Stable Tool Open Beta Quickstart Guide

 

Downloading and installing

 

Stable Tool currently is only supported for installation on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Do not download if you do not have one of these Operating Systems.

 

Download the following files, saving them where you can find them. Only download the fourth file if this is a fresh Stable Tool installation. If you use  StableTooldb.exe it will over-write your existing database.

 

http://www.loboblanco.net/files/StableToolb901_full.exe  (14.8 MB)  Complete Stable Tool Install

http://www.loboblanco.net/files/StableToolb907.exe    (499 KB)  The b907 Updated program file (Updated 11/12/2004)

http://www.loboblanco.net/files/StableTooldb.exe  (112 kb) An empty Stable Tool database

http://www.loboblanco.net/files/STSupport.exe    (104 KB)  Stable Tool supporting files (installs prior to b900)

 

 

Install the files in the following order. If you don’t it will not work! Do not start Stable Tool until all steps have been completed!

 

Double click on StableToolb901.exe. This will launch the initial Stable Tool installation. Please be advised that Stable Tool has been developed and fully tested on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. If you try to install it on any previous version of Windows you will likely render your system unusable. At some point in the future I will try to build a Windows 98 version, but not until I feel it is ready.

 

By default Stable Tool will install in the folder C:\Program Files\Stable Tool. You may change this during the installation but if you do you must remember where it was installed for use when installing updates, etc. If this sounds at all confusing or you do not want to try to remember this information, accept the defaults. If during the installation you receive a message regarding a version conflict, always click "Yes" to keep your existing version for any file.

 

If you have an existing installation of Stable Tool you may download StableToolb901.exe which contains only the updated program.

 

If you have an installation of Stable Tool prior to b900 you will need to download STSupport.exe.

 

Stable Tool Quick Start

 

Now that Stable Tool (ST) is installed, it's time to run it. From the Start Menu select Programs, Stable Tool, Stable Tool to run ST for the first time. You will get a message about the database being empty, this is normal until you have updated at least one stable. Click OK.

 

You now will see the main ST window. The first thing to do is to configure ST for your use. Select Edit, Edit Configuration from the menu bar. This window allows you to configure many of ST's options. At the top change the Current week to reflect the current Sim week (ie. 2216).

Next configure access to a breeding file. You may leave "No Breeding File" selected and ST will not list any breeding information where applicable. If you use the regular updated breeding.txt, select the Use breeding.txt and enter the path in the box provided. It should be C:\ENR (DO NOT add the file name or the following "\"). Do the same if you use the BreedingTool database.

 

Next configure access to the SSS database if you use it. Once again, enter only the path to the file (ie. C:\Program Files\Super Sim Searcher) with no following "\" or the file name. NOTE: Leave this blank if you do not use SSS.

 

Make certain that the number of tracks and number of races per track are set correctly. If these numbers are incorrect you may experience errors or bad data in the scheduler and entry checker tools.

 

You may set the Scheduler to only show Sharp or horses trained for the current week or have it use all horses in the database.

 

The TFW Options are for a yet to be implemented feature.

 

Once you are satisfied with the setting click on Submit Changes and then OK to the dialog stating that the update was successful. Then click Close to shutdown the configuration screen.

 

Now that ST is configured, it's time to add a stable and some horses. Select Stable Mgmt, Configure Stables.

 

On this screen you need to enter 2 pieces of data, the stable password (the one used to login in to the stable on the web site) and the shortcut to the stable page. This is obtained by logging in, selecting Manage Stable and right clicking on My Stable. From the popup menu select Copy Shortcut. Back on the Configure Stables screen place the cursor in the "Paste Shortcut here..." box and right click. Select Paste from the popup menu to paste the stable link. Once both the Stable Link and the password are entered, press the Parse button. The other text boxes will be populated with the data ST needs. Then press the Write button to add the stable to the database. Press Ok when the confirmation box appears. You may then continue to add stables following the same steps. When finished press the Close button being certain that you chose Write for the last stable you entered.

