As for players this fix is needed, there is no question about it. It may require and probably will require that you also change your strategies. It appears that more skill in race placement and race strategy will be needed. It looks as though you may have to let go of the staple HL (Horse Lead) and rely on using more descriptive race instructions. If your horse comes from off the pace you may need to decide whether to use Midpack or Close as a strategy. If a race has speed and you have a speed horse you may need to decide on Push, Lead or stalk. This will require everyone to adjust. This is a change and for the most part people dont like change.
We are optimistic, in a cautious way, that this will be a change for the good. It addresses the issue of tight finishers which were or are unrealistic. It should address the issue of giving closers a fair chance depending on the race setup scenario. It should fix the issue of purely speed bias. We will have to see how this all unfolds and hopefully it will be a short transition and one that will make the game we love better. We will monitor closely and I will followup after a couple of weeks of racing to give the SRFs assessment of the change.
