Each horse in Photo Finish™ LIVE has six attributes:
- Start
- Speed
- Stamina
- Finish
- Heart
- Temper
Each horse in Photo Finish™ LIVE has 3 Preferences:
- Surface (Dirt / Turf)
- Direction (Left / Right)
- Condition (Firm / Soft)
Attributes are hidden until a horse retires at which point it will look something like this:
As you can see, each attribute has a grade that affects how the horse performs on the track. While the horse is racing, part of the strategy is trying to figure out those strengths and weaknesses so you can run it optimally.
The strength of a horse’s preferences is determined by its star count, which can range from 0 to 3 for each preference.
Start: Start is the speed at which the horse leaves the gate. It’s the most powerful stat at 4 furlongs but quickly drops off in longer races.
Speed: Speed is the horse’s pace once it gets into its stride. It’s strong at short and middle distances but drops off when races get too long.
Stamina: Stamina is the horse’s ability to keep running as it tires. The longer the race, the more important it is. It starts to become valuable in middle and long races.
Finish: Finish is the horse’s ability to push for the finish line after a hard effort. It is the strongest stat at 12 furlongs but doesn’t become important until the longest distances.
Heart: The heart is a horse’s competitive spirit. Horses with strong Heart prefer to compete against big fields in important races. The tougher the competition, the more effort a horse’s heart will give. However, the horse may not try very hard if the competition is weak or the race irrelevant.
Temper: Temper is a horse’s ability to focus and put effort into the race. Horses always have better and worse days, but a well-tempered horse rarely gets shaken and doesn’t drop off as much when it does.
Surface: Two surface types in Photo Finish™ LIVE are Dirt and Turf. Horses that aren’t suited to the surface of the race course will not perform as well.
Direction: There are two race directions in Photo Finish™ LIVE, Right and Left. Horses that aren’t suited to the direction of the race course will not perform as well.
Condition: There are five track conditions in Photo Finish™ LIVE, Fast, Good, Yield, Soft, and Sloppy. Firm horses prefer Fast or Good track; Soft horses prefer Sloppy or Soft. All horses run decently well on Yielding tracks. Horses that aren’t suited to the condition of the race course will run more slowly.