 

You now can update the stable(s). To update all stables, select Stable Mgmt, Stable Update. Select Yes when prompted and ST will update all stables. Click Ok when the verification box appears. You now have stable(s) in the database. To verify this, select Stable Mgmt, Stable Roster from the Stable dropdown select a stable and click Load Stable button.

 

This will load general information on the stable and the complete stable roster. To view more detail on each horse, click either their ID or name. The bottom portion of the screen will then fill with details, including breeding info and past performance data (depending upon access to a breeding file and the SSS database), along with a number of setting used for scheduling. You may edit some of these setting (ones you can't are greyed out) and update the database by selecting Update horse. Be careful not to enter an invalid value.

 

Below are valid entry types for each box..

·         TFW - what ever the week you want this horse to train for.

·         Surf - D=Dirt, T=Turf and DT=both

·         Sh-Dist - the shortest distance to search races for (valid= 4.5,5,5.5,etc basically the furlong  distance in decimal form)

·         LG-Dist - the long version of the above.

·         Jockey and Effort - use the dropdowns.

·         Rest - Will be used when the TFW option is complete. This will allow you to set the number of weeks rest for each horse and use the TFW option to update all automatically.

·         BL - blocked or not

If you edit settings be sure to update each horse as done and then you may submit the updated setting to the game by using the Submit Options button.

 

From this screen you can also set you Residency support for each stable. Once set you can update residency support for all stable using Stable Mgmt, Submit Residency Support.

 

Scheduling

 

Now for the heart of ST, race scheduling. Before you can schedule races you must download the race schedules from the game site.

 

Select Races, Update Race Schedule for the menu and enter the week number for the week you wish to schedule (you may have up to 4 weeks, the current week and the next 3 in the scheduler at any time) and press Get Races. You’ll see Updating… and then the race numbers as they are updated into the database. You’ll then receive a message that the races have been added. You may download all the races for the 4 weeks available if you wish. NOTE: the races may change each week until they are the “current week” so be sure to update the schedule and check any horse that has been scheduled previously once the week is current. Also do not update the weekly schedule until the “Updating” indicator on the Game site has been turned off. Doing any updates while the “Updating” indicator is flashing can cause indeterminate results. This also goes for updating stables or sending any updates to the game site.

 

Now you have horses and races, you can use the Scheduler. You may have more than one tool window open at a time, although only one tool will work at a time. For race scheduling I open the Scheduler (Tools, Scheduler) and the Past Performance tool (Tools, Past Performance Details), expand the ST windows and place them side-by-side. Remember you must have SSS installed and configured to effectively use the PP Details tool.

 

You can search for races for a horse by selecting it from the Select Horse dropdown menu and clicking Load Horse. (All horses from all stables in the database are listed in alphabetical order in the dropdown. You may only see Sharp/TFW horses if you have the option selected.) The first time you load a horse into the Scheduler you will want to do over the options and set them for the horse and then Update the horse. You may change options for a horse while in the Scheduler to use temporarily that will not be updated. Settings are only updated if you choose to update them.

Once you have the setting the way you want for a horse, click the Find Races button. The grid at the bottom will fill with all races that meet your settings, sorted by closest shipping. You may sort on most columns by clicking the heading for that column. Clicking toggles between lowest to highest and back highest to lowest.

When you see the race you want to select for the horse just click on the race number then click First Choice or Second Choice as appropriate. That race number will then appear in the appropriate box below. If you wish to see how many 1st/2nd choice entries a race has, check the Check Entries box and then click on the race number. Once a race has been placed in the First or Second Choice box it is saved to the database.

You may then select another horse, load it and continue as above until you have found races for all the horses you wish to schedule. When you are finished with the Scheduler and PP Tool close them.

