The lead up to the Spring Carnival has been very interesting to say the least. We have seen some unexpected runners emerge as key chances and even favourites in the big Spring racing markets and many are worthy of being picked in your Star Stable team. Race Meeting 1 of Star Stable kicks off this weekend with the only race meeting involving Sydney as well as the Turnbull race meeting in Melbourne. The idea of these meets is not to go all out to win them, but to pick horses that will increase in price as well as go onwards to fight out the better races of the spring. I wouldn’t recommend having more than half your runners going around this weekend. There are over 84 races throughout the Star Stable period to choose from, and you will find the list of 18 key races to target at the bottom of this article.
What is Star Stable?
Star Stable is a fantasy game for the racing carnival. Your stable requires 10 horses at all times to be selected and you are given two trades per week.You also need to select a trainer and jockey each week (you can change this every week). You will also get two WILDCARD trades. These allow you to make a THIRD trade during any trade period.
The aim of the game is to win as much prize money as possible while improving the value of your horses to ‘trade up’ to bigger and better ones as the carnival rolls on. Your main focus is on the horses with the trainer/jockey combo bringing in very little (5% and 10% of prize money) in the comp.. still that is enough to win or lose a league in my opinion.
In every race meeting, you have to select a ‘Stable Champion’ who will earn 2 credits per dollar of prize money. What I get from this is the horse is simply like a Supercoach Captain and worth double for the round.
A horses value will increase if:
Group 1 race: 1st (75k), 2nd (50k), 3rd (50k), 4th (25k), 5th (25k)
Group 2 race: 1st (50k), 2nd (25k), 3rd (25k)
Group 3 race: 1st (50k), 2nd (25k), 3rd (25k)
Listed race: 1st (25k)
*Important: The maximum value a horse will ever reach is 250k*
Why play Star Stable?
With close to 300 league entries in Autumn, we gave away $250 to the winner of The Profits league and will gave away another $250 this Spring! But our $250 is chump change compared to the main prize for being the number one stable!
The overall prize for the No.1 ‘Star Stable’ in the overall rankings is cool $10,000 while $5000 for second place and $2000 for third. There are also weekly prizes of $400 for the top scoring stable of the week.
Which horses should i pick?
Take those blinkers off and choose horses that are not only going to compete to win this weekend.. but will be going onwards to the million dollar races over the following months. If you have 10 horses in your stable who are all competing this weekend, then you are absolutely doing it wrong even though we have quality fields.
Start by looking at the runners for the weekend. Note how much each race is worth money wise AND what standard of Group race they are. Then head over to your local bookie website and check the prices on each of the runners. Now, head over to www.bestodds.com.au futures section which I have linked for you and check our the prices on each runner in futures of different races. A good example is Lucia Valentina. Not only is she favourite this weekend and a reasonable price, she is favourite for the Caulfield Cup and in the top 10 prices for the Melbourne Cup. This is an ideal starting pick. You are looking for high value races going forward.
Good luck with your Stable and don’t forget to join us and continue to chat in the banter box at the bottom of our league once you join (Code 726428).
You can sign up to play at www.starstable.com.au.
| Date | Race Name | Status | Age | Distance | Total |
| 4-Oct | Star Epsom Handicap | Group 1 | 3 YO & Up | 1600m | $500,000 |
| 4-Oct | The McGrath Estate Metropolitan | Group 1 | 3 YO & Up | 2400m | $400,000 |
| 4-Oct | Coolmore Flight Stakes | Group 1 | Fillies 3 YO | 1600m | $400,000 |
| 4-Oct | Turnbull Stakes | Group 1 | 4 YO & Up | 2000m | $500,000 |
| 11-Oct | BECK Caulfield Guineas | Group 1 | 3 YO | 1600m | $1,000,000 |
| 11-Oct | Schweppes Thousand Guineas | Group 1 | 1600m | $500,000 | |
| 11-Oct | Cathay Pacific Caulfield Stakes | Group 1 | 3 YO & Up | 2000m | $400,000 |
| 11-Oct | David Jones NBCF Toorak Handicap | Group 1 | Open | 1600m | $400,000 |
| 18-Oct | Caulfield Classic | Group 3 | 3 YO | 2000m | $750,000 |
| 18-Oct | Crown Golden Ale Caulfield Cup | Group 1 | Open | 2400m | $3,000,000 |
| 25-Oct | Cox Plate | Group 1 | 3 YO & Up | 2040m | $3,000,000 |
| 1-Nov | AAMI Victoria Derby | Group 1 | 3 YO | 2500m | $1,500,000 |
| 1-Nov | Longines Mackinnon Stakes | Group 1 | 3YO & Up | 2000m | $1,000,000 |
| 1-Nov | Myer Classic | Group 1 | 3 YO & Up Fillies & Mares | 1600m | $500,000 |
| 4-Nov | Emirates Melbourne Cup | Group 1 | Open | 3200m | $6,000,000 |
| 6-Nov | Crown Oaks | Group 1 | 3 YO Fillies | 2500m | $1,000,000 |
| 8-Nov | Darley Classic | Group 1 | Open | 1200m | $1,000,000 |
| 8-Nov | Emirates Stakes | Group 1 | Open | 1600m | $1,000,000 |
