Rider’s guide

How to read the card, ride your horse, and learn from the chart

Chapter 1

Welcome to Ride the Rail

You are the jockey. One horse, one race, one tank of energy.

Ride the Rail is a horse racing game played from the saddle. You pick one horse from the eight runners on the race card and ride it through the race in first person. You don’t train, buy, own or bet on horses. Your job is to get the most out of the horse under you: her natural speed, her stamina, her running style and her quirks.

One idea runs through everything in this guide. Your horse has a limited supply of energy for the race. Speed spends it, and the faster you go the faster it goes. A winning ride isn’t the one that goes fastest everywhere. It’s the one that reaches the last quarter mile with something left to give.

Your first race in eight steps

The first time you open the game it runs the pre-meet — every horse on the grounds runs four races, so the form book is full of real races — and then asks for your name. Give it, and the card, the chart, the form book and the standings will all carry it.
On the home page, choose Go to race card.
Read the eight runners and click or tap one to take the ride. A horse listed as Stalks the pace is the easiest to learn on. Past performances under any runner opens that horse’s form if you want to see how it has been running.
Choose Start race. The bugler plays the call to post while the field walks out in the post parade. Watch it, or click (or press Space, Enter or Esc) to go straight to the gate.
You’re loaded in the gate and told the price your horse is going off at; the bell rings, the gates crash open, and they’re off.
Press H to show the riding read-out. Let her travel, stay near the rail on the turns, and don’t spend energy early.
From about two furlongs out (the quarter pole), ask with ↑ and use the crop (Enter) for the drive to the wire. Hold the ask down for a full second and the orchestra comes in with you.
Read the chart and watch the stretch replay — and if you won, go and see her in the barn. Then go to the next race.

About this guide

This is the full rider’s guide, built into the game; you reach it from Gameplay guide on the home page, and the contents take you to any chapter. Where it gives numbers, they’re taken from how the game actually works, rounded so they’re easy to remember. The screenshots were taken in an earlier build, so now and then a detail on screen differs a little from the picture.

The guide calls your horse “she” and a rival “he”. The game itself says she or he as each horse is: thirty-nine of the 120 horses are fillies and mares, and the breeding line on the card tells you which.

Chapter 2

Getting started

What you need, and a tour of the screens.

What you need

A current web browser with 3D graphics (WebGL). Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari all work. A desktop or laptop with a keyboard is the most comfortable way to ride.
A keyboard, a gamepad, or a touchscreen. Standard gamepads are supported, and phones and tablets get on-screen riding controls ().
Sound on. Her breathing, her hoofbeats and the crowd all carry information.
An internet connection when the game loads. The single-file version fetches its 3D library (three.js) from the web as it starts.

There is no account or sign-in. Your record is kept in the browser you play in ().

The screens

Screen	What it’s for
The pre-meet	Shown once, on the first load, while every horse runs its four races before the meet. It takes a couple of seconds.
Home	Your record, the name you ride under, the Graphics setting, the jockey standings, the $2 win board and the horse standings (each horse a link to his form), and links to the race card, this guide and Past charts. The line under the title tells you which day it is and which race is next.
Gameplay guide	This guide.
Race card	The program for the next race. Read the field, take a mount and start the race.
Past performances	One horse’s form, opened from its link on the race card or from the Horses board.
Post parade	The field walking out to the call to post, before every race. Click or press a key to skip it.
The race	The ride itself, in first person, with two camera views, an energy gauge, the call and the race clock.
Result	The chart of the race, a trip note for every runner, your earnings, and the replay link.
Stretch replay	The last quarter mile again, from the grandstand.
Barn visit	After a race you’ve won, from the chart: a visit to your horse in the barn.
Past charts	Every race you’ve ridden, most recent first (the last thirty are kept), each with its replay.

The home page

The Graphics setting

At the right-hand end of the line with your name on the home page is Graphics, with three levels. Click it to step from one to the next; the level you leave it on is kept in this browser.

Level	What it draws
Full	The sharpest picture: up to twice the pixels on a high-density screen, the finest shadows, and the big screen in the infield updated every other frame. The starting level on a desktop or laptop.
Medium	Fewer pixels and softer shadows, and the big screen updated less often. The starting level on a phone or tablet.
Low	Fewer pixels again, the softer shadows, and the big screen slower still, for a slower computer.

The level stays exactly where you put it. If the race looks choppy, step down a level; if the picture looks soft and your computer has room to spare, step up. However low the frame rate goes, the race itself runs at real speed down to about ten frames a second, and only below that does it slow.

Chapter 3

The race day

Five races, from the claimer to the Grade I.

Each day is a card of five races run in a fixed order, and you ride in every one. The distance and surface of each race are drawn when the day’s card is made, along with the eight runners and their morning-line prices.

Race	Class	Purse	Approx. post	Distances drawn from
1st	$50,000 Claiming	$80,000	1:05 PM	6f, 7f, 1 mile, 1⅛ miles
2nd	$100,000 Allowance	$100,000	1:38 PM	6f, 7f, 1 mile, 1⅛ miles
3rd	$200,000 Listed	$200,000	2:11 PM	6f, 7f, 1 mile, 1⅛ miles
4th	$500,000 Grade III	$500,000	2:44 PM	6f, 7f, 1 mile, 1⅛, 1¼ miles
5th	$1,000,000 Grade I	$1,000,000	3:17 PM	6f, 7f, 1 mile, 1⅛, 1¼ miles

Only the two graded races can be run at a mile and a quarter. In the claimer, the $50,000 is the claiming price, which is simply the class level. There is no claiming in the game, and the race runs for an $80,000 purse.

The fields

Each class has its own roster of twenty-four horses (). A race takes eight of them, and every field has at least two front runners, so no race is run without a pace. Everyone in a race is the same class, and each class runs once a day, so a horse never runs twice on the same card. A Grade I horse is about four per cent faster than a claimer and a little stronger, but you only ever race against your own class.

The track

Races are run on a one-mile oval: two straights of about 400 metres joined by two sweeping turns. The finish line (the wire) is about a furlong and a half past the top of the stretch. Six and seven furlongs start from a chute off the backstretch and go round one turn. The mile and nine furlongs start in the homestretch and go round two. The mile and a quarter starts from a short chute off the head of the homestretch, also round two turns. The race card tells you which it is: One turn or Two turns.

Surfaces

A race can be on dirt, turf or synthetic. All three ride exactly the same: the surface changes what you’re looking at, how much dust the field throws up and the sound of her hooves, and nothing else.

Moving through the day

After each race the result screen offers Go to next race. After the fifth it reads Go to next day, and a fresh card is drawn for the new day. You can go Home between races whenever you like. The card, your place in it and any mount you’ve taken are all saved, so you can close the game and pick up the day later.

Around the track

In the infield, facing the stands, is the big screen. On its left it shows the race as it’s run, as a television director would cut it; on its right is the tote board, with the race number and the trip, the running time and the last fractions, the running order in saddle-cloth colours and each horse’s final odds — and UNOFFICIAL once the winner is home. It shows the post parade and the stretch replay too, and you can see it from the saddle as you straighten for home.

Outside the far turn, behind the end of the grandstand, is the barn area, where the horses are stabled: a big barn with a cupola, its doors rolled back on a lit aisle, long shed rows either side of it, gravel, hedges and a white fence. Going into the far turn you ride straight at it. Across the track from the stands, outside the backstretch rail, is the amusement park: a midway of striped booths and bunting with a crowd of its own, and behind it a Ferris wheel, a drop tower, a carousel, a swing ride and a roller coaster with a loop, all turning as you go by. None of it makes any difference to the race.

**The barn area,** outside the far turn: the big barn with its cupola, its doors open on the lit aisle, and the shed rows running off either side.

**The amusement park,** from inside the backstretch rail as the field goes by: the booths and bunting of the midway, the Ferris wheel, the drop tower and the roller coaster.

Chapter 4

Reading the race card

Eight runners, and the clues that matter most.

**The race card before a mount is taken.** The header shows the distance, surface and number of turns, the race number (*Race 1 of 5*) and approximate post time, then the class and purse. The line below it gives the race’s written conditions. Each runner’s number sits in his saddle cloth’s colour. Riders aren’t named until you take a mount.

Each runner’s entry

Item	What it tells you
Program number	The saddlecloth number, in the standard colors (1 red, 2 white, 3 blue, 4 yellow, 5 green, 6 black, 7 orange, 8 pink). It is also the starting stall: No. 1 starts nearest the rail and No. 8 widest. In the race the horse wears a cloth of that colour, with the number on both sides and his name under it.
Owner	The stable, top left. It sets the silks.
Trainer	Top right, beside the morning line.
Morning line	The track handicapper’s price, such as `3/5`, `7/2` or `30-1`. The shorter the price, the more fancied the horse.
Silks and name	The silks icon and the horse’s name. The italic line below describes the silks in words. The rider wears them in the race just as they’re drawn.
Medication / equipment	L is Lasix, and a dash means none.
Weight	Pounds carried, including the rider’s allowance (118–124 lb).
Jockey	Blank until you take a mount. Yours reads under your own name, set surname first.
Breeding	Age, color and sex, then sire – dam (dam’s sire). For example: 5yo Bay Mare by Complexity – Sunday Mercy (Discreet Cat).
Running style	Front runner, Stalks the pace or Closer. This is the most important tactical clue on the card ().
Past performances	Opens that horse’s form: what he has done, over what trips, and how he ran his races ().

**Riders in their silks,** down the backstretch on the turf. Every rider wears his stable’s registered silks just as the card draws them — body pattern, sleeves and cap. No. 4, Bluegrass Bullet, carries white, cerise diamonds, cerise and white hooped sleeves and a cerise cap; No. 3, Brass Lantern, green with a white sash and a white and green quartered cap.

