Pro Jockeys are a must for upper level players. And if you want to run in any cup that is not for Apprentice Jockeys only. This is most Cups.
Although you can use an Apprentice in any Cup Final, it is advised if you want to place in the top 5 to use a Pro Jockey.
To get started with getting the right pro jockey you need to decide what you want to do with it. Pro Jockeys come in every shape and size. If you are lucky enough to hold onto your Ex-App Jockey and they run well for you much of this guide will be superfluous to you.
Before you go looking for a jockey you will want to pick out a few things to look for when searching for your Pro Jockey. As seen in the picture to the left all the fields can be picked, but the more specific you get the harder it is to find jockeys.
To get to this page go to a Hire a Jockey page or click this link http://www.trackking.org/jockhire.php
If your restrictions are too strict your choices will be over ridden, the age one is the most common one to be over ruled. Typically I will look for Uncontracted Jockeys only, Weight, my 3 Skills that I am looking for and Personality. Each person will want something different though so you can play around all you like. With these ones I have found the most luck finding jockeys that I like.
Most people like light jockeys, 50-55kg so I will set my weight between that level. You can only hire Jockeys in your class unless they are Ex-Apps. The Class Pre-Set will be your current class. (If it is around promotion time and end of the season you could lose your favorite jockey if they did not move up with you.)
Setting the age can be tricky because the game will sometimes go around your age restrictions if there is nothing in your age bracket.
Using the wages and Career Winnings can help you get a jockey in your budget.
If you need to hire a jockey right away click the first box, Uncontracted Jockeys Only, this will give you jockeys currently able to be hired. Jockeys on Holiday will give you jockeys that are currently on Holiday and have no contract, this if you are needing a jockey soon can open up your pool of possible jockeys and give you some time to find the right one for you. Just remember the return time of the jockeys is very general, and we will discuss this at a later time. Contracted by another stable are ones that like it says are currently working for another stable. That means before you can get that jockey you will have to wait until after they are done their current contract which you will be told the date (though this can be extended if they have the Conference Facility, or shortened if they have OC) and will also include a vacation of unknown length. The last is any Contract Status, which means any of the above options and can be a lot of data to sift through.
Next are your desired Skills. The first one will default to Prestige, and really you should always use this one because there is little point in looking at jockeys that don’t have Prestige close enough to you so that you can hire. Typically speaking you can only do 4 levels above and below you in Prestige to hire, unless it is an Ex-App, this will depend on how close you are to a level in Prestige though. The lower the prestige level to you the longer you can hold a contract, the higher the Prestige level of a jockey verses your Stable the less time you can hold a contract. Contracts can range in length anywhere from around 12 to around 80 days, depending on Prestige levels between you and your jockey.
The next skill that is beneficial to set is a Distance or Ground Experience Level. The higher the level the more adapt the jockey is at that particular skill. Which means they can get more out of a horse in a race under those conditions. Top Players tend to like as many Awe Inspiring Experience levels as possible. The further off AI the more options you will have.
The next 3 options are easily left blank if you are new to looking for a jockey. Or if you want an aggressive jockey or a passive one pick which one you are interested in.
Types of Jockey Traits:
Aggressive Types:
Aggressive Temperament: These are your most aggressive type jockeys in the game. They will push very hard, this includes sometimes through holds and relaxes. They can sometimes fight hard against a horse in a race. These are not meant for every horse, they can fight terribly with some horses. Also they are not great with young horses between 2-4yos because they can push the horse through needed holds.
Fires Up Late: These will push a little bit extra in the last quarter of the race. They are aggressive types, but not as aggressive as the Aggressive Temperament. These jockeys can have some issues getting out of the gate though.
Fires Up Very Late: These will push a little bit extra in the last eighth of the race. They are also one of the aggressive types, but not as aggressive as the Aggressive Temperament. These jockeys can have some issues getting out of the gate though.
Fires Up Early: These will push a little bit extra in the first quarter of the race. They are also an aggressive type, but not overly aggressive. The jockeys can sometimes have an issue finishing out a race though.
Fires Up Very Early: These will push a little bit extra in the first eighth of the race. They are also an aggressive type, but not overly aggressive. The jockeys can sometimes have an issue finishing out a race though. These can be useful for a slow start sprinter/short runners.
