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Welcome to Triple Crown! This is our guide to how races are held and how winners are picked.

The basis of our racing system come from the tabletop game "Top of the Stretch" by Lon Whitehead. The game lets you recreate historical horse races by combining the determined stats of the horses with the luck of the dice.

This shop mainly uses the gameplay methods from "Top of the Stretch" and combines it with our tracking of horse stats from race to race, and the imagination of our members.

Read more in this thread for information on how to enter races, when races are held, and a step-by-step example of one of our races! Page 2 contains information about our different racetracks and events!

Stats

Below is a list of all the stats used behind the scenes in these races:

Power Rating: The horse's overall ability, scaled against all others in the race. Power rating is determined by a horses win rates and past speeds, as well as by the type of track the horse is running on.

Wet Rating: How well a horse can perform on a wet track. Horses that run well on previous wet races can do better in future wet races.

Pace Rating: The running style of a horse. A horse with a lower score will usually stay at the back of the race and make a sprint at the end, as seen with Solar Chaser above. A fast race pace will help that kind of horse most times, while a slow pace will leave him with too much to do and too many fresh horses to run down at the end. A horse with a higher score will try to start in the front and stay there, as seen with Excitable. A fast race pace hurts that horse’s chances of lasting until the end, but a slow pace enables it to get a leisurely lead.

Form Rating: A measure of the consistency in a horse's performances over time. The range is from A, the most consistent, to E, the most variation.

Trip, Class and Speed: Each horse receives a rating from -3 (very poor) to 3(exceptional) in each of these particular skill areas. Each race will call upon one of these three ratings as a test of the horse’s abilities in that area and will alter the horse's final performance. Some horses excel in one area more than the others, possessing unique skills in areas such as "Trip" (the propensity to stay out of trouble and get a clean and consistent trip around the track), "Class" (performing at a high level of competition), or "Speed" (the ability to flat out run fast race times).

Wire: The Wire rating is a rating to determine a horse's ability to achieve a better result in close competition. In the game, it's used to help determine who wins a photograph for a placing. The ratings run from "0" (the worst) to "9" (the best). A relatively poor horse might have a good wire rating, and a good horse might not, but if they end up with the same final speed figure, the horse with the higher “Wire” rating stands a better chance of getting his nose on the wire first.

Step 1: The Pre-Race



The Pre-Race will contain all the information that is needed about the race. Most of this will be posted at signups, but some of it is determined before the weekend events or before the race.

Track: Example Stakes
This is the name of the track that the horses will be racing on. Information about each one can be found on the second page of this thread.
Distance: 11 Furlongs
The distance of the race is announced during sign-ups. Horses that have excelled at a race distance in the past can get bonus for that distance in future races.
Material: Dirt
There are 3 types of race tracks; Dirt, Turf and Synthetic. Horses that do well on one material get bonus on future races on that material.
Track Conditions: Fast
This is a measure to the wetness of a track. It can range from Fast/Firm (completely dry) to Sloppy/Yielding (completely wet).
Track Bias: Fast
The track bias means that the races today are seeming to favor horses that run at a certain pace. It can be Fast, Neutral, or Slow.

Example Horses:
Excitable
Toward the Valley
Borderline Torch
Staggering Knight
Teetertotter
Solar Chaser
Bumpy Gush
Booming Summer
Indigo
Honeydew Tart

Dice Rolls:
2 6-sided Dice: Determines the Track Conditions
2 6-sided Dice: Determines the Track Bias

Step 3: The First Stretch

During the first leg of the race, 2 6-sided dice are rolled for each horse and compared to the pace rating again. This will give a placement adjuster, which is used to add or subtract from the previous placement score.

Example:
Indigo rolls a 7. Because he has a high pace rating, his placement adjustment for this part of the race is +1, giving him a new placement score of 28.
Solar Chaser also rolls a 7. However, his pace rating is low, giving him an adjustment of -3. This new placement score is 6.

[1] Excitable
[2] Indigo
[3] Teetertotter
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[4] Borderline Torch
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[5] Booming Summer
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[6] Staggering Knight; Honeydew Tart
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[8] Toward the Valley
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[9] Bumpy Gush
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[10] Solar Chaser

Step 5: The Turn

The rolls for the turn are done in the same manner as the first stretch. However, the roll is also compared to the horses form rating, which gives them a form adjuster. The form adjustment score and the pace adjustment score from step 3 are added to the power rating to give the horses' Final Adjusted Power score that will be used in the final stretch.

Example:
Indigo rolls a 10, resulting in a +2 to his placement. Indigo has a form rating of "A" meaning he runs predictable race times. He roll gives him a +1 form adjustment. His final adjusted power score is 19-2+1 = 18.
Solar Chaser rolls a 7, and his placement score doesn't change. He has a form rating of D, meaning his race times aren't always predictable. His roll gives in a +0 form adjustment, and his final adjusted power score is 18+3+0 = 21. His adjusted power score is higher than Indigo's because Solar Chase is running at his preferred pace in his preferred position. Indigo is running in his preferred position, but not at his preferred pace.

[1] Excitable
[2] Indigo
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[3] Teetertotter
[4] Borderline Torch
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[5] Booming Summer
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[6] Staggering Knight
[7] Toward the Valley; Honeydew Tart
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[9] Bumpy Gush
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[10] Solar Chaser

Step 7: The Final Stretch

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