Ability and identity. How a horse runs comes from its running style, its class and its quirks, plus a little day-to-day form (under one per cent either way). Weight, Lasix, age, sex, breeding, owner, trainer and silks are the horse’s identity. They appear on the card, the chart, the form book and the record book, but they don’t change how it runs.

The morning line

The handicapper prices four things, and he knows what he is looking at:

Running style. A stalker is the one to beat; a closer needs the race to fall right for him.
Quirks. A tough horse is worth several times the chance of one without it; turn of foot counts only if the rider saves it, so he marks it down.
The draw. Every stall out from the rail costs a little ground into the first turn.
The trip. Ground helps a closer and hurts a front runner, and the further from a mile the race is, the more it matters.

On top of that he adds his own share of guesswork, either way, so the line is a genuine hint and not a promise. The line is struck once, when the day’s card is drawn, and stays on the program all day.

Final odds

The price a horse actually goes off at is his final odds, struck by the tote as the field loads. It starts from the morning line and moves a little either way — four times in five, a 3-1 shot goes off between about 2-1 and 4-1 — and it is written to the dime, as a tote writes it (4.20 is 4.20 to 1). The shortest price possible is 1-10. Your own final odds appear in the stall, every runner’s are on the big screen in the infield, and all of them are in the chart afterwards. The move is chance: it doesn’t tell you anything about how the horse will run that the card didn’t.

Quirks aren’t printed on the card (see ). The form book is the other way to find out: a horse who is always beaten for room, or always empties out late, is telling you something.

Taking a mount

Choose mount scrolls down to the runners. Click or tap any horse to take the ride. Its entry is highlighted, the other riders are named, and Start race becomes available. You can change your mind as often as you like before you start; the other riders are re-booked each time. The ride you’ve taken is saved, so it’s still yours if you go home or close the game.

Opening a horse’s past performances doesn’t take the ride — the link is separate from the rest of the entry, and Back to the card returns you to the same place on the page.

**A mount taken.** No. 2, Lady Side-Eye, is highlighted and carries your name, and the other riders have been named. Each entry ends in its **Past performances** link.

Chapter 5

Know your horse

Three running styles, six quirks.

Running styles

Every horse has one of three running styles. It decides where she wants to be in the race, how deep her tank is, and how much she has saved for the finish.

	Front runner	Stalker	Closer
Wants to be	On the lead	Just off the pace, 2nd to 4th	Well back, but in touch
Stamina	Least (about 7% below standard)	Standard	Most (about 8% above)
Natural cruising speed	Just above par	A little below par	Well below par
Finishing reserve	Small	Moderate	Big
Boxed in behind a horse	Hates it	Minds it	Barely notices
Alone in front, no cover	Barely notices	Minds it	Hates it
Under a hold	Never settles	Settles after a few seconds	Settles after a few seconds

Front runner. Get to the front early, preferably without spending more than you must, and then roll along at an even pace. Taking a hold on him is wasted effort, because he won’t settle.
Stalker. Sit a few lengths off the leaders with some cover, keep her travelling inside horses, and pick them off turning for home. The most forgiving style to learn on.
Closer. Drop in, take a hold, save everything, and make one run once you straighten for home. Her value is all in what she can do late.

Quirks

Many horses also carry one or two quirks. They aren’t listed on the card, but a horse keeps its quirks for good, so you learn them by riding — and by reading its form. lists every horse’s quirks if you’d rather know in advance.

Quirk	What it does	How to ride it
Puller	Fights a hold much harder, so she comes back to you grudgingly. Slightly less stamina.	Start taking a hold earlier and stay with it until she settles.
Tough	More efficient and more stamina. Keeps finding when others are stopping.	You can ride him more positively than most.
Turn of foot	A much bigger finishing reserve, but slightly less efficient and less stamina.	Protect the reserve at all costs and save it all for the last two furlongs.
Needs room	Much more bothered by being boxed in, and drifts wider on the turns. His rider seldom manages to shut a gap.	Keep him in the clear, even if it costs a little ground.
Likes the fence	Happy boxed in on the rail and holds the rail well round the turns. Slightly more stamina. His rider is quicker to shut the door on the fence.	Tuck her in on the fence and save ground.

Reading her in the saddle

Ears. Pinned flat back means she’s fighting your hold. Half back means she’s nearly empty, down to her last quarter of energy. One ear cocked sideways means a horse has come up alongside on that side.
Breathing. It gets louder and more labored as she tires.
Hoofbeats. They keep time with her stride, so you can hear her quicken — and hear her start to come back to you.
A snort. The moment her tank runs dry, she snorts. From there she can’t hold racing pace.
The energy gauge. The number turns amber below about 40% and red below about 15%.

Chapter 6

Controls

Keyboard, gamepad and touch.

Keyboard	Gamepad	What it does
`↑` Ask	Right trigger or A	Ask her for more. A tap gives a burst that fades over about a second and a half. Holding it keeps her working, and keeps spending energy while you do. The first time in a race you hold it a full second, the William Tell plays.
`↓` Hold	Left trigger or B	Take a hold. It costs nothing, and she gets her wind back while she travels inside herself. Hold overrides Ask if you press both.
`←` `→`	Left stick or D-pad	Steer toward the rail (left) or the outside (right). Hold the steer into a gap beside a horse to squeeze through it.
`Enter` Crop	Y	A strong, short surge. Four per race.
`Space` + `←` or `→` Nudge	X + stick or D-pad	Hold Space and press a direction: the horse alongside you on that side goes over a path. Four per race, a second apart. While Space is held the arrows don’t steer.
`H`	—	Show or hide the riding read-out.
`V`	—	Hide or show the two small camera views, the aerial view and the rail camera.
`Space` `Enter` `Esc`	—	Skip the post parade, or leave the barn visit (a click or tap does the same).
`Esc`	—	Close the stretch replay and return to the chart.

Your inputs take effect as the field breaks; the key that skips the parade never carries into the race as a crop or a nudge. A gamepad vibrates on each stride, and so does a phone that supports vibration.

Touchscreen

The buttons appear once you’re loaded in the gate. Each finger is tracked on its own, so you can hold Ask and tap the crop without letting go. Your right thumb can slide from Hold to Ask (or back) without lifting, and sliding onto Ask counts as asking. The crop only fires on a fresh press, so a sliding thumb can’t spend one by accident. Nudge is held, like Space: with it down, press Rail or Out to nudge that way — or hold Rail or Out and press Nudge. Holding Rail or Out into a gap squeezes, as the keys do. On a touchscreen laptop, the buttons appear the first time you touch the screen.

**Touch controls on a phone held sideways.** Your left thumb steers with **Rail** and **Out**, with **Nudge** beside them. Your right thumb works **Ask** and **Hold**, with the **Crop** beside them. The marks under Crop and Nudge show how many uses are left. **Readout** does the job of `H` (it is on here), and **Views** the job of `V`.

Chapter 7

The race screen

Everything you can see from the saddle.

**Six furlongs on the dirt, a furlong and a quarter from home.** Second, 1¼ lengths behind the leader and straightening for home, sitting right on his tail — *crowded* — with the reserve already spent and the gauge in the red. All four crops and all four nudges are still there (bottom right).

That’s a desktop. On a phone the same things are laid out for your thumbs ().

Riding read-out. The numbers behind the ride. Toggle it with H or Readout. Explained below.
Aerial view. A camera above and behind you, looking the way you’re going. Your horse is ringed, and left and right match your controls.
Rail camera. A camera just ahead of you and inside, looking back over your horse. It’s mirrored, so use it to see who’s coming, not to steer. V or Views hides or shows both camera views.
Energy gauge. F to E, with the number beneath. Amber below about 40%, red below about 15%.
The call. Your position, how far you are behind the leader, and where you are, for example 3rd · 1½ back · straightening for home.
Race clock. The leader’s time at each quarter mile, then the running time. It stops when the winner reaches the wire.
Kit. Crops (top row) and nudges (bottom row) left. Spent ones are greyed. On a touchscreen these marks are on the buttons instead.
Notes (at the foot of the screen; not in this picture). Two short messages in the gate as you load: the trip, then the price you’re going off at. Once the race is running nothing is written there; you have the call, the gauge, her ears and the sounds instead.

The edges of your view also close in and darken when horses press in alongside you.

The riding read-out

Line	Meaning
par	The race’s reference pace, in metres per second: the speed at which a standard horse of this class would run exactly empty at the wire over this trip.
cruise	Your horse’s natural galloping speed when you leave her alone. It sits just above par for a front runner and below par for stalkers and closers.
speed	Her speed right now, in metres per second (17 m/s is about 38 mph).
energy	Energy left out of her full tank, with her stamina rating in brackets. Tanks run from about 530 to about 765 ().
eff	Her efficiency: the higher it is, the less it costs her to run at any given speed.
ask	How hard you’re asking at this moment, and how many times you’ve asked.
fight	How much she’s resisting your hold (shown as fight).
path	How far off the rail you are, in metres.
lost	Ground lost so far, in lengths, from running wide on the turns.
reserve	intact or spent: whether her finishing reserve is still there for the last two furlongs.
to go	Furlongs left to the wire.

On a small screen the read-out is set in two columns and leaves out the header line (the horse’s name, trip and surface).

What you’ll hear

The call to post, played by the bugler over the post parade.
The gate. The bell and the doors crashing open, and half a second in, the caller: “They’re off!”
Her hoofbeats, a stride at a time and in step with her gallop: closer together as she quickens, further apart as she tires, and duller on turf and the synthetic.
Her breathing, louder and more labored as she empties — and a snort when her tank runs dry.
A rumble that builds with the number of horses around you.
The crowd, rising from about two and a half furlongs out and cheering harder the nearer you get to the wire.
The William Tell Overture, about thirteen seconds of it, the first time in a race you hold Ask down for a full second. A tap of Ask makes no sound.
The crack of the crop, and the first time you use it in a race, a neigh from her.
A bump whenever you make contact in the running: leaning on a horse, being checked for room or shut off, clipping heels, and when you nudge a horse or one nudges you. Past the wire the gallop-out is quiet.
Her cry if she goes down.
The stands going up as you hit the wire, when the winner is you.

