The racing career

A racehorse in Post Time has a career of 40 starts. Horses age by racing, never by the calendar: a horse you leave in its stall for a month comes back exactly as you left it. The career clock counts the starts, and every horse moves from juvenile to prime to veteran on the way to retirement.

#The career clock

Open a horse and go to its Career tab. The big number shows its starts out of 40. Below it, a bar split into the three stages shows where the horse is now, with a green band marking its peak window, and a line telling you how many starts are left.

• Only Live races count as starts. Story races and the Daily Cup never move the clock.
• A horse can run one Live race a day, so a career takes at least 40 days of racing (a season is 28 days). Most horses take longer still, and that is fine: nothing decays while you are away. A string of several horses keeps you racing every day while each one rests.
• After 25 starts a racing horse may also breed, and a colt becomes a stallion, a filly a mare. See Breeding basics.

#Maturity and the peak window

Every horse has a maturity type in its genes. It decides when the horse reaches its best: its stats grow towards their potential until the peak window, hold there, then ease off towards the end of the career. Speed and burst peak a couple of starts earlier, stamina and temperament a few later.

Early peaker: Comes to hand quickly and is at its best in the first half of its career. Normal maturity: Peaks through the middle of its career. Late developer: Keeps improving and is at its best later in its career. You can see your horse’s type and peak window on its Career tab. Training lifts how much of the potential it shows: see Training and Growing up.

#Veteran years

From start 29 a horse is a veteran. Its speed eases first while its stamina holds up longer. Veteran legs also raise the injury risk: the same horse in the same race goes from 0.4% to 0.5% a start on the entry sheet (× 1.2).

#Retirement

A racing career ends in one of three ways:

• The full 40 starts. Retirement is mandatory: after its 40th start the horse retires from racing on its own, and the card says “Career complete”.
• Your choice. At any time you can end the racing career from the Career tab: “Send to stud”, “Make a broodmare” or, for a gelding, “End racing”.
• A career-ending injury. The horse retires from racing at once; it can still breed. See Injuries & insurance.

What comes after is on Stud & broodmares and The Legacy Farm.