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Chapter 7 - Fees and Winnings It is important as a stable owner to keep track of your finances in the game. Money goes out of your stable to pay entry fees, maintenance fees, breeding fees, purchase horses, and expand your stable. Money comes in by selling horses or winning races. Entry Fees Every time you enter a horse into a race, you must pay an entry fee. The entry fees for all races are listed on the race calendar on the web site, and are 2% of the total purse of the race. A race with a $100,000 purse has an entry fee of $2,000. Entry fees are removed from your bank account once each week, during post-race processing. Maintenance Fees Keeping a stable of horses costs money. Maintenance fees cover the costs of feed, equipment, medical attention, farriers, vitamins, and stable maintenance. The fees are based on how many horses you own, and what kind. Foals, Yearlings and Breeders cost less to maintain than Racers. Racers cost $1,500 each month per horse to maintain. Breeders cost $1,000 each month per horse to maintain. Foals and Yearlings cost $500 each month per horse to maintain. Each month of game time, maintenance costs for that month are calculated and deducted from your bank account during post-race processing. This roughly translates to once every two weeks of real time. Winnings Winnings are the payoff for racing. In each race, the first four finishing horses will receive prize money. The purse is distributed the following way: 1st place receives 60% 2nd place receives 25% 3rd place receives 10% 4th place receives 5% Your stable will receive its winnings once each week, during post-race processing. Breeding Fees If you use any horses that don’t belong to your stable for breeding, you will have to pay breeding fees. These fees mostly apply to outside stallions, but you may on occasion be able to lease a mare from another stable for breeding. In general, a horse’s lifetime earnings is a good indicator of the quality of the horse, but not always. Fees for horses owned by other stables are set by their owners. All breeding fees will be deducted at the end of the breeding season. Profit & Loss Hopefully, as you progress through a racing season with careful placement of your horses, your stable will break even or make a profit. It may be slow going at first, and in any stable’s first season, breaking even (getting back to the $200,000 you started with) is good. But what if you didn’t do so well? What if your horses couldn’t win anything, and you spent your stable’s money on acquiring new horses and paying fees? Among the more common questions is can you borrow money to keep your stable afloat? The answer to that is no. Unlike some board games, there is no bank in PF from which to borrow funds. You may not borrow money from other stables, either. In general, if your stable falls into the red, you will be allowed to operate that way for a couple of weeks, in the hopes that you will turn things around and recover. If not, you as a stable owner will be faced with a tough choice. Often, the only way to generate funds and get back in the black is to sell one or more horses. If you find yourself in a situation where your stable can’t recover from bankruptcy, email the Racing Steward. She will find a way to help get your stable back on its feet.
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(c) Copyright 2007-2008 Laurie J. Brown |
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