Passive Types:
Tends To Ease Late: This is the least passive of the passive type jockeys. One of the least used jockey types, because they wont push in the last quarter of the race to the fullest. Can be useful for high end stakes runners that don’t need to be pushed to the brink to win races.
Calm: These are one of the least aggressive types in the game. Common to be used on horses that are young (2-4yo) and longer distance runners. They will push but not overly push in a race and are good for aggressive type horses.
Passive Attitude: These are the most passive (get it) of all jockeys, they are common to use on young horses between 2-4yos. They wont push to the breaking point. They can work very well on aggressive and temperamental horses.
All of these traits do not mean that a particular horse and jockey do or don’t get along or perform. The truth is that the more times a jockey rides a horse a Rapport is developed between jockey and horse and they are more likely to perform better the more times they ride together. That is why you will see older stable keep the same jockey on the same horse for long periods of time. It is not forgotten if you lose the jockey for a while either.
Sort Your Results By:
Jockey Name-This will be used by default.
Weight (All the Possible Weights of your possible Jockeys)
Age-You can use this to get a specific age, if you want a younger or older jockey this is a good way to sort you jockey.
Contract Expiry-This is only used if the jockey has a current contract and will sort based on when it will end.
Starting Wage-What the Jockey will cost you each week. (This can change based on your exact prestige, and your haggling ability)
Career Winnings-How much each of the Jockeys has Earned in its lifetime. (This can tell you how much the jockey has raced)
Once you have decided what you want in a jockey it is time to find the one that is right for you. Once you have picked your traits click the Search Button and this is the type of list you will get, as seen in the picture to the left.
You will see 6 columns, Name/Nationality, Weight, Prestige, Career Winnings, Contracted to, Negotiations start at. You will also see at the top How many are displayed verse how many fit your criteria.
If there is nothing you like you can always go back to the Search Criteria and do any needed tweaking.
Next you can click on a jockey and look closer at them to see the different traits. (The traits and levels are listed in the Apprentice Jockey Guide).
When you click on a jockey the jockey page will come up and this is the information hat you will see. On the top part of the page you will see who the Jockey Apprenticed with (sometimes it will say N/A which means it is a bot formed jockey). This can be important if you want to continuing to use the jockey, that an Ex-Apprentice will give close times to its Parent Stable which if they want them back they could hire them back.
The Morale of an uncontracted Jockey will always be around Reasonable. (This will come into play later)
Also in this part you will see any trophies that the jockey may have earned, this one has not earned any. They will stay with the jockey no matter who has them or where they were earned.
The possibly most important part of the page you will see the Contract negotiations (we will discuss this later).
At the bottom of the page you will 4 tabs, each has pertinent information for you to decide if you want that particular jockey or not.
On the first tab you will see the jockey traits. This is important for how you want to set Race Instructions (RIs) and how you will use your jockey in your races.
Traits that are most common for jockeys are: Sits on rail, Instant rapport, and Enjoys high speeds
Here you will also see the Career Earnings and Wins, Top 5 finishes, and Number of Races Entered.
On the next Tab you will see Experience and Form.
If you run specific distances you likely want to get a got with those maxed out or near maxed out.
This specific view with the Graphs is only seen if you have OC (Owners Club).
You also get a list of all the placings that a specific jockey has run over the course of their TK Life.
This next tab shows the same thing as the bottom of the previous tab, just more organized and also split out by the season.
This can be a fun thing to look at for your self to see how a jockey did for you over the course of the season. (You can also look at this for your entire stable if you want)
Once you have looked over your jockey and know what you want, it is time to hire the jockey. If the jockey is in high demand while you are looking at it, other stables and players can hire it out from you before you can sign the jockey. Before you hire a jockey you can try to haggle the jockey.
Haggling:
Haggling is a way to get a jockey for cheaper than listed price. If you are really good at haggling you can get the price down to about half of the original listed price. But there are some dos and don’ts to haggling that I will now go over.
- If you can barely hire a jockey due the Jockey being much higher in Prestige, you are not usually going to get far.
- If you have a lot of jockeys you are going to have a tough time Haggling as well. Jockeys like feeling special, having lots of jockeys and a small barn means they know that they are not going to get a lot of rides, and yes they are somewhat intelligent.
- If you have more than 1 jockey open at a time you cant Haggle, the price will not drop.