Chapter 8

Riding the race

Energy, position, ground, and when to go.

The post parade

Before every race the field is led out in post order while the bugler plays the call to post: first from high at the end of the stand, as the string comes down the chute onto the track, then alongside your own horse. It lasts as long as the call, about nine seconds, and then you’re in the stall. Click, or press Space, Enter or Esc, to skip it.

The start

You begin loaded in your stall. The distance is announced as you load, and then the price you’re going off at (Off at 4.10 to 1 · morning line 8-1). After a couple of seconds the bell rings, the two doors on the front of your stall swing forward and apart, the caller has them away, and the field breaks. American-style gates stand a short run-up (30 feet) behind the start line, so the field is already galloping when the leader trips the timing beam and the clock starts. Your controls come alive as the field breaks.

**Loaded in the gate** for a mile and an eighth on the dirt, with the stand behind the rail and No. 1 in the next stall. The note at the foot of the screen gives your price: off at 2.20 to 1, against a morning line of 5/2. The aerial view (top right) shows the whole field in the stalls.

How the energy works

Speed costs energy, and the cost climbs steeply. A little extra speed is cheap. A lot is very expensive. Going flat out empties a horse by the wire, so the field rides below that, and a sensible trip finishes with something still in hand.
She gets her wind back only while she travels within herself, around or below the race’s par. The slower she goes, the faster she recovers.
There’s no recovery at all in the last two furlongs. From the quarter pole to the wire you have whatever is left.
An empty horse slows down. Below about a quarter of her tank her top speed starts to fall, and when she’s nearly empty she can no longer hold racing pace.

Asking

A tap of Ask is a burst that fades away on its own over about a second and a half. Holding Ask keeps the burst up, adding up to about 1.8 m/s to her cruising speed, and charges extra energy for as long as you hold it. The first time in a race you hold it for a full second, the orchestra strikes up the William Tell — it’s music, not a signal, and it costs nothing a hold of Ask doesn’t already cost. Remember that the other riders notice: ask hard, or use the crop, within about six lengths of a rival who still has energy, and he’ll answer. He pays for it too.

Taking a hold

Taking a hold is the one free thing in a race: it costs no energy at all, whether or not she fights you. What fighting costs is brake. A horse still resenting the hold comes back to you slowly, while a settled one drops right back and travels well within herself, getting her wind back. Stalkers and closers start to settle after about three and a half seconds of steady holding. Front runners never settle, and pullers fight much harder while they do.

The crop

You have four. Each gives a strong surge (up to about 1.9 m/s) that fades over roughly four seconds, and also lifts her ceiling a little when she’s tired. Each costs a chunk of energy. Used in quick succession it bites less each time, because she stops answering it, so space them out. The crop belongs in the stretch. Early in the race it will cost you your finishing reserve.

The finishing reserve

Every horse has a finishing reserve, which you’ll see as reserve intact in the read-out. If it’s still intact when she reaches the last two furlongs, it cuts the cost of speed from there to the wire: by about a sixth for a front runner, about a third for a stalker, and more than half for a closer. It also lets her hold a little more speed as she tires. A turn of foot horse gets even more.

How the reserve is lost. About a second and a half of hard asking before the halfway point (just past half-way, strictly: 55% of the trip) spends the reserve for good. “Hard” means a full ask or a crop. A tap of Ask counts for about a quarter of a second, so roughly six taps will do it. A single crop uses up about half the allowance on its own, and two in quick succession use all of it. Holding and steering never touch it. Two extra lengths early can cost you far more than two lengths late.

Steering, the rail and ground

Ground is only lost on the turns. On the straights every path is the same length. On a turn, every metre (roughly one path) you are off the rail costs about 1.3 lengths. Four paths wide round both turns is ten lengths thrown away.
She drifts off the fence on the turns, more at speed. Horses that need room drift more; horses that like the fence drift less. A touch of steering toward the rail holds her in.
You can ride tighter to the fence than the other riders: your inside boot can be about 40 centimetres off the rail.
Steering costs a little energy, about a tenth of what asking costs, so don’t weave for no reason.

Traffic

Situation	What happens
Covered	A horse within about six lengths in front and near your line gives you cover. Without it you’re exposed, and running costs more energy. Closers mind that most and front runners hardly at all.
Crowded	Tucked in close behind another horse, within about a length and a half. It costs energy: a lot for a front runner, some for a stalker, little for a closer. Needs room makes it worse; likes the fence makes it easier.
Blocked	A slower horse right in front of you holds you to his pace. Run up on him and you’re checked — she’s snatched up with a jolt and a bump — and the chart records it as blockd.
Forcing a gap	Steer into a horse alongside and you can lean on him and force a way through. It comes slowly and costs a little speed and energy, and he may not let you out.
Squeezing through	Hold the steer toward a gap with a horse beside you or just ahead, and you ride him boot to boot. Free — see below.
Shut off	The rider you’re squeezing past comes over and closes the gap. You’re checked, and the chart says shut off.
Bumped	A bump you didn’t ask for gives her a fright, and she quickens off it for a stride or two. A nudge doesn’t: nobody gains or loses speed from one.
Nudging	Hold `Space` and press toward a horse alongside, and he goes over a path. Four a race. See below.
Clipping heels	With your horse’s head at another’s tail — charging up on his heels, or squeezing into a gap that’s closing — you can clip heels. Most of the time she stumbles and loses a lot of speed; sometimes she goes down. A fall ends the race for you: the chart shows Fell and there’s nothing to collect. Horse and rider are always unhurt.

Squeezing through a gap

Horses need a path’s width of room between them — about 1.3 metres, centre to centre — and ordinarily you give a horse that. But a real jockey can get up the fence, or between two horses, through less. So can you:

Hold the steer toward the gap — toward the rail to go up a horse’s inside, or out to go up his outside — while he is beside you or up to about six metres (two and a half lengths) ahead of you. From then on, against that horse, you ride boot to boot: body widths apart instead of a path. Once you’re upsides, it holds without the steer.
It costs nothing. No energy and no speed — the squeeze is free.
His rider may shut the door. The moment you go for his inside — or simply come up his inside going faster than he is, asked or not — he decides, once, whether to close it; asking again straight away doesn’t make him decide again. If he does, he comes across and you’re checked. How likely depends on him: a front runner’s rider does it more than half the time, a stalker’s about two times in five, a closer’s one in four. Likes the fence makes it more likely, needs room much less, and a horse who’s running on empty can hardly do it at all. He can only come across while you’re more than about two metres off his tail — once you’re closer than that, he has to hold his line. Only the inside door is ever shut: he’ll come back to the fence to keep you out, but he won’t carry himself wide to stop you going round.
You can clip his heels. While your horse’s head is between his tail and about three metres behind it, there’s a small risk of clipping his heels, and a much bigger one if the gap across is closing — which is what a rider shutting the door does. About three clips in five are a stumble; the rest are a fall.

Nothing on screen tells you how it’s going: you feel it and hear it — the bump as you go boot to boot, the jolt if the door is shut. The chart records the outcome: sqzd thru rail or split horses when you get through, shut off when you don’t, clipped heels for a stumble.

Pick your gap. Up the inside of a tiring closer who needs room is about as safe as a squeeze gets. Up the fence past a front runner who likes the rail is the worst bet on the track: his rider will shut the door more often than not, and he’ll be coming across as you arrive.

Watch your outside. In every race one of the other riders will try to sit on your outside whenever you’re racing on the inside, keeping you in. Saving ground inside is worth a lot, but plan how you’ll get out before you need to.

Nudging

A jockey can lean on a horse to force a gap, slowly; he can also give one a sharp bump to move him out of the way. That’s a nudge.

Hold Space and press ← or → (X and the stick on a gamepad; hold Nudge and press Rail or Out on a touchscreen). The horse alongside you on that side goes over one path, about 1.3 metres, in half a second, and his rider holds that new line for a second and a half. Then he’s free to come back.
Who you can nudge. A horse in the next path — within about 1.5 metres of you, centre to centre — and no more than half a length ahead of you or behind. If nobody is there, nothing happens and nothing is spent.
Four a race, a second apart. While Space is held the arrows don’t steer, so let it go to ride into the room you’ve made.
It costs nobody any speed. Neither horse slows or quickens for it, and your own horse holds her line.
Not into the rail. You can’t nudge a horse who has less than a path of room inside him, or one whose nudge would push the horses inside him into the fence. The same rule protects you.
Chains. A horse nudged into another moves that one over too, as it would really happen.
Use the room at once. It’s only yours for as long as his rider holds his line: take more than about a second and a half and it may fill again.

Nothing is written on screen: you hear the bump, and you see him go.

Look before you nudge. A horse you send into another’s path, or into a slower horse, makes somebody check for room, and a check you caused can cost you the race in the stewards’ room (). Nudge into clear ground.

How the other riders ride

They ride off the leader, not a stopwatch. That is what makes an easy lead expensive: crawl in front and the whole field simply comes with you, saving everything for the run home.
Front runners go for the lead through the first sixty per cent or so of the race, and take on anyone else who tries. Stalkers sit about three lengths off the leader. Closers sit about nine lengths back but won’t let themselves be detached.
They ride for ground. They start coming in for the rail before a turn — sooner the wider they are — and once they’ve saved ground they keep it, rather than drifting back out on the straight. A rider with a horse level on his inside tucks in behind it instead of going round, and a rider stuck behind a slower horse goes round him.
They keep a tight line until the stretch run. From about two and a half furlongs out the closers swing out to make their run.
From three furlongs out they ride for a placing. Each goes after the horse in front of him with whatever he has left, so a horse with no chance of winning still runs for third.
From the quarter pole they empty the tank, just as you should.
They don’t squeeze. Only you ride boot to boot; they keep a path’s room between them, and only shut a gap on you.
They nudge, by the same rules as you. Each rider has his own way of going about it. A clean rider almost never nudges. An ordinary one does when he’s boxed in behind a slower horse, and only into clear ground. A rough one does it readily, without looking, and now and then in a stretch duel. They lean in on the horse they mean to nudge first, so a rider edging toward you is a warning. (Who rides how is in .)

