There have been quite a fair bit of chatter on the Race Classes recently and the community has been expecting a major revamp by Zed’s Team. Here’s my 2cents worth on how the race classes could/should evolve.
Current System
(Please skip this section if you know how the current system works)
The current class system is based on a couple of factors, you can read more about it here. Here’s a skinny on how it works:
All horses start off at Griffin Class and depending on the results of the race, the horse will be assigned a Race Rating. The horse first ever Race Rating will be based on Base Rating (which is dependent on genotype) + rating from the griffin race.
e.g. if your Z5 horse came in 1st in its Griffin Race, the Race Rating of your horse would be 41 (Base Rating 37 + Race Points 4). That puts your horse in Class 3. Thereafter, your horse will either move up or down the classes depending on your race performance.
Are current race classes broken?
The current iteration of race classes was designed when Zed’s ecosystem was rather small and there wasn’t as many stables around. Zed has exploded in the recent months and there are many newbies coming into the game. It would be safe to assume newbies will be giving Zed a try with a higher Z-class horse and running in Class 4/5.
If we were to take a closer look at the line-up for class 4 and 5, you will notice many horses that are “veterans” with >100 races under their belts, >30wins and >10% win rate. These veterans are “frequent flyers” of these races and your newbie horse would be competing against them.
First let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with stable owners running their horses all the time and every horse stands a chance to win a race regardless of the horse’s stats. However, is this the best way forward for Zed?
Here are some potential issues:
- Experienced stable owners understands their horses better (e.g. distance preference) and has an edge over unproven horses.
- Newbies quickly getting disillusioned about the races and that races are for the “big boys” only.
- New stables “paying” tuition fees (aka entry fees) to learn the game. We could argue that there are FREE races, however we all know how frequently these races are and how “easy” it is to grab a gate.
- There are also rumors of “sandbagging”, i.e. stable owners intentionally race their horses in higher class race (e.g. Class 1/2) to stay within Class 4/5. Stable Owners have the right to decide on their race strategies and they are playing within the rules. Its up to Zed to decide if actions are required to minimize such strategy.
It would be interesting to find out how’s the distribution of winnings in Class 4/5, are they concentrated to a couple of stables?
For new stable owners, pick your races and go for lower entry fees races for the time being. For experience stable owners, give our newbies a chance (including me) and let them have a chance to learn the game without paying too high a price.
Zed will only get better!
There have been many suggestions on how Zed can evolve the Racing Class system such as introduction of additional classes (novice, veteran and masters) which takes into consideration stats such as number of races, win rate, number of wins, etc.
Regardless of the approach Zed takes, it will not be the final product, Zed is a “living ecosystem”, it will continue to learn, improve and flourish!
