Virgin Games, 48K
£5.95
Author: Mark Alexander

Half strategy, half simulation, this game lets you hire a trainer and select the horses you wish to enter for season of racing. The object is to get through to the Derby and win it! 25 meetings take place before that big day, with each meeting having several races, this is not a short game. Money is spent on training, feeding and entering horses into races. It can be made back with prize money and betting on the races. Each horse you have hss strength ratings expressed as fitness and speed factors, a best distance factor, and the type of going the horse likes. Bets of between £10 and £10,000 may be placed on any race and then you can sit back and watch the race furlong by furlong, or, to speed things up, watch only the last three furlongs. The graphics are reasonable and the game quite compelling, although the package could have been stronger if it had included some more technical details on the esoterica of betting. Overall CRASH rating 58%.