The rail is busy. With the field riding for ground and running close together, horses are checked for room often, and you will be too. The fence saves the most ground, and it’s also where you’re most likely to be shut in. Ride it, but know where your way out is — or squeeze, or nudge your way out.

Chapter 9

After the race

Reading the chart like a racing secretary.

After the wire the field gallops out for a few seconds as the stands quieten. If you won, the stands go up as you cross and Congratulations appears over the gallop-out. Then the result screen comes up.

**The result of a six-furlong Grade III on the synthetic, won.** The winner’s name is the headline. Beneath it: your finish and mount, the class, the trip and the surface, then your earnings for this race and on the day. Your own row in the chart is highlighted; *Replay stretch run* sits on the chart’s header line, with **Visit The Diplomat in the barn** under it because you won; and the **$2 Win** line closes the chart. The Diplomat, the 0.70 favourite, was blocked once, split horses and came from behind to win by 3¼ lengths. Further down, Red Hot Receipt *passed tired rival* and The Final Word made a *mild late gain*: both beaten out of contention. Under the chart is the winner’s trip note.

The chart, column by column

Column	Meaning
Pgm	Program number.
Horse (Jockey)	Horse and rider. Your row carries your own name.
Wgt	Weight carried.
M/E	Medication and equipment: L, b, Lb or a dash.
PP	Post position (the starting stall).
Start	Position as the leader trips the timing beam. As on a real chart, no margins are given at the break.
1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1M…	Position at each quarter mile of the leader’s run, up to the stretch call. The small figure is the margin to the next horse back: nose, head, neck, then lengths in quarters.
Str	The stretch call, taken as the leader reaches the top of the stretch, about a furlong and a half out. It is always the last call before the finish: a quarter that falls after it (the 3/4 at seven furlongs, the mile at nine) is timed in the fractions but not called, as on a real chart. So six and seven furlongs read Start, 1/4, 1/2, Str; a mile and nine furlongs add 3/4; a mile and a quarter adds 3/4 and 1M.
Fin	Where the horse crossed the wire, and the margin to the next one across. Fell if the horse came down. After a disqualification the rows are in the official order, the disqualified horse’s placing carries DQ, and the horses moved up carry Plcd.
Odds	The final odds, written to one (`4.20` is 4.20 to 1, `0.60` is 3-5). `*` marks the favorite at post time. These can differ from the morning line on the card ().
Earned	The horse’s share of the purse. The first five are paid.
Comments	The chart-caller’s shorthand (see below).

Under the chart: Fractional times (the leader’s elapsed time at each quarter), Split times (each quarter on its own, then the last part), the Run-up (30 feet), the Final time, which is taken from the timing beam, with the time from the gate beside it, and $2 Win: the winner’s number, name and what a $2 win ticket paid — the $2 stake back plus twice his odds, so a 2.40 winner pays $6.80.

**The $2 Win line** under the final time. The Diplomat won at 0.70 to 1, so a $2 ticket paid **$3.40**. The Odds column above gives the final odds.

A chart and a form line count lengths differently. In the chart above, the small figure beside a position is the margin that horse held over the horse behind him. In the form book () it is the lengths he was behind the leader. Both are real racing conventions, and they are not interchangeable: the same trip reads 2 lengths in one place and 5 lengths in the other without either being wrong.

The stewards

A nudge that makes a horse check for room within two seconds — the horse you moved, or a horse he was moved into the path of — is interference, whoever did it. As soon as the winner is home the tote board on the big screen shows INQUIRY instead of UNOFFICIAL, and the stewards look at it.

Disqualified if the horse checked finished behind the rider who nudged and within three lengths of him: close enough that it may have cost him the placing. The rider is placed directly behind that horse (behind the last of them, if he checked more than one).
In the first ten seconds of a race, while the field is still packed together out of the gate, interference is a disqualification at any margin.
No change if the horse checked beat him anyway, or finished further back.

With an inquiry on, the race doesn’t end on the chart. It ends on the tote board: INQUIRY flashing in red, the order as they crossed the wire, the numbers of the horses involved flashing, and Please hold all tickets along the foot. About six seconds on, the stewards rule: INQUIRY goes out, OFFICIAL lights, the order goes official, the winner’s $2 price goes up and the ruling is posted (No change, or which horse is disqualified, from where to where). Two seconds later the chart comes up, official, with the ruling in a box above it. A click or any key skips the board. A note under the chart gives it in full — who was disqualified, from where to where, for interference with whom and where on the track — and the trip notes say who was placed and why. Purses, the record book, the $2 win board and the form book all go by the official result; the form line keeps where the horse crossed the wire, marked DQ 3rd or Plcd 1st. The other riders are judged by the same rules, so you can be placed up as well as down.

Watch the inquiry on the chart’s header line plays the patrol film of each incident ().

Chart comments

Each comment has up to four parts: where the horse was early, the path it took, any trouble, and how it finished. How it finished is judged from the last call (the stretch call) to the wire, and on whether the horse was in contention: in the first three, or beaten no more than three lengths. A horse out of it isn’t said to have ran on just because he passed a tired one.

Shorthand	Meaning
pace	Led at the early call, taken just over a quarter of the way into the race.
prssd pace	Pressed the pace: 2nd or 3rd early.
mid pack / off pace	4th–5th early / 6th–8th early.
ins / 2p / 3w / wide	The path, judged on total ground lost: under 1½ lengths (inside), 1½–4, 4–7, and 7 or more.
blockd / blockd twice	Checked for room once / two or more times.
shut off	Went for a gap and had the door shut.
sqzd thru rail / split horses	Squeezed through: up the fence / between two horses.
clipped heels	Clipped heels and stumbled, but stayed up.
drew clr / held on / up late	Won: clear by more than 3 lengths after leading at the last call / led at the last call and held on / came from behind.
led, caught late / led, gave way	Led at the last call, then was beaten into second / into third or worse.
rallied / ran on	In contention: gained two or more places / one place from the last call to the finish.
mild rally / mild late gain	Out of contention, but gained a place or more and made up ground on the leaders: 3 lengths or more / 1 to 3 lengths.
passed tired rival(s)	Out of contention, and gained a place or more only because horses in front tired: he lost ground on the winner himself.
dropped back / gave way late	Lost two or more places / lost one place from the last call.
wknd late	Weakened late: faded in the last furlong with almost nothing left.
held pos	Kept the same place in the first three.
no bid / no late kick	In contention, but kept the same place outside the first three: with plenty of energy left, so was never really asked / with no more to give.
no factor	Out of contention and kept the same place.
clipped heels, fell	Came down.
…, DQ	Disqualified by the stewards. The comment describes the race as he ran it.

The same shorthand is used in the Comment column of the form book, so a line you read there is written in the language you already know from the chart.

Trip notes

Click or tap any runner in the chart to read its trip note in full sentences below. Yours is shown first. For example: Away smartly and stalked the pace in fourth, carried wide on the turns, was shut off when trying to improve, was passed inside the final furlong. A horse beaten out of it is described as one: passed a tiring rival late but was never a factor, made some late headway without threatening, rallied mildly through the lane but was never a threat, was never a factor. Under the note are the horse’s ground lost, energy left, position at the first call, how often it was checked, and, for your horse, how many crops you used.

How hard a horse was ridden is written the way a chart writes it. For your horse it follows your crop count: none or one is under a hand ride, two is handily, three or four is driving. For the others it follows how much energy they had left.

A visit to the barn

When you’ve won, a second link sits under Replay stretch run: Visit and your winner’s name, in the barn. Take it and you’re back at the barn with her after the race, seen through your own eyes; what happens there is for you to find out. It lasts about fifteen seconds and then brings you back to the chart — or click, or press Space, Enter or Esc, to come back sooner. The link is offered once, and goes when you’ve used it. It belongs to the chart straight after the race only, so Past charts don’t carry it, and it changes nothing in the book.

If you came down

A fall ends the race for you — but not for the others. The rest of the field runs on and finishes the race, so the chart has its real times, margins, fractions and calls, and every other runner’s comment tells his own story. Your horse is listed at the foot as Fell, with a dash at every call after the fall and a note underneath saying where it happened. She is always back on her feet at once and walks off sound, and the rider is unhurt. The ride still counts as a start in the record book and on the $2 win board, takes its line in the form book, and nothing is earned. The stretch replay is there as usual, with her out of the picture.

Chapter 10

The stretch replay

The run home, from the grandstand roof.

Choose Replay stretch run on the chart’s header line, either on the result screen straight after a race or on any chart in Past charts. The screen changes to the track seen from the stands, and the field runs the last quarter mile again, exactly as it was run, every horse in his own saddle cloth and every rider in his own silks, with his own face.

