It's been a long time coming, but we're finally almost in the new year! Thank you guys for being here, I really missed the game while we were gone! We are still ironing out the kinks, but we are going to be sticking with this points system for the foreseeable future. For now, here are the things we've been working on, including new rules and changes for the new year!

1) Three Year Old Series Limits - So historically, we didn't have as many restrictions on which horses could enter which series because judges were basically the failsafe - just because a horse CAN run distance and miles, for example, didn't mean the distance wins were going to mean much for a judge in the miler races. However, with the new system, points just accumulate and do not differentiate based on distance/preference/etc. So, to make things clean, no horse can run in another major 3yo series once they have a major 3yo series win. This WILL include the early sprinter series vs the later sprinter series, as well as Red/Green Mile races, Distance series, etc. This also overrides the previous rule about horses winning the long legs of the TC/TTC and being able to run in the distance series later. This may be readdressed at a later date, but for now it will make it easier to have the blanket rule. The other reason for this rule is that there are a lot more HOTY** races for 3yos than older horses, which means 3yos can build up a lot more points running in separate series. So we need to limit that somewhat to keep it fair for older horses.

2) Workout Points - We're going to go ahead and scrap these for now. If there is a desire to bring them back in the future, we can.

3) HOF/BHOF Changes - I can't remember if we officially announced this or not, but the HOF guidelines have been adjusted to include an auto-induction option. If a horse has 24 HOTY*/HOTY** wins over the course of THREE seasons (can be non-consecutive), they can be automatically placed in the HOF. This is mainly due to the lower number of members available to vote, and because it streamlines the process. So, for example, if a horse won 7 races at two, 4 at three, 9 at four, and 8 at five, the 24 races between ages two, four, and five can count for auto-induction. Having 24 wins isn't what gets you in - it's having those wins within the confines of 3 years, which is pretty exceptional! This does NOT mean that horses that don't meet this criteria can't be entered, they just go to a vote as normal. BHOF is in the process of being updated. There isn't an auto-induction planned at this point, but we are editing some of the foal number requirements. So keep an eye out!

4) Breeding Points - To keep the breeding side of things relevant, horses can be given +2 points for each BHOF/HOF parent and +1 for each G1 parent (so a total of +3 for a parent that is BHOF/HOF and also G1, for a max of +6 if both parents meet this criteria). To make tracking this easier, it would be great if HOF/BHOF was listed next to the parent name to whom it's applied on the horse's page Bonus points will be used instead!

5) Breeding Limits - So because of the breeding points and potential for abuse there, there is going to be a 6 foal limit implemented for all breeding horses from here on out. We understand that some horses already have more than that - that's fine! We are going to allow for a grace period Y22 if you had another foal planned for a prolific breeding horse. After Y22, however, breeding horses will need to be retired after 6 foals. If a member later goes inactive and a weanling/yearling is deleted, they can be dropped from that breeding horse's total count as long as it has not raced. Once an offspring has raced, they cannot be dropped from the total. Please reach out if you have any questions or need any clarifications!

6) Dual-Surface Points - We've decided that 'surface specialist' points (+3) will NOT be able to be applied to 2yos because they're so young and still learning! Any horses 3yo+ will be able to get those points as specialists if desired, however. Specialization must be decided BEFORE their first race of the year, and cannot be changed for that year. If you wanted to switch surfaces or drop the specialty, that can be done the next season.

7) Bonus Points - We haven't ironed this out yet, but we're thinking about having bonus points be available as a reward for different things. These will be points that can be permanently added to any horse. These would only be able to be awarded by staff, and would be pretty tightly regulated in a thread as to where they were used. We'll let you guys know when this is rolled out!

8) Point Listings - As we go into the new year, the total point layout should ONLY be listed under the CURRENT season. Mostly this is so Cruisey and I don't make a mistake and use the wrong points total, since everyone has a bit of a different layout as far as how their season are laid out. If you want to have the total points for each year listed somewhere (ie Y20: 85, Y21: 102, etc) that's totally fine, but just don't have the total listed under the race results for each season, if that makes sense!

9) General Reminders - Remember that 2yos will remain auto-losses against older horses and 3yos will auto-lose against older horses until July Wk 1.

10) Race Numbers - So we're going to try something a little bit different since rules have bounced around a bit on the subject, both as far as total races and how many races a horse can have per month. We're going to let people have a bit of creative freedom here. Horses are going to be allowed a total of 24 races per year. So you can do whatever you want with that. As long as a horse isn't running 3 weeks in a row, you can do 3 races in a month. But that means that somewhere else in their season they'll only be able to have 1 race in a month if you want to keep racing through the end of the year. We will be counting races starting Y22 come BC time, so make extra sure if you're not doing 2 races per month that you keep track of when they need a break. If a horse reaches 24 races, it's done for the year!


Again, thank you all for being here and you patience through all of this! We're hoping to finish editing all of the rules/guidelines to include the changes so we can start advertising. If there's anything we've forgotten or anything that's unclear, please reach out to me or Cruisey!

Thanks,
Kenren

PS, please post here that you've read these and you can have:
3x 1f extension
2x 2f extension
2x surface supreme

Read, thank you! And again thank you and Cruisey for all your incredible work. We appreciate you!

Excited to come back for the new year! Thank you for everything guys!