In Part 1 of our Welcome to Photo Finish™ LIVE Onboarding series we covered the basics of what PFL is all about, who the team is comprised of, and what to expect when starting your virtual racehorse dynasty from scratch.
In Part 2, we’re talking about what’s obviously the most important aspect of a horse racing game – the horses.
If you’re new to PFL and looking for information that helps outline which horse may be for you, this article will be a great place to start.
How Do Photo Finish™ LIVE Horse Grades Work?
To make finding your forever horses easier, PFL has helped take some of the guesswork out of figuring out which are strongest by assigning Horse Grades to each thoroughbred.
Horses in Photo Finish™ LIVE are graded based on their genetics, with ‘D’ being the lowest grade and ‘SSS’ being the highest.
Each horse grade is subdivided, and horse attributes (Start, Speed, Stamina, Finish, Heart, and Temper) are also graded.
A horse’s overall Grade is the average of its attribute grades, with each grade showing the strength of the horse in that specific trait. Grades are a range, and an ‘S’ grade is not a single number or a small range of numbers.
Horse Grades are as follows, beginning with the lowest grade (D) and ending with the highest (SSS):
- D
- C
- B
- A
- S
- SS
- SSS
What Do a Horse’s Attributes and Preferences reference?
If you’ve been a little confused with seeing our community tossing around abbreviations such as “LDF,” no worries – it’s not that deep. We’ll explain.
In the above example, “LDF” simply refers to a race that runs “Left” on a “Dirt” track with a “Firm” surface.
Left, Dirt, Firm. LDF. See? Nothing crazy!
PFL horses have 3 preferences: Direction (Left/Right), Surface (Dirt/Turf), and Condition (Firm/Soft). Putting your horse in the best place to succeed within races with the best combinations suited for it is a major key to success at PFL, and why the game is so skill-based.
Horse Status: When to Race
One of the advantages of your PFL racehorse existing purely in a virtual world is the fact that it can literally tell you how it’s feeling at any given moment in time, which is helpful when making decisions as to when the best time to entire it into race.
PFL has made the ‘Horse Status’ feature as cut-and-dry as possible, but if you’re looking for further clarification see the below description of what each status indicator means.
| State | Properties | Actions |
| Ready | No outstanding debts, injury risk, or negative conditions | May register for races or be sold to other players |
| Recovering | Recently ran a race, increased injury risk if races before the timer ends | May register for races or be sold to other players. |
| Exhausted | Recently raced, cannot register for races | May be sold to other players |
| Injured | Suffered an injury, cannot register for races, breed, or be sold | Wait for the timer to finish and pay a medical bill |
| Retired | Cannot register for races, but can breed or be sold | May be bred or be sold on the market, male horses can be put on Stud Market |
| Pregnant | Mare carrying a foal, cannot breed or register for races | May be sold on the market with pregnancy, the foal will arrive after real-world time |
How Horses Age
Because PFL aims to be a virtual duplicate of IRL horse racing, that means the horses don’t live forever. Not only does horse retirement make for a more realistic game, but the lack of never-aging beasts ruling the racetracks means competition is fairer, and new stable owners may always come in and compete from Day 1.
Below is a breakdown of some of the possible actions that come with each age of a PFL horse.
Age-Based Actions
Only horses of certain ages may Race or Breed:
- Age 0 & Age 1: Horses are too young to do anything.
- Age 2: Horses may run Juvenile tier races.
- Age 3 – 8: Horses may run any tier of race except Juvenile.
- Age 3: Horses may retire.
- Age 3 – 16: Horses that are retired may breed.
How to Buy a Racehorse
Now that you’re armed with a general understanding of what makes up a PFL horse, you’re ready to purchase one!
But wait – which one?
Obviously, that’s where the fun, and skill, of the game, come into play.
While we can’t tell you which horse will lead to racetrack success, players can do some homework before diving into the marketplace by reading the Horse Basics section located on the Third Time Games website.