**From the camera at the top of the stretch** as the leader passes the quarter pole.

**From the camera at the wire,** looking up the stretch at the eighth pole.

What you see

Two cameras and one cut. The camera at the top of the stretch has the field coming off the turn and past it. Once the leader is about a furlong and a quarter out, the picture cuts to the camera at the wire, which takes them the rest of the way home.
The camera follows the leaders, framing the front of the field and bringing your horse into the picture when she’s close enough to share it. When the winner hits the wire it stays with the ones who were up there with him, and the replay ends a couple of seconds later, on the winner.
Your horse wears a ring, as she does in the aerial view. Her name and program number are shown bottom left. If you came down, it says so, and she isn’t in the picture.
The poles are called as the leader passes them: the quarter pole, the eighth pole, the sixteenth pole, and the wire. The crowd rises as they come home.
The header (top left) names the day, the race and the winner, with the trip. A gold bar along the bottom shows how far through the replay you are.
The big screen in the infield shows the replay too, with STRETCH RUN on its tote board.

Replay controls

Button	What it does
Half speed	Toggles slow motion. The horses’ legs slow down with the picture.
Play again	Starts the replay again from the beginning.
Back to chart	Returns you to the chart you came from, at the same scroll position. `Esc` does the same.

The patrol film

Every inquiry is filmed, as the stewards’ patrol cameras film a real race. Watch the inquiry sits beside Replay stretch run on the chart’s header line, on the result screen and in Past charts, whenever the race had one.

Each incident twice: first head-on, from a camera up the track in front of the two horses, then from the air, above and behind them. It runs from about three seconds before the nudge to three and a half after, wherever on the track it happened, chutes included.
The rider who nudged is ringed in gold and the horse checked in white, both named bottom left. A caption marks the moment of the nudge (No. 3 nudges No. 5).
It plays at half speed to start with; Half speed toggles it, as in the stretch replay. Play again starts it over; Back to chart or Esc returns you.
Up to three incidents a race are kept, one after another, each counted in the header.

Where replays are kept. A replay is saved alongside its chart, one for each of your stored charts. If the browser runs short of space, the oldest replays go first and the charts are always kept. That can leave an older chart without its Replay stretch run link. Charts ridden before version 12 never had one, and replays from before version 28 show plain saddle cloths in the stables’ colours.

Chapter 11

The form book

What a horse has done before today.

Every runner on the race card carries a Past performances link, and every horse on the home page’s Horses board is one. It opens that horse’s form: his breeding and connections at the top left, his record at this track at the top right, and his starts underneath, newest first, one line each. The button at the top takes you back where you came from — Back to the card, to where you were on the program, or Back to home.

**Ethereal Static’s past performances, after the day 5 Grade I.** The shaded line at the top is the Grade I you rode him in on 26 January: sixth at seven furlongs, after pressing the pace. The four below it, dated 23 November to 6 January, are his pre-meet. His paperwork is top left, and the record boxes top right.

Where the form comes from

Every line on the page is a race that was actually run, by the same physics as the race you ride. They come from two places:

The pre-meet. The first time you open the game, before the meet opens, every horse on the grounds runs four races: twelve cards of the same five races, each class split into fields of eight. They’re run unseen, in a couple of seconds, and dated in the weeks before the meet (late November to early January). So the page is real from its first line: the figures are what he ran, and the horses he beat, and was beaten by, are horses you’ll meet on the card.
Races on the card. Every race you ride writes a line for all eight runners, not just your mount. The lines of races you rode him in are shaded, with your name in the jockey column.

The page prints the last ten lines for each horse, so as a horse runs on the card his pre-meet lines drop off the bottom of the page — but they still count in his record box.

The record book on the home page is a different thing and counts only races on the card. So a horse can show six starts on his form page and two in the standings, and both are right.

The record boxes

Top right, the way a form page sets them:

Row	What it counts
Total	Every start he has had at this track, the pre-meet included — also the ones too old to be printed on the page.
2026 / 2025	The same, for this year and last. Most of the pre-meet falls in 2025.
Dirt / Synth / Turf	His record on each surface.

Each row gives starts, firsts, seconds, thirds, money earned, and Best — the highest speed figure he has run for that row. A horse who has never run on turf shows a row of noughts, which is worth knowing before you take the ride.

Reading a line, left to right

Column	What it is
Date	The day of the race, and beside it the race number and the track — always RTR. The meet opened on 10 January 2026 and each card moves the calendar on four days, so a horse who runs every third card has about a fortnight between his starts. The pre-meet ran on the same calendar in the weeks before.
Trk	The going: fst fast dirt, fm firm turf, ft the synthetic. The small letter beside it marks the course: Ⓣ turf, Ⓐ all-weather, nothing for dirt.
Dist	The trip: 6f, 7f, 1m, 1⅛ or 1¼.
Fractions & final	The leader’s time at each of the last three quarter-mile calls the race took, then the final time in bold. Counting back from the wire like that means a sprint or a mile starts at the quarter and a longer trip starts at the half, and the final time sits in the same column whatever the race.
Race	The class: Clm 50000, Alw 100000, Listed 200k, GrIII 500k or GrI 1000k. A horse only ever runs in his own class.
PF / SF	The pace figure and the speed figure (below).
PP	The post position he broke from.
Points of call	Where he was, four times in the race (below).
Fin	Where he finished, and how far behind the winner. Fell if he came down.
Jockey	Who rode him. Your own name on races you rode.
Wgt	Weight carried, with L in front of it if he raced on Lasix. (Lines from before version 47 may also show b, for the blinkers green horses wore then.)
Odds	The price he went off at, with `*` if he was favourite: the final odds. A line you rode before version 16 carries the morning line.
First three home	The first three past the post with their weights, and the margin each held over the next one. His own name is in there when he ran well enough.
Comment	The chart-caller’s shorthand, the same as the chart’s ().

Points of call

The four columns in the middle are where the horse was at four moments in the race, and which four depends on the trip:

Sprints (six and seven furlongs): the break, the quarter, the half, and the stretch.
Routes (a mile and further): the quarter, the half, the three-quarters, and the stretch.

A sprint takes exactly those four calls. A route also takes a call at the break, and a mile and a quarter one at the mile as well; those are recorded but not printed, because a page of mixed trips has to read straight down its columns. A route line’s first figure is therefore the quarter-mile call where a sprint line’s is the break.

The small figure is the lengths he was behind the leader, and in the Fin column the lengths he was behind the winner. A horse in front carries what he held over the next one instead, and at the break there is no figure at all — the field is still a bunch of noses there and the fractions of a length between them mean nothing.

This is not how the chart counts. The chart gives each horse’s margin over the horse behind him; a form line gives his distance behind the leader. Both conventions are used in real racing, and mixing them up will have you reading a beaten horse as a close one. 5³½ on a form line means fifth, three and a half lengths off the leader.

The two figures

SF is the speed figure and PF the pace figure. They are the track’s own, worked out from the times actually run: SF from the horse’s final time, PF from his position at the half-mile against the leader’s fraction there. Both are set against par for the trip.

The number	What it means
77	About what a claimer runs
85	An allowance horse
92	A listed-class winner — par
99	Grade III
107	Grade I

A class is worth about seven points, and the field in one race comes home within a few points of each other. So a claimer who runs 85 has run to allowance class, and is worth a second look; a Grade I horse who runs 95 had a bad day or a bad trip, and the comment usually says which.

A horse who finished a long way back — because his rider never asked him, for instance — will show a very low figure. That is honest: he ran that slowly.

What to look for before you take a ride

The trip. A horse whose good figures all come at six and seven furlongs is telling you something about today’s mile and a quarter.
The surface. Check the Dirt / Synth / Turf rows before you take a ride on a surface he’s never seen.
The shape of his races. A front runner who is first or second at every early call, then fourth at the wire, is a horse who needs a soft lead. A closer whose lines read 7, 6, 6, 2 is a horse with one run — give him one.
Trouble. Blockd or shut off two lines running, or wide every time, is a horse who has been getting a bad trip rather than a horse who can’t run.
The price. A horse whose figures are good and whose morning line is long is the bet you can’t have and the ride you can — and bringing one like that home is exactly what the $2 win board rewards.

Chapter 12

Money and the record book

Ten per cent of what your horse earns — and what $2 on you would have paid.

The first five finishers are paid: 60%, 20%, 10%, 6% and 4% of the purse. As the rider, your earnings are 10% of whatever your horse earns. Because the purses rise so sharply through the card, the last two races are worth far more than the first three put together.

Class	Purse	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
$50k Claiming	$80,000	$4,800	$1,600	$800	$480	$320
$100k Allowance	$100,000	$6,000	$2,000	$1,000	$600	$400
$200k Listed	$200,000	$12,000	$4,000	$2,000	$1,200	$800
Grade III	$500,000	$30,000	$10,000	$5,000	$3,000	$2,000
Grade I	$1,000,000	$60,000	$20,000	$10,000	$6,000	$4,000

The most a perfect day can earn you is $112,800. The result screen shows your earnings for each race and your running total for the day. After the fifth race it sums up the day, for example Day 5 complete — 1 winner from five rides, $36,000 in earnings.

The record book

Every race you ride is entered in the record book. Every horse in the race gets a start, its placing and its share of the purse, and its rider gets the ten per cent he would really take. Your own record at the top of the home page counts your starts, your placings and your earnings; in the jockeys’ standings you’re under your own name, highlighted, and the figures there are the same figures. Only races you’ve actually ridden are counted, so the book fills up as you go — and the pre-meet () is not part of it.

Jockeys are ranked on their ten per cent of the purses; horses on the purses themselves.
Ties are broken on wins, then on the fewest starts.
Each table shows the top ten. Horse names are shown in title case here (Only Shallow), where the card and chart use capitals, and each one is a link to his form.

The $2 win board

Earnings reward winning the big races. The $2 Win ROI board, in the middle of the home page, rewards something else: winning on horses nobody fancied.

Every ride a jockey takes counts as a $2 win ticket on his horse, paid at the horse’s final odds. A winner returns the $2 stake plus twice the odds; a loser, or a horse that falls, returns nothing.

