If the rules make training a horse sound like some mystery only to be understood by rocket scientists then the jockey instructions may as well be hidden in the pages of the Hunger Games. I have read and re-read these to try and find that magic formula, followed ‘trends’, hit out on my own with theories gleaned from the mystical text but at the end of the day I have come up woefully short of a biblical revelation.

I have detailed my own thoughts around the rules version of instructions below and whilst it is intentionally tongue in cheek I think it sums up my years of experience in trying to find the ‘answer’.

 Jockey Start Instructions: The Illusion of Choice

HRP gives you three start options:

• Aggressive – “Let’s blast out of the gate like we’re late for a wedding.”
• Normal – “Just… do whatever you normally do, champ.”
• Conservative – “Please don’t embarrass us. Just walk out politely.”

And then HRP immediately tells you:

“All three instructions will maintain the same average start.”

Ah yes, the classic HRP paradox: Different choices that all produce the same result. It’s like ordering three different coffees and being told they all taste exactly the same, but one might scald your tongue and one might be lukewarm.

Aggressive: higher chance of a great start, higher chance of a terrible start. Conservative: lower chance of a great start, lower chance of a terrible start. Normal: the HRP version of shrugging.

So really, you’re not choosing a start instruction—you’re choosing your preferred flavor of disappointment.

2. Horse Lead: The “Do Whatever You Want” Button

Horse Lead is HRP’s zen mode.

The jockey basically says: “Look mate, I’m not getting involved. You run however you feel today.”

This is great if your horse is a stable, consistent professional. It is catastrophic if your horse is the equine equivalent of a toddler on a sugar high.

Some horses run fast. Some run slow. Some run fast one day and slow the next. Some run slow one day and fast the next. Some run fast, then slow, then fast again, because why not.

Horse Lead is less an instruction and more a personality test.

3. Style-Based Pace Instructions: Push, Push Harder, Stop, Stop Harder

These instructions are beautifully simple:

• Heavy Push
• Push
• Restrain
• Heavy Restrain

They all start from Horse Lead, and then the jockey either:

• Shoves the horse,
• Shoves the horse slightly,
• Politely asks the horse to calm down,
• Politely asks the horse to calm down but with more passive-aggressive energy.

Time doesn’t matter. Class doesn’t matter. Only “vibes” matter.

It’s the HRP version of parenting. Should you smack or put them on the naughty chair?

4. Time-Based Pace Instructions: The “We Pretend This Is Scientific” Category

These include:

• Fast
• Above Average
• Average
• Below Average
• Slow

HRP gives you neat little time ranges for each instruction, which is adorable because the horse will ignore them whenever it feels like it.

You select Above Average expecting 22.2–22.4. Your horse runs 23.0.

Why?

HRP gives you a list of reasons that basically boil down to:

• The track was different.
• The surface was different.
• The post position was different.
• The traffic was different.
• The start was different.
• The horse was different.
• The universe was different.
• Everything was different.
• Life is chaos.

Time-based instructions are scientific to a point in the same way as telling a teenager that drinking is bad for you, you tell them one thing expecting them to do the other.

5. Positional Instructions: The “We’ll Try, But No Promises” Category

These include:

• Lead
• Stalk
• Midpack
• Close
• Trail

The jockey will attempt to place the horse in the desired position, but HRP immediately clarifies:

“The jockey will not over push or over restrain the horse.”

Translation: “We’ll try, but if the horse doesn’t feel like cooperating, that’s your problem.”

So if you select Lead, but your horse wakes up feeling introverted, it will trail the field like it’s avoiding social interaction.

If you select Trail, but your horse decides today is its main-character moment, it will blast to the front like it’s auditioning for Fast & Furious: Equine Drift.

Positional instructions are basically suggestions to that same moody teenager that you were wondering whether to push or restrain.

6. Traffic & Positioning: The Ultimate Excuse Generator

HRP tells you that traffic and positioning can override instructions.

This is HRP’s way of saying:

“Look, if anything goes wrong, blame traffic.”

Bad start? Traffic. Slow quarter? Traffic. Horse ran sideways? Traffic. Horse teleported to the back? Traffic. Horse spontaneously combusted? Probably traffic.

Traffic is the HRP equivalent of “the dog ate my homework.”

7. The Second Half of the Race: The Jockey Finally Wakes Up

For the first half of the race, the jockey follows your instructions. For the second half, the jockey says:

“Right, enough of your nonsense. I’m taking over.”

The goal becomes “get to the finish line the quickest way possible,” which is HRP’s polite way of saying:

“We’re done pretending your instructions matter.”

I often wonder who has the final say on how the horse gets to the line the fastest way possible. In one breath everything is based around horse lead suggesting the horse has the final choice whereas on the other we are led to believe the jockeys make a difference. Then there are all the other factors, does the horse on horse lead understand it is drawn wide so must therefore feel differently that day? Does the horse look in the next gate and see Lionel Messi and think well I aint gonna win today?

8. Class Effects: Because Why Not Add More Chaos

HRP explains that class affects pace.

So “Average” in a high-class race is faster than “Average” in a low-class race.

This is the HRP version of:

“Average means whatever we want it to mean today.”

Workouts? They’re “similar to a lower class race,” which is HRP’s way of saying:

“Your workout data is helpful, but also misleading, but also important, but also irrelevant.”

Summary

Yeah…I’m not sure there is one beyond if your horse is feeling good and all the stars align you may have a chance of winning!!

Categories: EDITORIAL, FEATURED STORIES, Racing Information