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I’ve received a lot of questions about *CPU value races.  The good news is their back, and they’re HOT!

Ok..  I’m obviously overusing and capitalizing the word hot.  Why?  Well, because we have a new race classification : the HOT race.

A HOT race is a race that is opened up for entry, carded 10 minutes later, and run 5 minutes after that. Have a few minutes to kill?  Bored in the chat room?  Get a HOT race! 

These aren’t intended to “take the place” of our normal racing, but I am adding them as a fun compliment.  Not every horse is a star, and sometimes it’s enjoyable to do things between our normal processing. 

A few things to note about HOT races :

·         They cost 25 credits; currently the game doesn’t card any on its own.

·         They can only be a Maiden or Allowance race; the only restriction allowed is the *CPU value restriction.  Also, you do NOT have to have 6 races under your belt to run a *CPU restricted race.

·         They offer far fewer points (12 / 8 / 4 for W/P/S ; travel does apply, but no other point modifiers apply), generally smaller purses (M = $5000, A=$10,000), and do not count toward points earned when determining entries into stakes races.  Note, however, that these races do count, so you couldn’t, for instance, race a first time starter in a HOT race and then get the “first time points modifier” when entering him into a regular race.

·         You can only race a particular horse once per day on the site regardless of race type

·         They can run with results posted within 15 minutes but, if they are run at times the game is processing things, it may take a bit longer.  Notable times include the race carding that occurs at 3:00 PM EST on Thursday, Friday starting around noon – 3 PM EST, From Midnight – 1:00 AM for daily processing, and normal large race times (Saturday and Sunday between about noon and 3 PM EST)

·         HOT races don’t affect the conditioning of a horse as much as a regular race, so they come back less tired (though their chance to sustain an injury is the same).  The “wear and tear” on a horse longeterm, however, is the same.  To minimize “wear and tear” a bit so horses can race more often in HOT races, I treat any race that takes place less than a week after the previous race as a 1 week rest.  Still, running a horse regularly once a week for an extended period of time is a pretty damaging proposition on any horse longterm.

How do you buy a hot race? Almost exactly like you buy a normal race.  There is a new “Buy Hot Race!” button on the training screen.

How do I enter a hot race someone else has carded?  Just go to RaFi for the horse you want to enter.  Click on the “Hot Races” to find the HOT races fitting your RaFi criteria.  Or, to circumvent RaFi, hit the “Any Hot Fit” button and all HOT races that your horse can enter are listed instead.  These will change regularly as people card races.    Note : Hot races will NOT appear in the normal RaFi search.  One exception would be if you entered a HOT race and then did a typical RaFi search (which wouldn’t make a lot of sense); the HOT race you entered would appear as Entered.

And I will keep an eye on things to ensure they are going as intended without being too easy to get points in. :)

Have fun!

--Mike