The entry routine has many advantages over the previous one. For starters, owners will only be able to enter eligible horses into a race. This will help keep people from misentering their horse and having it rejected on Wednesday night. Also, new formulas are being implemented that reduce the randomness of the way races are drawn into. As part of this implementation, people will be able to determine the chance their horse has of drawing in before entering it. Two unique entries are still allowed per week but all first preference entries will be drawn in BEFORE second preference entries. Finally, the race a horse is entered in can only be changed once per preference, and horses will be awarded for entering before the "soft closing time" (explained in detail below)

Stakes Draw In:

This is the simplest of the formulas. Horses are entered into races depending on how many stakes points they have earned for that particular style of race. A full description is available at http://simulatedsports.net/hr/rankings.html

Some horses are not eligible to be entered into stakes races. To be eligible, a horse must fit at least one of the following restrictions:

The horse must have at least one stakes point in any of the 6 divisional rankings
The horse must have a winning percentage of at least 50%
The horse must have been a top three finisher in at least 66% of its races
The horse must have an earnings per race of at least $5,000 per race
Have raced at least 5 times and have a CPU value of at least ten times the purse of the race
Unraced 2-year olds are allowed to race in ungraded stakes races
The horse is in the stable selected by the person sponsoring the race and the race is NOT graded

A person that sponsors a regular stakes race is guaranteed entry with horses from one stable of their choosing (RACES MUST BE ENTRED AS FIRST PREFERENCE To GUARANTEE ENTRY), but graded stakes races have no guarantee of entry.

Horses are NOT penalized when entering into a stakes after scratching from another race. The "soft closing time" is also not used when drawing into stakes races.

Maidens with no Stakes Points in the type of race they are being entered into are drawn in last

Non Stakes Race Draw In :

The new entry system awards horses for racing close to where they raced in their previous race, as well as racing as close to their restrictions as possible. These two things are the most important values when determining which horses will draw into races.

The formula below looks complex, but it’s not as hard to understand as it appears. I will give examples below but, for the record, here is the formula :

Entry Value =

+ / -	Referred To As	Modifier	Applies to races
+	BASE	2000	All
+	WSLR	Weeks since last race (first time starters get 3 points); if WSLR > 3 then WSLR=4+int((weeks since last race-4)/3); overall maximum awarded is 15 points	All non-stakes races
-	TRV	(Points Penalty to travel) ^ 2	All non-stakes races
-	DW	(Difference in wins - 1) * 50	Allowance and Claimers with restrictions
+	ODW	(Up to 4 Other Than MCOS Wins * 50) for Allowance races, (Up to 8 Wins * 25) for claimers	Unrestricted Allowance and Claimers
-	M	500 if horse is a maiden	Allowance, Claimers, and Starter Allowance
+	CB	Int(Min(100, (Low Tag in 6 mos) ^.4)) OR 100 (if horse has no Low Tag in 6 mos OR the horse has any stakes points earned over the last 54 weeks)	Maiden (NOT Maiden Claim) and Non-CPU Value Allowance Races
-	CBCPU	INT(2(((1000(Race CPU Value – CPU Value of horse))/100) ^ .4))	CPU Value Allowance Races
+	SCB	An extra 100 points if the horse is entered before the Soft Closing Time	All non-stakes races.

As always, the person that bids or sponsors the race for his/her stable gets preference over all other entries(RACES MUST BE ENTERED AS FIRST PREFERENCE FOR THIS TO BE TRUE).

Most of the values are pretty straightforward. DW is easy to determine, but needs a little more describing. The two that may be a little more complicated are the formulas for CB and CBCPU.

Determining DW :

DW is based on the restriction of the race. For example, let’s assume the race is a NW3L and that our horse has won 2 races in his lifetime. His DW would be 0, since the ((3-2) –1) *50 = 0.

Let’s assume the race is a NW4s. Our horse has won 1 race in the last 6 months. His DW would be 100, since ((4-1) –1) * 50 = 150.

Finally, lets assume we are entering our horse in a NW2x race. Our horse has 0 Non M/C/O/S Wins. . His DW would be 50, since ((2-0) –1) * 50 = 50.

Example of how CB works :

A horse is running in either a maiden or allowance race. Looking at his Low Claim-Tag/6 Months field, you see N/A. The horse is awarded 100 points toward his Entry Value.

Another horse is entered in the same race. Looking at his Low Claim-Tag/6 Months field, you see $75,000. Looking at his stakes matrix, he has earned no points in the last 54 weeks. This horse is only awarded 89 points toward his Entry Value based on int(75000 ^ .4)

Another horse is entered in the same race. Looking at his Low Claim-Tag/6 Months field, you see $25,000. Looking at his stakes matrix, he has earned stakes points (it doesn’t matter in what type of race) within the last 54 weeks. This horse is awarded 100 points toward his Entry Value.

Another horse is entered in the same race. Looking at his Low Claim-Tag/6 Months field, you see $5,000. Looking at his stakes matrix, he has earned no points in the last 54 weeks. This horse is only awarded 30 points toward his Entry Value based on int(5000 ^ .4).

Example of how CBCPU works :

A horse is entered into a CPU Restricted allowance race. His CPU value is 500. The race is for horses with a CPU value of 500 or less. This horse is not penalized.

A horse is entered into a CPU Restricted allowance race. His CPU value is 400. The race is for horses with a CPU value of 500 or less. This horse is penalized 31 points based on int(2*(((1000*(500-400))/100)^.4))

A horse is entered into a CPU Restricted allowance race. His CPU value is 100. The race is for horses with a CPU value of 500 or less. This horse is penalized 55 points based on int(2*(((1000*(500-100))/100)^.4))

"Soft Closing Time" Defined :

Since I allow people to see who is entered in a race before the race is run, there is an advantage to waiting as long as possible before choosing the race you enter. This advantage is heightened, since the randomness of the race draw in routine is being reduced. The "Soft Closing Time" is being implemented to keep entries from rolling in at the last minute.

The "Soft Closing Time" will occur somewhere between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM on the day races are drawn in. Much like the time breeding begins, the "Soft Closing" time will change weekly. The time will not be announced.

Horses entered before this time are given an additional 100 points toward their entry value. This is done to encourage entering early, but not completely damaging a qualified horse’s chance to get into a race.

Race Preferences, Scratching, and drawing into races :

When you sign up, you are given a first and second preference. When carding races, the game will attempt to fill all first preference entries. It will then attempt to fill all second preference entries. This is an important change to the current carding routine. This will allow you to enter an allowance race with your first preference and, if it fills, opt into a stakes race if entries are still available.

Also, horses are allowed to scratch out of races and entered into a new race, but only once per preference. Once a horse is scratched a second time for a given preference, it cannot be entered again for the week for that preference.