Winner’s final odds	$2 ticket returns
0.80 (4-5)	$3.60
2.50 (5-2)	$7.00
8.40	$18.80
20.00	$42.00

For each jockey the board shows:

Column	Meaning
Sts	Starts counted on the board (from version 16 on).
1st	Winners.
$2 Avg	Average return per $2: everything his tickets returned, divided by his starts.
ROI	The same figure as a gain or loss: $2.94 is +47%, $1.40 is −30%, $0.00 is −100%.

**The $2 win board**, in the middle of the home page. After five days seven riders — you among them — have their fifteen starts and are ranked; three wait below the line.

A jockey needs 15 starts to be ranked. Ranked jockeys come first, highest average return at the top, ties broken on wins and then the fewest starts. Below a line, in grey, come those still short of 15, most starts first. You’re always on the board, highlighted, even if you’re outside the ten shown. You ride five races a day and each of the other twelve riders gets about three, so everyone reaches 15 in five or six days.

What a good number looks like. The track keeps a cut of every pool, which is why final odds are shorter than a fair price. A jockey whose horses win just about as often as their odds say will average less than $2.00. Across 240 simulated races, the average jockey came out at about $1.46 (−27%), so anything above that is riding better than the field, and above $2.00 you’re bringing home more longshots than the betting expected — the favourite at 4-5 barely moves the number, but one 20-1 winner in fifteen rides is worth $42 on its own.

The board is a statistic, not a wager. Nothing is bet, and it has no effect on your earnings. It started fresh in version 16 for every jockey, because earlier versions never recorded the price a horse went off at.

Past charts

The last thirty charts are kept. Older ones drop off as new ones are added.

Chapter 13

Saving your progress

Automatic, and kept in this browser.

There’s nothing to save by hand. The game keeps these in the browser’s storage as you go:

Your name, asked for once on the first load.
The record book: your record, the jockey and horse standings, and the $2 win board.
The day: the day number, the five-race card, which race is next, the mount you’ve taken, and the day’s earnings so far.
Your last thirty charts, and a replay for each while there’s room.
The form book: the last ten lines for every horse on the grounds, starting with the pre-meet, which is run once, on the first load, and kept with it — and a running tally of the older lines, so each horse’s Total stays whole.
Your Graphics level ().

Worth knowing

A race in progress isn’t saved. Close the page mid-race — or mid-parade — and that race doesn’t count. You come back to the same race card with the same mount, ready to ride it again — and the final odds are struck again when you do.
The barn visit isn’t kept. It’s offered once, on the chart straight after a win; Past charts don’t carry it.
Switch away and the race waits. Change tabs or put your phone down mid-race and the race pauses, with the sound, until you come back.
Each browser keeps its own record. A different browser, device or browser profile starts from scratch, with a pre-meet of its own. A private or incognito window may not keep anything once it’s closed.
If storage runs short, form lines give way first, then replays. Charts are kept longest.
Starting over. Clearing the site’s data in your browser settings wipes the record book, the day, the charts, the replays and the form book together. There is no reset button in the game. The next load runs a fresh pre-meet, so every horse’s first four lines will be different races.

Chapter 14

Phones and tablets

Two thumbs and a sideways phone.

Turn the phone sideways. The race is best ridden in landscape. If you start upright, the game reminds you once (“turn sideways for the wider view”), and upright play still works with a wider field of view.
The layout changes on small screens. The gauge moves to the top left, the two camera views sit along the top, and the bottom corners are left for your thumbs. Views hides the camera views if you want more of the track.
Tap the post parade to skip it.
The screen stays awake while you ride, so it won’t dim and lock in the middle of a mile and a quarter.
Graphics start on Medium. Phones and tablets start at the Medium level, with a smaller cap on sharpness than a desktop. Graphics on the home page steps to Full or Low ().
The form page is built for a wide window. On a phone it scrolls sideways rather than reflowing; the date, going and distance stay where you can see them as you scroll.
Add it to your home screen to run it full screen, in the masthead navy.

The phone version hasn’t had its final tuning yet: that comes once the desktop game is finished.

Chapter 15

Riding tips

Don't confuse activity with good riding.

Your first day

Start on stalkers. You don’t have to fight for the lead or drop out of the race, so they’re the most forgiving style. Turn the read-out on, settle a few lengths behind the leaders with some cover, stay close to the rail on the turns, and watch the energy gauge. Don’t ask hard before halfway unless something clearly calls for it. As you come to the final turn, start thinking about your position and how much you have left for the finish.

By running style

Style	Do	Don’t
Front runner	Break sharply, cross to the rail, and let him roll at his natural pace. Keep something back for the lane: rivals ride for a placing from three furlongs out.	Take a hold (he won’t settle), or get into a speed duel with another front runner that empties both of you.
Stalker	Sit three lengths off with cover, save ground, and start your move at the quarter pole with the reserve intact.	Get boxed in on the rail with a horse parked on your outside and no exit — or nudge him out of it.
Closer	Drop in, take a hold until she settles, save ground, and let her loose once you straighten, where the big reserve pays off.	Wait too long: from the quarter pole there’s no recovery, and energy left at the wire is wasted.

Common mistakes

Asking early. A couple of seconds of hard asking before halfway spends the reserve for good.
Running wide. Each metre off the rail on a turn is about 1.3 lengths. On the straights it costs nothing, so that’s the place to angle out.
Leaving the rail too late. The field packs in along the fence. If you’ll need to come out for your run, start before the horses round you close the door — or be ready to squeeze.
Squeezing up a front runner’s inside. His rider shuts the door more often than not. The gap inside a tired closer or a horse who needs room is a far better bet.
Sitting on his heels in a closing gap. Once the door is shutting, the clip risk climbs fast. Take back and go round, or get your head past his quarters quickly.
Firing the crops together. They lose their bite in quick succession. Space them through the last furlong and a half.
Charging into traffic. Running up on a horse’s heels gets you checked, and at worst brings you down.
Nudging into traffic. Send a horse into another’s path and somebody checks, and if he finishes close behind you, you’re disqualified. Nudge into clear ground, and move into the room at once.
Nudging early. In the first ten seconds any interference is a disqualification, at any margin.
Crawling on the lead. The field rides off the leader, so a slow pace just hands everyone a breather.
Taking the ride before reading the form. A minute on the past performances will often tell you which of the eight actually wants today’s trip.

The most important lesson. Asking, steering and the crop all have a purpose, but every unnecessary effort leaves your horse with less energy when it matters most. The best rides often look like you did very little until the quarter pole.

Riding for the $2 board

Earnings and the $2 board pull in different directions. The favourite in the Grade I is your best chance at the day’s biggest cheque, but even if he wins he adds little to your average. A 15-1 shot in the claimer is worth little in earnings, but win on him and he carries your average for a week. The form book is where the value hides: a horse with good figures, a bad trip last time and a long morning line is the ride that moves the board.

Learn from the chart, the replay and the form

After every race, read your trip note and your comments. Were you wide? Blockd? Shut off? Did she wknd late (you went too soon) or finish with no bid (too late, energy left over)? Then watch the replay to see where the winner made his move.

A day or two later, when you meet the same horse again, open her past performances. The line you rode is in there with your name on it, next to her pre-meet and the lines other riders got out of her — which is the clearest way there is to see whether the trip you gave her was the one she wanted.

Chapter 16

Troubleshooting and questions

When something doesn't look right.

