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!

THE POINTS

Races will be judged using a randomizer (such as calculatorsoup.com or www.random.org/integer-sets).

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, considered Starter Points. Points can be attained by running races, their previous racing careers, and bonus points (more on those in a bit).

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

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.

Owners are responsible for keeping track of their horse's points 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 in a previous season
- Add 5 points if the horse has run 3+ seasons (prospect/yearling season does not count)

Then, applied to ANY 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.

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

Two-year-olds may not have a surface preference. This can only be added to a horse when they are 3yo+ as of 1/23/23. You can choose to only run them on one surface, but they will not get the additional points until they are three.

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 a raondomizer. 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
- Assigns odds
- Rolls for results

BONUS POINTS

As of January Y22, every member will start with 10 bonus points that they can distribute amongst their horses as they see fit. Each new year they will be awarded an additional 10 bonus points.

The only rules are:
- 2yos can only have a max of +3 bonus points
- 3yo+ can have a max of +5 bonus points

So if you have a 2yo you really like that you at 3 points to, it can have an additional 2 points added the next year if you want. These added points are permanent.

Bonus points may also be awarded as prizes, but these can only be awarded by staff members, who will add them to a member's total in the Bonus Points Thread. This is pretty much the only aspect of the site that is not simply honor system. You must use the form there when adding bonus points to your horses.

JUNIER OF GS + ADOX

Examples of Points
Example One
Example Two
Example Three
Example Four