As Season 20 arrives, we’re excited to reflect on the positive momentum and changes players have embraced, particularly the strategic depth in picking weekly or seasonal paths.
While past seasons brought significant changes to the game, the focus now is on refinement and allowing the community to settle into the new rhythm.
Upcoming seasons, including this season, will look familiar but introduce key tweaks designed to enhance the game for all horse types, particularly those not at the top of the spectrum.
Strategic Timings
Our primary focus this season is ensuring more race diversity at critical times. You’ll see a high volume of juvenile maidens and grade-restricted races on Day 1 and juvenile-restricted races by Day 15.
These races will hit every distance and weather funnel within 48 hours, ensuring all grades can access the races they need (with exceptions for sparsely populated grades/archetypes).
This emphasis on providing timely, diverse races is critical to helping you find the perfect opportunities for your horses.
Buy-In Adjustments
While buy-ins remain similar to previous seasons, there are a few essential tweaks.
Grade-restricted buy-ins for horses aged 6+ have been adjusted, and S-restricted race buy-ins have been restructured to fall between A+ and S stakes.
Claiming race entries are also now strategically layered to offer lower buy-ins at the bottom of the claimer ladder, giving everyone a chance to compete and climb.
Claiming Race Restructuring & Incentives
We’re taking the next step in transforming claiming races into a more dynamic and central part of the ecosystem. With scalable claim prices and entry fees, we’re creating a more inclusive circuit where horses of all levels within a grade can compete.
Lower entry fees will incentivize owners to get their horses on the track, offering a great opportunity to showcase them for sale or win some Derby.
Season 20 also introduces a new leaderboard incentive. We’re allocating $6,000 to the top 20 horses with the most wins in claiming races. All that matters to get on the leaderboard is wins. We will have a leaderboard up early in S20.
This added focus on claiming races will intensify competition, making every claim more strategic. Owners of successful horses can expect their value to rise as they climb the leaderboard, adding new layers of excitement and gameplay to the claiming system.
Benchmark Races
Benchmarks remain critical for qualifying in major events, but this season brings a restructured benchmark schedule.
Our goal is to create more opportunities for low-end horses to run, and the races will now span from 48 to 75 (with no cap). L5 benchmarks have been phased out, and improved logic has been applied to NW1-2 races for both juveniles and 3+ horses.
To qualify for undercard races, you’ll need to race in ten benchmark races within the season, and we’re using this data to help guide future benchmark adjustments.
Freeroll Payout Changes
Freeroll events like the Silver Stakes, Sugar Maple Cup, and major undercard races will now pay out in $CROWN instead of $DERBY, and prize pools will significantly increase.
Using $0.42 $CROWN as a base, we’ve boosted the prize pool to make these events even more rewarding. In contrast, grade-restricted series payouts will still be in $DERBY, but prize pools now scale by 50% between subgrades (A+ to S-, for example) for a clear progression between grades.
Reviewing The Weekly Cadence
Whether you’re new or a seasoned player, it’s essential to understand the weekly cadence of events.
Here’s a breakdown of what to expect each week:
Week 1
- Majors and Grade-Restricted Championships (3+) Qualifying
- Kingmaker Qualifying
- Claiming Races for end-of-season payouts
- Silver Stakes Freeroll (open to horses aged 6+)
Week 2
- Kingmaker Event on Monday (requires 3 G2/3 races in the prior 8 days)
- Sugar Maple Cup for 4+ year old female horses
Week 3
- Kingmaker Event on Monday
- Grade Championship Races all week
- Claiming Races for end-of-season payouts
Week 4
- Kingmaker Event on Monday
- Claiming Races for end-of-season payouts
- Major undercard races for benchmark-qualified horses
- Artemis Cup, Rookie Rally, and the Virtual Kentucky Derby
- Juvenile Grade Restricted Championships
We’re excited about the improvements and refinements coming in Season 20!
Whether you’re racing juveniles or seasoned champions, there are more opportunities than ever to compete and strategize.
We’re eager to see how the community adapts and thrives with these changes.
Stay tuned for more updates as we roll into another thrilling season at Photo Finish™ LIVE!