Problem or question	Answer
There’s no sound.	Browsers only allow sound once you’ve interacted with the page, so it starts with your first race. On an iPhone or iPad, check the silent switch. If the sound stops after a call or a screen lock, touching the riding controls wakes it again.
The 3D view is black, or the game won’t load.	The game needs WebGL and, for the single-file version, an internet connection as it loads. Make sure hardware acceleration is on in your browser settings and that the browser is up to date.
The race looks choppy, or the picture looks soft.	That’s the Graphics setting on the home page. Step down a level if it’s choppy, up a level if your computer has room to spare ().
A progress bar came up before it asked my name.	That’s the pre-meet: every horse running its four races before the meet opens, so the form book starts full. It takes a couple of seconds and happens once.
My gamepad does nothing.	Press a button after the page has loaded; browsers only reveal a gamepad once it’s been used. Pads with the standard layout work best.
Choose mount doesn’t pick a horse.	It only scrolls down to the runners. Click or tap a horse to take the ride.
I don’t want to watch the parade every race.	Click it, or press `Space`, `Enter` or `Esc`, and you go straight to the gate.
The race stopped when I switched tabs.	That’s deliberate: the race waits for you. Come back to carry on.
My record has disappeared.	You’re probably in a different browser or profile, or a private window, or the site’s data has been cleared. The record lives in one browser only.
I keep getting shut in on the rail.	The other riders ride for ground, so the field runs tight to the fence. Plan your way out before you need it, sit a path off the rail on the straights, where it costs nothing — or hold the steer and squeeze through.
I pressed Space and an arrow, and nothing happened.	Nobody was in reach. The horse has to be in the next path — within about 1.5 metres across — and no more than half a length ahead or behind. You also can’t nudge a horse into the rail, within a second of your last nudge, or after your fourth. Nothing is spent when a nudge doesn’t happen ().
I won and was placed third.	The stewards disqualified you. One of your nudges made a horse check for room, and he finished within three lengths of you — or it happened in the first ten seconds, where any margin counts. The note under the chart says which horse, and where, and Watch the inquiry shows you ().
Nothing happened when I pressed Ask.	A tap of Ask is silent. She still answers — watch the ask line in the read-out.
The William Tell didn’t play.	It plays the first time in a race that you hold Ask down for a full second, and only once a race. A shorter hold, or a second hold, is silent.
The William Tell stopped halfway through.	A fall cuts all the recordings off. Otherwise it plays to its end, even after you let go of Ask.
She only neighed once.	She answers the first crop of a race. After that it’s just the crack.
There’s no barn link on my chart.	It’s only there after a race you’ve won, on the chart straight after the race, and only until you’ve used it. Past charts don’t have it.
The trip note calls my horse “he”, but this guide says “she”.	The game says she or he as the horse is; the guide just keeps to “she”. The breeding line on the card gives the horse’s sex.
Why did I get shut off?	You went for a gap and the other rider closed it. Front runners’ riders and horses who like the fence do it most ().
Why did I come down?	You clipped the heels of the horse in front — running up on him much faster than he was going, or squeezing into a gap as it closed.
I fell and the race kept going.	The rest of the field runs on without you, so the chart, the form lines and the replay are all complete.
My horse gained a place but the chart says no factor or passed tired rival.	Ran on and rallied are only for a horse in contention — in the first three, or within three lengths of the winner. A horse well beaten who picked off a tired one is charted as that ().
An old chart has a 3/4 column after Str, or says ran on of a horse well beaten.	Charts keep the words and columns they were written with. Charts ridden before version 35.2 took a call at every quarter and judged ran on by places alone.
The odds in the chart aren’t the ones on the card.	The card gives the morning line; the chart gives the final odds, the price the horse actually went off at. They’re usually close but never quite the same ().
The favourite on the card isn’t starred in the chart.	The star follows the final odds. Now and then the betting makes a different horse favourite.
I’m on the $2 board but below the line.	A jockey needs 15 starts to be ranked. That’s five or six days of riding.
Why is almost everyone’s ROI negative?	The track keeps a cut of every pool, so a jockey whose horses win about as often as their odds say averages under $2.00. Positive ROI means beating the odds ().
Can a horse run twice in a day?	No. Each class runs once a day, and every race draws from its own class’s twenty-four horses.
It never asked for my name.	It asks once, on a first load. If you skipped it, or want to change it, use the change link under Your record on the home page.
A horse’s form shows races that weren’t on the card.	Those are his pre-meet: the four races every horse ran before the meet opened. Races you rode him in are the shaded lines, with your name on them.
His Total is more than the lines on the page.	The page prints the last ten; Total counts every start he’s had here ().
Why is a beaten horse’s margin so much bigger on his form than it was in the chart?	They count differently. A chart gives the margin over the horse behind; a form line gives the lengths behind the leader. See .
A form line has no figures, just dashes.	The horse came down, so there is no final time to read a figure off.
An old chart has no replay link.	It was ridden before version 12, or its replay was dropped to make room.
An old chart has a group of horses beaten thirty lengths, all blockd.	That’s a fault in version 16 and earlier that let two horses side by side slow each other right down. Version 17 fixed it.
Why won’t my horse settle?	Front runners never do, and pullers fight hard. With a puller, take hold earlier and stay with it.
Why was I checked for room?	You ran up on a slower horse directly in front of you. Pull out a path before you get there, or squeeze past him.
Does weight or Lasix matter?	No. They’re part of the horse’s paperwork, not its ability.
Can I claim, buy or bet on horses?	No. It’s a jockey’s game. The claiming price is only a class level, and the $2 win board is a statistic: nothing is ever wagered.

Appendix A

Glossary

Racing words used in the game and in this guide.

Term	Meaning
$2 win price	What a $2 ticket on the winner paid: the stake back plus twice his final odds. Printed under the chart.
Allowance	A race class above claiming, run under written conditions about what the horses have won.
Barn area	Where the horses are stabled at the track. In the game it stands outside the far turn.
Big screen	The infield board facing the stands: the race on the left, the tote on the right.
Boot to boot	Two horses racing so close together that their riders’ boots nearly touch. What a squeeze is.
Call to post	The bugle call that brings the field out onto the track before a race.
Chute	A straight extension off the oval that lets races start on a straight.
Claiming race	The lowest class, where every horse is entered for a claiming price. In the game the price is only a class level.
Closer	A horse that runs best from well back with one late run.
Cover	Horses in front of you to run behind, out of the wind.
Crop	The rider’s whip.
Crowded	Tucked in close behind another horse, with nowhere to go. It costs a horse energy, some more than others.
Daylight	Open track between one horse’s tail and the next one’s nose.
Disqualified (DQ)	Placed lower by the stewards for interference. In the game, placed directly behind the horse interfered with.
Driving / handily / hand ride	How hard a horse was ridden to the wire, from hardest to easiest.
Earnings	Your share of a race: ten per cent of what your horse earns.
Eighth, quarter and sixteenth poles	Markers one furlong, two furlongs and half a furlong from the wire.
Exposed	Running with no horse in front to follow.
Final odds	The price a horse actually went off at, struck by the tote as the field loads. Printed in the chart and the form book.
Form	A horse’s record of recent races; the past performances.
Fractions	The leader’s elapsed time at each quarter mile.
Front runner	A horse that runs best on the lead.
Furlong	An eighth of a mile, about 201 metres. Races in the game run from 6 to 10 furlongs.
Graded stakes	The top races: Grade I, II and III. The game runs a Grade III and a Grade I each day.
Ground loss	Extra distance covered by running wide on a turn.
In contention	In the first three, or within three lengths of the winner. Only a horse in contention is charted ran on or rallied.
Inquiry	The stewards looking into the running of a race. Shown on the tote board, and on the result screen until the result is official.
Interference	Making another horse check for room. In the game, a check within two seconds of a nudge, by the horse moved or one moved into his path.
Lasix (L)	A raceday medication shown on programs. Paperwork only in the game.
Length	The length of a horse, about 2.4 metres. The unit for margins.
Listed stakes	A stakes race just below graded level.
Longshot	A horse at a long price, one the betting gives little chance.
Morning line	The track handicapper’s estimated odds, printed on the program.
Nose, head, neck	The smallest margins, in that order.
Nudge	A deliberate bump that sends the horse alongside you over a path. Four a race.
Official	The result once the stewards are done with it. Purses and the books go by the official order.
Pace figure (PF)	A number for how fast the horse was going at the half-mile, against par.
Par	In the game, the reference pace for the race’s class and distance — and, for the figures, the time a listed-class horse runs.
Past performances	A horse’s form, one line a start, as the Racing Form sets it.
Path	A lane’s width out from the rail. 2p is two paths out, 3w three wide.
Patrol film	The stewards’ film of a race, head-on and from the side. In the game, Watch the inquiry plays it for each incident.
Placed	Moved up the order by a disqualification; or, for the one disqualified, put down it.
Points of call	The moments in a race at which a horse’s position is recorded.
Post parade	The field walking out in post order before the race, to the call to post.
Post position	The starting stall. No. 1 is on the inside.
Pre-meet	The four races every horse runs before the meet opens, the first time the game loads. The oldest lines in the form book.
Rail (fence)	The inside running rail. The shortest way round.
ROI	Return on investment: on the $2 board, how much a jockey’s $2 tickets gained or lost, as a percentage of what they cost.
Route	A race of a mile or further. Under a mile is a sprint.
Run-up	The distance between the gate and the start line where timing begins: 30 feet in the game.
Saddle cloth	The numbered cloth under the saddle, in the colour of the horse’s post, with his name.
Shut off	Had a gap closed in front of you by another rider.
Silks	The owner’s racing colors, worn by the rider.
Speed figure (SF)	A number for how fast the race was run, off the final time against par. 92 is a listed-class winner.
Split horses	Went through the gap between two horses.
Sprint	A race under a mile. A mile or further is a route.
Squeeze	To go through a gap narrower than a path, boot to boot with the horse beside you.
Stalker	A horse that runs best just behind the leaders.
Stewards	The officials who rule on the running of a race, and disqualify a rider for interference.
Stretch	The final straight to the wire.
Tote	The totalisator: the machine that takes the betting and works out the odds.
Trip	The distance of a race; also the story of how a horse’s race went.
Wire	The finish line.

Appendix B

The roster

All 120 horses, with the quirks the card doesn't print, and how the riders ride.

Skip this if you’d rather discover your horses by riding them — or by reading their form, which is the slower and more enjoyable way round. Tank is the horse’s full energy supply, as shown on the gauge.

Show the roster (spoilers)

$50,000 Claiming

Horse	Style	Quirks	Tank
Big Hat Benny	Front	needs room	552
County Line King	Front	turn of foot, likes the fence	546
Duke of Hazards	Front	likes the fence, turn of foot	546
Hot Pocket	Front	—	552
Mississippi Moonshine	Front	likes the fence	567
Red Dirt Rebel	Front	tough	588
Royal Ruckus	Front	needs room	552
Turbo Biscuit	Front	puller, needs room	541
Lady Side-Eye	Stalker	puller	577
Mostly Harmless	Stalker	needs room	587
Peaches McGee	Stalker	turn of foot	566
Quiet Riot Act	Stalker	—	587
Ruby Two Shoes	Stalker	—	587
Second Breakfast	Stalker	—	587
Sir Gallop	Stalker	—	587
Velvet Hammer	Stalker	—	587
Backstretch Betty	Closer	puller	617
Crown and Anchor	Closer	likes the fence, puller	633
Last Call Larry	Closer	tough	664
Midnight Snack	Closer	needs room, puller	617
Moonlit Pickpocket	Closer	needs room	628
No Hurry Harry	Closer	turn of foot	607
Sneaky Pete’s Revenge	Closer	—	628
The Long Con	Closer	puller	617

$100,000 Allowance

Horse	Style	Quirks	Tank
Bluegrass Bullet	Front	tough	617
Brass Lantern	Front	likes the fence	596
First Dominion	Front	turn of foot	559
Gallant Mischief	Front	—	580
King’s Highway	Front	tough, likes the fence	632
March of Kings	Front	—	580
Queen of the Prairie	Front	—	580
Sunday Shoes	Front	puller	569
Borrowed Time	Stalker	likes the fence	632
Clever as Sin	Stalker	needs room, turn of foot	595
Count the Roses	Stalker	tough, needs room	653
Lady Marmalade	Stalker	—	616
Proper Nuisance	Stalker	tough	653
Silver Lining	Stalker	puller	606
Velvet Regency	Stalker	turn of foot	595
Velvet Rope	Stalker	likes the fence	632
After the Parade	Closer	—	657
Autumn Sovereign	Closer	—	657
Lasting Impression	Closer	puller	647
Late to the Party	Closer	likes the fence	673
Long Division	Closer	—	657
Midnight Province	Closer	turn of foot	636
The Back Nine	Closer	tough	694
Whispering Pines	Closer	—	657

