FF Points Judging System

ABOUT

The modern era of Final Furlong has made use of judging using mostly subjective means. However, in an effort to bring more interest into the game and speed up the process of judging, we are implementing a system that mixes points and randomization in an attempt to garner more realistic results, including the possibility of upsets!

RULES

The same rules as before apply, and for the sake of ease of judging, there will not be exceptions as there have been in the past.

- 2yos will automatically lose to any older horse
- 3yos will automatically lose to any older horse until July 1st of their 3yo year
- A horse that has been entered for its 3rd week in a row will be automatically DQ'd
- Horses that are not in the correct distance or surface range will be placed below the other horses in the field. The owner of the horse will have the option to DQ the horse if it places lower than 3rd, otherwise the results will stand and no DQ will be accepted!

The points system will be outlined below. Points for horses MUST be listed under the current season, and MUST be updated before races close each game week! Or rather, I guess they don't have to be, but your horses will be at a disadvantage without updated points.

Please note! Grades will continue to be determined by number of wins.

THE POINTS

Races will be judged using the randomizer at calculatorsoup.com. The top three placings for HOTY** races (think KY Derby, Breeders' Cup, etc) will be posted on-site using the proboards dice roller function for everyone to see. However, this is just not something we can functionally do for every single race due to the space it would take up on the board.

This is not just a randomized race, though! There are factors that will affect a horse's chance of winning in a certain field. These factors contribute to the number of points a horse has accumulated throughout the year. Every horse starts off with 5 points. This is the base level. Points can be attained by racing and by having training threads.

1st place = +4 points
2nd place = +3 points
3rd place = +2 points
Any other placing in a race = +1
Training thread = +3 points

For example, a winning horse will get +4 for winning. The winners do not get +1 for competing and +4 for winning.

HOTY* races have a x2 multiplier. So winning a HOTY race will get you 8 pts, not 4 pts.
HOTY** races have a x3 multiplier. So 12pts rather than 4 pts for a win.

While the competition points are straightforward, training threads are a little more detailed. Training can be done once per RL month (once every two game months if running on a 2-race-per-RL-week schedule), and will expire at the end of that month. Training threads must be 300 words or longer, and can only count for one horse per thread. So even if it is a thread where the horse is being trained in company, it can only count for one of the horses. The training thread should also specify clearly in the thread which horse it is being used toward. Please note, if we notice any dishonest copy/pasting or overall lack of creativity in these threads, they will not count. There is a thread HERE for you to register your training in. This must be done for the training to count, as admins will be keeping a running master list of which horses have active training threads. As such, DO NOT include your trainings in your total points on a horse's page! Those will be added by staff in the judging process. That way we're not relying on members to remember when they need to pull the points at the expiration date and it won't get confusing.

Owners are responsible for keeping track of their horse's points (other than training) on their pages. An example of what this might look like is

- Starter Points [+5] (Just add this (or other year-starting points, more on that below) to the top of your race results for the year)
- 4th in Race X - Feb Wk 2 [+1]
- 1st in Race Y - Feb Wk 4 [+4]

Total Points: 10

Points will be accumulated for a single racing year! More on beginning of the year points next.

YEAR CHANGE

Points accumulated through the year count ONLY for their current year! In an effort to not have the same horses dominate year after year (which is rather unrealistic), points will reset at the beginning of each year. But don't worry! You won't be starting at zero. Horses that have done well, have more experience, etc, will get thrown a bone, but this will make it so the points aren't so skewed that there's no way to beat an older, accomplished horse.

SO! At the beginning of the year, a horse will start with points as follows:

- Every horse starts with 5 points
- Add 5 points if the horse has run previously
- Add 5 points if the horse has run 3+ seasons (prospect season does not count)

Then, applied to the horse's SINGLE PREVIOUS SEASON that has the most points under this criteria:
- Add 5 points if the horse finished top 3 in 10+ HOTY races
- Add 5 points if the horse won a HOTY race
- Add 5 points if the horse won 5+ HOTY races

Again note that this applies to only the horse's BEST previous season as far as these categories go. If a horse somehow happened to win 5+ HOTY races one year but not finish top 3 in 10+ races (giving them a +10 for the year) but they did finish top 3 in 10+ races another year, you can't combine them. You get the highest single year.

So the most points a horse can possibly start with is 30 points (actually possibly 35 if it's a dual-surfaced horse; but more on that next)! This may seem low, but remember that horses are also separated by grade. Be careful entering OPEN HOTY* races at the beginning of the year (or don't; that's what makes this exciting!).

DUAL-SURFACE HORSES

So dual-surfaced horses get a choice! Some people choose to run their dual-surfaced horses as truly dual - that's perfectly fine! No points will be changed. However, if you have a dual-surfaced horse that 'specializes' in a surface, you have the choice to officially choose that surface at the beginning of the year as their specialty and earn +3 points when running on that surface. However, if you specialize and then run the horse on the other surface, they will have -3 points when running on that surface. Specialty points will be neutral when running on sand! Please note you may change specialties ONLY before the horse runs its first race each year. Once you've picked a specialty, you're stuck for the year. If you choose to run without a specialty at the beginning of the year, a specialty may be chosen later in the year if you choose. However, this can only be done once, and cannot be changed for the year once the specialty is chosen!

ie, you cannot have horse horse specialize on turf at the beginning of the year and then switch to dirt mid-way through. However, you could switch to dirt at the beginning of next year

RACES

Alright, so we know that the competitions are randomized and that points somehow have something to do with it, but how do they work together? Here's an example:

Horse 1: 16 points
Horse 2: 23 points
Horse 3: 5 points
Horse 4: 10 points

Total points: 54

Just for reference, in this example Horse 1 would have 29.6% chance of winning, Horse 2 has 42.6%, Horse 3 9%, and Horse 4 18.5%. When judging, the randomizer would be set to 54. Horse 1 would win if the number was 1-16, 2 if 17-39, 3 if 40-44, and 4 if 45-54. A staff member will roll for the placings on calculatorsoup.com (or using the dice roller for the top 3 spots in HOTY** races - the rest of the placings will be on the randomizer). For this one, which was rolled just for fun, I came up with 2-4-1-3 as the placings.

To summarize, the staff member:
- Assigns the ranges
- Checks for an active training thread and adds the points if applicable
- Assigns odds
- Rolls for results

BONUSES

So, under this system, there are obviously chances for big longshot wins. Odds will be assigned to races (the math for this is (1 / % chance of winning as a decimal)-1. So, for example, a horse with 25% chance of winning is (1/0.25)-1 = 4(-, minus)1 = 3 to 1 odds. I know the -1 makes it confusing, but there you have it.

IF a horse comes in and wins with greater than 15-1 odds (this number may change) they will earn DOUBLE the points they would have otherwise won (including any multipliers that may already have been on that race). So, if a longshot wins a HOTY* race and would otherwise have gotten +8 points, they will get +16 points. This is to mimic the phenomena in real life where a horse peaks out of nowhere and then seems to be in a stronger class after that win!

*the exact odds that constitutes a longshot may change as we go along, but for now we'll start with 15-1 as that is the informal definition of a longshot.

JUNIER OF GS + ADOX

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