Buying & Selling in General
All horses originate from the Sales Ring, in addition to which you have the options of purchasing horses from fellow members via the Auctions or by Claiming a horse in Claiming races.
You can change your horse's name on its details page provided it does not have a race history. Please refer to the 'Naming Convention' section below.
All horses age on the 1st of April, August & December, ie. at the start of every season. Each racing season lasts 4 calendar months. Your horse's innate characteristics change as they mature between the ages of 2-3 & 3-4 but thereafter remain consistent until they turn 8. Gelded Colts are retired permanently when they turn 8yrs. Un-gelded colts & fillies remain in a 'limbo' status for possible breeding purposes. To avoid cluttering your stable, the details of your Retired / Limbo horses are not displayed through your stable or search functions.
Supplementary fees are once-off registration fees for your horse to compete in the lucrative Championship Series for the duration of its racing career. Your options include either an early US$2.00 through the Sales Ring or a late supplementary fee US$50.00 when nominating for the qualifiers. The star alongside a horses name indicates that the supplementary fee has been paid, adding value to the horse when selling it in Auctions or Claims.
The monthly stabling fee ensures your horse's upkeep and maintenance. Daily training sessions are included in its stabling. Stabling fees start at US$2.00 and can be discounted down to US$0.00, at a reduction of US$0.50 for every race it partakes in within its stabling period. Stabling fees are automatically deducted when due. If there are insufficient funds available the horses status becomes 'pending' and will be rejected from all upcoming races. The 'Automatic Stabling Fee Deduction' setting can be changed on the horse details page. Total stabling fees for your stable are capped at US$50.00 per calendar month.
The Naming Convention
Some rules apply when deciding on a name for your horse/s:
Name can not be more than 17 characters.
All new words after a space start with a capital, followed by lower case. Names like GrandGrand will automatically be changed to Grandgrand.
All words must start with a capital and cannot start with a digit eg 2000 year needs to be Year 2000.
A letter following a space may not be in lower case and will automatically be changed.
No more than 4 digits are allowed.
Digits must be consecutive e.g. Grand Wizzard 2000 but not Grand20Wizzard00
No swear words including Digiturf.com’s list of exclusion words and terms and conditions.
No special characters as per existing list: :;<=>?@[\]^_`{|}~!”#$%&*+,-./
No 2 consecutive spaces, the name will automatically be updated.
Names can’t start or end with a space, the name will automatically be updated.
If brackets are used, they must be used at the end of a name, must include an open and closed bracket and must contain no more than 4 letters, all upper case. An open bracket cannot be in the first 3 characters. No numbers in brackets.
Bulk horse purchases:
- A random colour option has been added.
- Allows up to 12 characters (long stable names may be cut off if need be) so that a space and 4 digits can be added.
- Naming convention checks and changes are not applied here.
Horses that have never raced will be checked when being entered into a race. The same applies when entering into auctions. Any horses not meeting the naming convention requirements will need to be changed.
Sales Ring
The sales ring is comprised of 100,000 unique horses in terms of characteristics, preferences and ability. The sales ring is also non-sequential, meaning that there is no order in what may be acquired from the sales ring of the 100,000 pool of horses, in this sense making it random. Therefore you may purchase 100 horses and not get a ‘challenge contender’ or purchase one horse and it puts your stable into the Challenge series. The sales ring is further indifferent to who is purchasing from it and cannot be influenced by a stable, their previous purchases or by the site.
Purpose of One Year Old sales (available in last 2 weeks of season only) are to enable you to prepare horses ahead of the new season.
Racing, Claiming and Auctions are only available for horses aged 2-7 years.
Horses may change ability when ageing from 2yrs to 3yrs, and from 3yrs to 4yrs only.
Throughout its racing career, a horses preferences or characteristics (distance, going) do not change.
Note: It is common for some trainers to discredit the quality of horses being purchased from the sales ring. The benefit to them in doing so is to lead one to believe that you have better chances in purchasing a good horse from Auctions or Claimers, thereby providing an outlet for them sell their unwanted horses and to return to the sales ring. Of course all horses, including those in Auctions & Claimers, have originally come from the sales ring.
Claiming
You can Claim a horse that has been entered in a Claiming Race or conditioned Claimer by accessing this facility under the MARKET. A list of horses to claim will only be displayed here when a Claiming Race has closed for entries.
Where more than one member claims any one particular horse, the successful claim will be determined through a lucky draw.
The stabling subscription fee date is adjusted when the horse is transferred so that it will only be payable again 30 days after transfer.
The entire horse details history record of a Claimed horse is transferred to the new owner with the horse.
Auctions
Owners looking to fetch the best price for their horses can sell them through the Auction Ring to the highest bidder. Potential buyers also have the opportunity to inspect a horse’s form before bidding against other trainers for a particular horse.
Auctions are held twice monthly.
A buyer may change his bid anytime during an auction provided it is not lower than the Current Bid. Bidding closes 24 hours after the Auction Entry has closed except when a bid is placed in the last 2 (two) minutes – it then extends for an additional 2 minutes until no further bids are placed within the last 2 minute extension.
All financial auction related transactions are conducted through your wallet. If you are bidding on a horse the money will be deducted from the funds available in your wallet. Always ensure you have sufficient funds in your wallet otherwise your bids will be rejected. Funds can be transferred between your account balance and auction wallet.
Bid increments are scaled according to the current bid as follows:
Current Price Bid Increment
US$15.00 - US$24.99 US$0.50
US$25.00 - US$49.99 US$1.00
US$50.00 - US$149.99 US$2.00
US$150.00 - US$499.99 US$5.00
US$500.00 - US$999.99 US$10.00
US$1,000.00 and up US$25.00
Bids cannot be withdrawn, but your bid can be rejected if another stable places a higher bid.
Each horse gets sold "as is", with all its applied products, supplementary fee, fitness levels and earnings. For statistical purposes, the horse’s earnings and wins prior to sale remain attributed to the seller.
To enter a horse/s into Auction, simply tick the horses you wish to enter then choose to enter them either individually or as a Group. Then set the Reserve Price and add notes. Confirm your selection and pay the small auction entry fee through your basket. Auction entry fees are refunded for all horses that are sold.
Note: A horse may not be entered into a race whilst it is in an auction. Similarly, a horse may not be entered into an auction if it is entered for an upcoming race.
A 15% administration fee is deducted from the selling price for all sold horses.
The reserve price can be changed anytime during an auction before bidding closes. Notes can be changed provided no bids have been placed against that horse. Horses may be withdrawn provided no bids have been placed against that horse.