$200,000 Listed

Horse	Style	Quirks	Tank
August Empire	Front	—	608
Blue Renegade	Front	likes the fence	624
Copper Comet	Front	puller	598
Desert Crown	Front	puller, needs room	598
Ghost of Glory	Front	—	608
Golden Province	Front	—	608
Thunder Parish	Front	likes the fence	624
Fool’s Triumph	Stalker	tough	682
Iron Promise	Stalker	needs room	645
Lucky Lucy	Stalker	turn of foot	624
Northern Gambit	Stalker	—	645
Ransom Note	Stalker	needs room	645
Red Meridian	Stalker	—	645
Royal Detour	Stalker	turn of foot, likes the fence	640
Silver Rebellion	Stalker	tough	682
Blacktop Angel	Closer	needs room	687
Brass Eclipse	Closer	likes the fence	703
Crimson Harbor	Closer	puller	677
King’s Misfortune	Closer	needs room, tough	724
Last Testament	Closer	—	687
Midnight Verdict	Closer	needs room	687
Railborne	Closer	turn of foot, puller	656
Velvet Cannon	Closer	likes the fence	703
Wicked Dividend	Closer	—	687

$500,000 Grade III

Horse	Style	Quirks	Tank
19th Wonder of the World	Front	—	627
Hatful of Rain	Front	tough	664
Heat Seeking Missile	Front	turn of foot	606
Paperback Writer	Front	needs room	627
Prince of Mischief	Front	—	627
Radio Free Europe	Front	tough, puller	653
Ramp of Death	Front	puller	617
Thunder at Dawn	Front	—	627
Baron von Blink	Stalker	puller	654
Bourbon Street Beat	Stalker	needs room	664
Lady Vesper	Stalker	likes the fence	680
Marble Rye	Stalker	puller	654
Quiet Authority	Stalker	—	664
Red Hot Receipt	Stalker	tough, turn of foot	680
Sidewalk Chalk	Stalker	turn of foot, needs room	643
The Diplomat	Stalker	tough	701
Almost Famous	Closer	likes the fence	723
Black Diamond	Closer	turn of foot	686
Cavalier’s Shadow	Closer	—	707
Chasing Waterfalls	Closer	likes the fence, tough	760
Darkest Before Dawn	Closer	puller	697
Five Alarm Smile	Closer	tough	744
Prince Spellbound III	Closer	—	707
The Final Word	Closer	tough	744

$1,000,000 Grade I

Horse	Style	Quirks	Tank
Blue Periodicals	Front	turn of foot	625
Ethereal Static	Front	tough	683
Lullaby of London	Front	likes the fence	662
Only Shallow	Front	puller, likes the fence	651
Regal Thunder	Front	likes the fence	662
Teenage Riot	Front	—	646
Tin Roof Romeo	Front	needs room	646
Velveteen Rabbit	Front	puller	635
Electric Marmalade	Stalker	needs room, likes the fence	700
Painted Soldiers	Stalker	needs room	684
Perfectly Placed	Stalker	—	684
Roadside Attraction	Stalker	turn of foot, needs room	663
Silken Reign	Stalker	—	684
The Grand Strategist	Stalker	puller	673
Velvet Dominion	Stalker	tough	721
Whiskey River	Stalker	likes the fence	700
Baroque Hoedown	Closer	tough	764
Call Me Maybe	Closer	—	727
Crackity Jones	Closer	needs room	727
Half Past Midnight	Closer	puller, tough	754
Hot Rod Rodney	Closer	—	727
Motel Vacancy Inn	Closer	—	727
Traffic Jamboree	Closer	turn of foot	706
Trouble in Reno	Closer	tough	764

The riders

Jockey	Style	What it means
Amundsen, K.	Ordinary	Nudges when boxed in, and only into clear ground.
Bakshi, D.	Rough	Nudges readily, without looking, and now and then in a stretch duel.
Corrigan, T.	Clean	Almost never nudges.
Devane, P.	Ordinary	Nudges when boxed in, and only into clear ground.
Ferreira, L.	Ordinary	Nudges when boxed in, and only into clear ground.
Marchetti, R.	Rough	Nudges readily, without looking, and now and then in a stretch duel.
Nakamura, Y.	Ordinary	Nudges when boxed in, and only into clear ground.
Okonkwo, A.	Clean	Almost never nudges.
Oyelaran, F.	Clean	Almost never nudges.
Salcedo, M.	Clean	Almost never nudges.
Vasquez, E.	Rough	Nudges readily, without looking, and now and then in a stretch duel.
Whitlock, J.	Rough	Nudges readily, without looking, and now and then in a stretch duel.

Appendix C

Quick reference

Everything on one page.

Controls

Key	Does
`↑`	Ask (tap to burst, hold to keep her working; the first 1-second hold plays the William Tell)
`↓`	Hold (free; lets her recover)
`←` `→`	Toward the rail / toward the outside; hold into a gap to squeeze (free)
`Enter`	Crop (4 per race)
`Space` + `←` `→`	Nudge the horse alongside over a path (4 per race, a second apart)
`H`	Riding read-out
`V`	Camera views on / off
`Esc`	Skip the parade · leave the replay or the barn

Gamepad: RT or A ask · LT or B hold · stick or D-pad steer · Y crop · X with the stick or D-pad nudge.

Key numbers

Number	What happens
2 furlongs out	Recovery stops; reserve kicks in; rivals empty their tanks
3 furlongs out	Rivals start riding for a placing
55% of the trip	After this, hard asking no longer spends the reserve
~1.5 seconds	Of hard asking before that point spends it
~1.3 lengths	Lost per metre off the rail, per turn
~3.5 seconds	Of holding before a stalker or closer settles
~40% / ~15%	Gauge turns amber / red
½ length, 1.5 m	How far ahead or behind, and how far across, a horse can be nudged
1.5 seconds	How long a nudged rider holds his new line
3 lengths / 10 seconds	A check you caused is a DQ if the horse finishes within 3 lengths behind you — at any margin in the first 10 seconds
15 starts	To be ranked on the $2 win board

The squeeze

Hold the steer toward a gap with a horse beside you or up to 6 m ahead: boot to boot, no cost. His rider may shut the inside door (front 3 in 5, stalker 2 in 5, closer 1 in 4). Clipped heels: 3 in 5 a stumble, 2 in 5 a fall.

The day

Race	Class	Purse
1	$50k Claiming	$80,000
2	$100k Allowance	$100,000
3	$200k Listed	$200,000
4	Grade III	$500,000
5	Grade I	$1,000,000

Purse split 60 / 20 / 10 / 6 / 4%. Your earnings are 10% of your horse’s share. Distances 6f–1⅛m (graded races up to 1¼m). Dirt, turf or synthetic.

The $2 board

A $2 win ticket on every ride, paid at the final odds: stake back plus twice the odds. $2 Avg is the average return; ROI is the same as a gain or loss. Ranked from 15 starts. Above $2.00 means beating the odds.

Styles

Style	How to ride
Front	Lead, roll, never hold. Hates being boxed in.
Stalker	Three lengths off with cover; move at the quarter pole.
Closer	Drop in, settle, one run in the stretch. Hates being alone in front.

Reading a form line

Item	Meaning
SF 77 / 92 / 107	About a claimer / a listed winner / a Grade I horse. A class ≈ 7 points
Superscripts	Lengths behind the leader — behind the winner in the Fin column
Points of call	Sprint: break, ¼, ½, stretch. Route: ¼, ½, ¾, stretch
Fractions	The last three quarter calls, then the final time in bold
Shaded lines	Races you rode him in; the oldest are his four pre-meet starts

Chart shorthand

pace · prssd pace · mid pack · off pace — ins · 2p · 3w · wide — blockd · shut off · sqzd thru rail · split horses · clipped heels — drew clr · held on · up late · rallied · ran on · held pos · dropped back · wknd late · gave way late · no bid · no late kick — out of contention: mild rally · mild late gain · passed tired rival · no factor

Ride the Rail · Rider’s Guide · written for this build. The screenshots come from an earlier build, so a detail on screen may differ.

Your record

Jockeys

$2 Win ROI

Horses

Welcome to Ride the Rail

Your first race in eight steps

About this guide

Getting started

What you need

The screens

The home page

The Graphics setting

The race day

The fields

The track

Surfaces

Moving through the day

Around the track

Reading the race card

Each runner’s entry

The morning line

Final odds

Taking a mount

Know your horse

Running styles

Quirks

Reading her in the saddle

Controls

Touchscreen

The race screen

The riding read-out

What you’ll hear

Riding the race

The post parade

The start

How the energy works

Asking

Taking a hold

The crop

The finishing reserve

Steering, the rail and ground

Traffic

Squeezing through a gap

Nudging

How the other riders ride

After the race

The chart, column by column

The stewards

Chart comments

Trip notes

A visit to the barn

If you came down

The stretch replay

What you see

Replay controls

The patrol film

The form book

Where the form comes from

The record boxes

Reading a line, left to right

Points of call

The two figures

What to look for before you take a ride

Money and the record book

The record book

The $2 win board

Past charts

Saving your progress

Worth knowing

Phones and tablets

Riding tips

Your first day

By running style

Common mistakes

Riding for the $2 board

Learn from the chart, the replay and the form

Troubleshooting and questions

Glossary

The roster

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