7 Stars

One of the regular features of Kennedy's Corridor, which is of admittedly dubious value, is tips and advice for playing racing fantasy games. We have already covered the TVG Fantasy and Road to the Roses games. I trust everyone out there is having success with those.

Now it is time to turn our attention to the grand master of all contests: The Godolphin 7 Stars competition. It may not be the most inventive or difficult game out there but the prizes are second to none. A total of $150,000 USD will be given away as well as all expenses paid trips to the 2008 Dubai World Cup.

The premise of the game is simple. Select 7 horses from the Godolphin stable and watch them accumulate points throughout the year. But selecting the right horses is easier said than done. There are 138 horses that are eligible for selection in this contest and if history is any judge only about 60 of them will have campaigns this year and probably half that number will have full campaigns. Godolphin races all but their top horses very sparingly.

There is a new format for the competition this year which might change the strategies quite a bit. Here are a few things to remember.

#1 Have Patience - I give this advice for every competition and it is no less true in this case. It is wise to wait until near the deadline (Mar 30th) before entering. I know the tie-breaking procedure gives the advantage to early entries but key information concerning the Godolphin runners is released just days before the World Cup. On Wednesday just before the World Cup Godolphin will host a media open house where about 50 of their most promising charges will workout and the connections will comment on them. I urge you not to select a stable before reading those reviews.

#2 Check all the form available - Godolphin offers Timeform summaries for all their horses who have previously run. Go over those with a fine tooth comb and identify the runners you'd like to have in your stable. I have personally gone through all the form and information available and have compiled my results in a spreadsheet. The horses are sorted into the 7 stables that you will have to choose from in the contest. You can view that spreadsheet here: 7 Stars Remember all those recommendations were given prior to the media open house so plans and opinions will change.

#3 Understand the Godolphin modus operandi - Godolphin's season follows a very predictable pattern. They have all their horses at their Al Quoz training centre right now. After the World Cup they will conduct a series of private trials. Especially for the 3yo's. The horses who perform the best in those trials will be the candidates for the stables first races in Europe. In late April about 40-50 horses will be shipped to Moulton Paddocks in England while another 15-20 will be sent to Belmont Park. The European runners will tend to be closer to race fitness while the American runners will more than likely be aimed at second half campaigns. In late fall Godolphin will assemble a team of stayers and send them to Australia where they will stay until the Melbourne Cup. The European season ends in late Oct and Godolphin will typically not have any runners between the Breeders Cup and the Hong Kong International meeting in late December, aside from the Australian contingent that is. For every selection you must determine which slot they are likely to fit into and what kind of campaign you envision them having.

#4 Select horses with opposing schedules - This year Godolphin has added a twist to their normal lottery ticket type format. Now you can select two horses from each stable, only one can be active at a time and you will have 3 chances to switch the status of your selections. Given the fact that the World Cup runners and Guineas hopefuls will be only notable horses running between now and the first substitution period it makes sense to have those horses in your stable and active to start. You may consider getting American horses as the substitutes since they most likely will not be running until the mid-summer. Also note that typically stayers are not given very many starts but many of those starts come later in the year. They may be the perfect way to balance a stable with a horse who prefers shorter distances and is fit right now.

Hopefully this information will help in some small way to land the big prize. It would be quite incredible if someone who read this ended up taking home a prize.

Best of luck to everyone!