One thing you can’t get away from in this game is Genetics. Whether it is about selling a horse or breeding, genetics are a subject that can not be ignored.
What is good genetics and bad genetics is highly debatable, but certain terms need to be understood to read the ads and know what people are talking about in the forums and in chat.
First lets talk about the reports themselves.
There are 2 parts of the genetics report: The Top half and the bottom half.
Group 1: These include the trainable stats and the Spirit and Height genes.
GateSpeed, Acceleration, Muscle Stamina, Heart, and Weight are all trainable traits. But the genes can not be changed.
Group 2: this is where the style of a horse is.
To have a style you must have rr Racing Style enabled, but if a style is not Enabled you wont have a style.
But a horse can be enabled in a few styles. And if the horse is not enabled it will not be styled even if the horse is rr.
There are a few very important things that need to be discussed when talking about genes with the basic understanding above. This can get complicated so I will have examples of all the different cases so that it will be understandable.
Group 1 is typically the genes that most talk about. Top 3.5 or Top 8. These mean very specific things and can get a bit confusing, but is very useful when looking at ads about horses for sale and when making an ad. When saying “Top” you are only ever talking about Group 1 genes. Never Group 2.
This is a 1.5 horse. The horse is also Enabled in 4 styles so it could be any one of those styles.
When breeding this horse, the fully enabled styles are typically more likely as long as the horse bred with it is Enabled in those styles.
The horse is a 1.5 because it is Enabled in only Heart but a carrier in at least other group 1 stat.
This horse is a 3.5.
Even though it is a carrier in more than 1 body stat that does not mean you add carriers together. It will only ever be a 3.5
This horse also has a fair number of Enabled styles, this means that It could be anyone of those styles. And is helpful when breeding to get styles in your foals.
Both of these are considered 4.5s. Even thought the one on the right has Height and Weight Enabled, most will consider them both to be only 4.5s because the top 5 stats must be complete to be considered Top 5 or greater.
This is older terminology but still commonly used.
This is a “Top 8” all the top stats must be green. This is one of the rarer genetics to be found in the game. It is also well liked by many breeders, but some like to have Disabled Carrier in Weight or Spirit.
It is truly up to the breeder what they want, everyone likes different things.
Both of these horses are unstyled, but for different reasons.
The one on the left is unstyled due to Racing Style Enabler being Rr or rR. So even though it is enabled in 2 styles Needs Space and Fast Finisher it is unstyled. There is still a chance of it having a styled foal though.
The one on the right is fully enabled in Racing Style Enabler but does not have a style enabled so that no style has been triggered. It is possible to get a styled foal out of this horse if you bred it with a fully enabled style horse in anything but stalker, but a style is not guaranteed.
This is not a guild on breeding. If you are a new player in under 2 full seasons of play it is recommended to NOT breed. Everyone breeds for different reasons and looks for different things in the foals. Some breed for genetics, for a specific trait, for a bloodline, or just because it is 2 horses they like.
A few words on terminology on the breeding process. Initial ratings are extremely important to breeders. That is the number when first conceived. This can be anywhere from a 1 to a 6. Both a 1 and a 6 are extremely rare. 2s very small, 5s are typically the top foals of the season, and 3s are concerned below average and 4s are considered average to above average and can occasionally be better than initial 5s.
| Initial Rating | Time of First Pop | Average Popping Rate | Final in-uterus Rating | Full Health After Birth Rating | General Comments |
| 1-2 | —— | ——– | 10-16 | 18-24 | Not Worth Keeping |
| 3 | More than 24 Hours | Over 24 hours | 16-20 | 24-31 | Well Below Average |
| 3 | Between 0-24 Hours | About 24 hours | 18-21 | 26-33 | Below Average |
| 4 | More than 24 Hours | Over 24 hours | 20-23 | 28-35 | Below Average |
| 4 | Between 12-24 Hours | About 24 hours | 23-26 | 31-38 | Upper Foals are above average, lower foals are Average |
| 4 | Between 0-12 Hours | About 24 or less hours | 26-29 | 36-41 | Above Average. nice foals and very keepable |
| 5 | Over 12 Hours | About or more than 24 hours | 27-30 | 37-42 | Above Average Foal, very keepable |
| 5 | Under 12 Hours | About 24 hours or Less | 28-33 | 39-45 | Top End Foal |
| 6 | Any | Any | 30-34 | 42 and up | Top Foals in the game, extremely rare |
This is very general and depends on how fast a foal pops (grows in rating) each day, but in general most pop around once every 24 hours. The faster the better and less than 24 hour poppers tend to be on the low side of the ranges.
The lowest OR foals are typically the same if not worse than Yearling Pulls, 18-24OR when fully healthy. The highest OR foal ever was a 46 when healthy after birth, this has only happened once, but there have been a few 44-45s.
The genetics game is mostly in play with breeding.