Leasing horses

Leasing is how real racing stables share a good horse: the owner lets another stable race it for a while, and the prize money is split. In Post Time an owner offers a racing horse for 7, 14, 28 days; another stable takes the lease, races the horse in its own colours and every purse is shared automatically. Rent racers, buy breeders.

#How a lease works

1. 1
   The owner offers one of their racing horses on the lease board (Sales → Lease, or Offer for lease on the horse page), choosing the term, their share of the prizes (30–80%) and the welfare terms below. Offers stay up for 7 days.
2. 2
   Another stable takes the lease: first come, first served. The horse moves into one of its stalls (the owner’s stall is freed) for the whole term.
3. 3
   The lessee cares for the horse, trains it and races it in its own silks. League points, trophies and results are the lessee’s; the horse’s career record keeps counting as usual.
4. 4
   Every purse the horse wins is split at the moment the race settles: the owner’s share to the owner, the rest to the lessee. Both see it in their ledger as a lease share.
5. 5
   When the term ends the horse goes home. Both stables get a note with the races run, what each earned and how the horse came back.

#The prize split

The owner’s share is rounded down to a whole credit and the lessee gets the rest, so the purse is always split exactly. A Live race winner in a 1,100-credit handicap takes 605:

#Who may do what

Upkeep is paid by the stable that used the horse that week: during a lease that is the lessee (see Credits & entries).

#Looking after a leased horse

• A leased horse can’t be entered while it is tired (the same “tired” the stable shows). Let it recover first.
• No all-out rides, unless the owner ticked “allow all-out” on the offer.
• The owner sets how many Live starts a week the horse may make on lease: 2 to 7, 4 unless they choose otherwise.
• A moderate or worse injury sends the horse home straight after that race; the purse of that race is still split.
• If the horse is entered in a race when the lease ends (or is handed back), it goes home once that race has run. Races after the end of the term can’t be entered.
• A condition report (fitness, fatigue, injury, rating) is taken when the lease starts and when the horse comes home: both stables see whether it came back fresh, tired or injured.

Owners rate their lessee 1 to 5 stars once a lease is over. Every lessee has a public record on the lease board: leases taken, races run on lease, injuries on lease, the average fatigue of the horses it entered, and its stars. Owners can ask for a minimum rating; a lessee nobody has rated yet counts as 3 stars.

#Who can lease, and the limits

Only racing horses of racing age can be leased: not a horse entered in a race, listed for sale, in foal, injured or standing at stud. Club-bred starters can be leased even though they can never be sold: a lease changes no ownership and they always come home. A horse on offer can still race at home until someone takes the lease. Horses registered for the T-USDG market can be leased: nothing changes hands and nothing is paid in T-USDG.

#Club horses on lease

The Club offers some of its own racers on the board too, marked Club: up to 4 at a time, one fewer for every open offer from a player, so it steps back as owners offer their own. Club leases run 7 or 14 days with the usual welfare terms, and the same rules apply to take one. The Club’s 50% of the purses is burned, not paid to anyone, and the horse goes back to the Club when the lease ends.

#When the horse comes home

The horse always goes home, even to a full stable: like a newborn foal it can sit in the overflow stall, and the owner can’t take on more horses until a stall is free. The lease ends early if the horse retires (its 40th start or a career-ending injury) or is lost in a race. See the auction house for buying a horse outright.