- If you double Haggle you are risking the dreaded no negotiations message ( “Jockey is Refusing to Negotiate Further” )
- You can not Haggle an Ex-App (as I said much of this page is useless if it is an Ex-App)
- If you wait too long between Haggling and Signing a Jockey the price might revert back to the original price.
- If you leave the Jockey Page you lose the Haggled Price, though if you Haggle the Same jockey Twice in a row whether you left the page or not this is considered a double Haggle and can give you the “Jockey is Refusing to Negotiate Further”message.
- Haggling Prices go back to the original price each time you reload the Jockey Page, but the Haggle price might be different.
- If 2 players are Haggling the same jockey at the same time (which is rare) Haggling will be very difficult because the Jockey knows that it is wanted.
- If you try to Haggle below a Negotiations Status of Satisfactory you are risking the “Jockey is Refusing to Negotiate Further” Message
To Haggle all you need to do is have a single jockey open and hit the Haggle Button.
This is the message that will appear if you are trying to Haggle or Sign a Jockey, make sure that you click the correct one.
You can now see that the jockey has lowered her price from $107k per week to a much more reasonable amount of $74k per week.
Also you will notice that the Negotiation Status is now at Reasonable. You can choose to Hire this jockey or you can choose to Haggle again, or look for another Jockey.
If you choose to over Haggle a Jockey you will get this message, “Jockey is Refusing to Negotiate Further” and you will be barred from trying to hire a jockey again for 24 hours. This can be deadly if you desperately need a jockey for a race, such as a cup.
The next day you will have to start the process again. Remember that someone can take your jockey over this period of time, so be careful when Haggling.
Although there are many risks to Haggling, if you are good at it, it can save you millions over the course of the year in expenses.
Once you have your jockey it is time to use them. Some tips and hints about using Pro Jockeys:
- You will get charged every week on Sundays at 23:35 TK time. Except the last week of your contract. If your Contract ends on a Monday you will only get that day free.
- Once you pick up a jockey you will have them for the entire length of that contract.
- If you have the conference facility you can extend your contract based on the facility’s level, the lower the level the shorter the time period, the higher the level the longer you can extend for.
- Minimum extension is 20 days and Maximum is 31 days, this seems to be based on your prestige level vs the jockeys prestige level same as when you are hiring a jockey.
- You will pay about 60% more for your jockey under the new contract for each week that you extend, so it is an expensive thing to do if the facility is at Awe Inspiring Level.
- You will not lose your morale when you extend, it stays at the current level.
- If you extend the vacation will be on the long side. Jockeys like to relax.
- If you have OC, you can cancel a contract.
- You will have to pay out the entire contract for the jockey.
- You will get a crazy time back in your diary which will be wrong.
- Also you will take a Prestige hit. Because Firing people is not a very prestigious thing to do.
- Ending a contract will cost the same/more than just letting the contract end naturally.
- Make sure to set a good average Jockey Default Race Instructions, this will help you not have to set your instructions for every race you enter.
- Watch your travel, Jockeys can get to a race within 10mins of the race, whereas horses need to be there 3 hours early.
- If your Jockey Morale is low, they will be less likely to listen to your instructions.
- Jockeys can lose morale due to poor performances in races (finishing out of the money) and due to inactivity.
- Jockeys DO NOT have to listen to your instructions.
- Not all jockeys will “Get Along” with every horse. They are not one size fits all, this is why top stables have a few jockeys that they use.
Vacations:
You are now at the end of your contract time with your Jockey. They will go on vacation anywhere from 3-21 days. Extended contract jockeys will have usually on the longer side of vacations. The length of the vacation is fairly random, Don’t expect a 3 day vacation every time, because it will be different.
The happier your jockey is when they go on vacation the more accurate the returning time will be in your Diary. You can look at your Diary with this link http://www.trackking.org/sdiary.php
If not you can go to the Jockeys Page and it will say a few times that the Jockey will be coming back, these are general and as stated before, the jockey can come back earlier or later. They have things to do I guess.
- Early Morning – Between 00:00-6:00 TK Time
- Morning – Between 6:00-12:00 TK Time
- Afternoon – Between 12:00-18:00 TK Time
- Night – Between 18:00-00:00 TK Time
Now that you know the basics of how to use a Pro Jockey, good luck.