Find The Right Race For Your Horse

Finding the right race for your Raceclubs virtual race horse to run in is probably one of the most important aspects of the game. From the Championship series of races down to claimers you'll find a race to suit a wide range of horse's abilities.

We've broken the races down into the main categories below. For a complete list of specific race types, select "Race Categories" from the "Races" option on the left-hand menu on the Raceclubs website.

Challenge Series

The pinnacle to any virtual race horse's career is to win one of the end of season challenge series of races. For 2 year olds you have the Juvenile Sprinters Challenge and the Juvenile Challenge Series. 3 year olds have the Derby, Oaks and Nunthorpe sprints and older horses have the Queen Elizabeth, King George classics and the Newbury sprints.

Raceclubs hold challenge Qualifiers throughout the season and the horses that achieve the most points from the Qualifiers are eligible to enter the races.

In order to enter a Qualifying Race a horse's supplementary fee needs to be paid. For 2 year olds the horse needs to have won at least 1 race and for 3-7 year olds the horse needs to have won at least 2 races.

Stakes Races

Stakes races are split into Group 1, Group 2 and Group 2 with conditions races. They are then subdivided into the following categories dependant upon how many previous races the horse has won:

• Maiden stakes & maiden plate (0 wins)
• Novice stakes & novice plate (0-2 wins)
• Progress Plate (1-3 wins)
• C Division
• B Division
• A Division

When a Group 2 race has conditions applying you'll see a series of letters and numbers after it, such as NPL3R. This indicates that only horses that have Not been Placed in their Last 3 Runs are eligible to enter. These races are designed to give the not so good horses a chance to win.

Handicaps & Allowance Races

Handicap and allowance races are specially designed to help even the playing field for horses with less ability. In handicap races, horses have to carry extra weight for having won previously. Fillies are given a 30lbs sex allowance when racing against the colts and older horses will carry extra weight in races that cover multiple age ranges.

Allowance races are a special form of handicap, with horses carrying less weight based upon the number of non winning runs they've had and the average number of lengths they finished behind the winner in their previous 5 races.

These races offer great opportunities for your horse if it's not quite up to winning a maiden.

Claiming Races

Claiming races offer an added dimension to virtual horse racing. If your horse has shown some ability, but you don't wish to races it any more, they offer a good alternative to inactivating your horse and you may pickup some prize money along the way.

A horse entered into a claiming race can be claimed by any other Raceclubs owner, who is willing to pay the price of the claim. Claim amounts go from $15 up to $200 and offer a great way for you to sell your horse.

It's unlikely anyone will claim your horse on it's first run, but there is always a chance, so only enter it in a claimer if you are happy to sell it at the claim price.

The Right Race For Your Horse

Races are competitive, but if you select the right level for the ability of your horse, there's no reason why you wont be celebrating victory in the winners enclosure.

When you're new to virtual racing it's difficult to gauge the right race for your horse. Therefore we've provided examples of some of the horses we've trained or claimed, to help you

Assess The Ability Of Your Virtual Race Horse >>