 

 

The Entry Box

 

Now you can enter your horse in the race(s) selected. Open the Entry Box Tool by selecting Tools, Entry Box. Press the View Entries button to see a list of all entries you have pending for the currently selected week. You can mark a horse for submission to the game site by clicking under the ENT column for that horse. The “N” will change to a “Y” denoting the horse as marked to be entered (you may also selected all by clicking the “Select All” button.) When all horses you wish to enter have been marked you may submit the entries to the game site. (you’ll also notice the Write To file checkbox. This has been used to test the submissions and is not needed to make ST work. You may uncheck it and at some point in the future it will no longer be on the screen). Click on the Submit Entries button and all entries that have been marked will be entered.

 

Once all the entries have been submitted to the game site you will be prompted to Clear entered horses to MyRaces. If you do so the entries will be cleared from the Entry Box and placed in MyRaces for further processing (The races will have been marked as entered so they will not be entered again). If you choose not to clear at this time you will need to choose the Clear Submitted option prior to finalizing the entry process.

 

Other Entry Box options include Export Entries which creates a file that can be read into a spreadsheet program and Print Entries which will print the Entry Box to the default system printer (if you do not have a default printer selected do not use this option).

 

Selecting Jockeys

 

Once all entries are made and cleared to MyRaces it’s time to select Jockeys. Open Jockey selection by choosing Tools, Jockey Selection.

 

To select jockeys choose the stable you wish to select for from the dropdown. And click Get Jockey Info. This will load all horses in MyRaces into the center grid and list the current jockey for that stable from the database and the list of jockeys current selected for the stable in ST. This list will be empty initially and will not match the online jockey selections until you choose jockeys in ST and submit those selections to the game site.

 

ST can select the jockey for you automatically or you can use the selection method at the bottom of the Selection screen. To use it click on the race number for a race in the list and the jockeys for that track will be listed in the box in the lower left corner. Click on the jockey number you wish to use and then on the space next to the number of the Stable’s Jockey selection you wish it to be and then click the “>”. This will make that jockey number that jockey selection number for the stable. You must click the Upd button to update the selections you have made for the stable. Once updated you can then click Submit This Stable button and the jockey selections will be sent to the game site. You can also send all stable selections at once using the Submit All Stables option.

 

Jockey files will be provided on a regular basis. These may be imported into the database from the Edit Jockeys screen which is open using the Edit Jockeys button on the Jockey Selection screen. Use this screen to import a new Jockey file or edit the current jockeys listed in ST’s database. The only important piece of data when changing jockey data is the jockey number. The other information is just for clarity.

 

 

MyRaces

 

Now you’ve submitted jockey selections for all your entries and you can wait for the race draw on Wednesday night. You can go to the MyRaces Tool to view what you have entered and check their status as far as drawing into the race goes. Open MyRaces by selecting Tools, MyRaces. MyRaces lists all horses you have entered through ST. To check a horse’s current status for entry click on the last box on the right of the grid. This will go to the game site check the entries and display your current ranking on the entry grid. You can also check all horse’s entry status by choosing the Entry Status button. You may scratch horses from races by selecting the race Type box in the grid for the horse. You’ll be prompted to be certain you wish to scratch, then the horse will be removed from MyRaces and scratched on the game site.

 

After the races are drawn on Wednesday evening (U.S., your time may vary) you can use MyRaces to check which horses drew into their races. Click Check Entries and ST will query the game site for the entry file (some night it does get up right away, just try later), check each entry listed in MyRaces and add the jockey, PP and odds to the MyRaces grid for all that made their races. Those that failed to draw will be removed from MyRaces.

 

Now you get to wait for the raceout to be posted on Saturday to check the results. This is a 2 step process. First select Download Results. This will download the raceout and fix the race numbers for all of the races. Then select Check Results. This will read the raceout, put all results in the database and then check each horse’s results. MyRaces will be updated with the finish position and the SP for each horse.

 

You can also do a few other things on MyRaces. For each entry you can get the following:

  • Complete list of entries for a stable by clicking on the stable name in the grid. Enter notes for each horse’s race by clicking the horse’s name. These are stored in the database and eventually ST will have a way to view them. (More on this later)
  • View all entries for a race by clicking the C(ondition) box for the horse.
  • Launch your default browser with the race for viewing by clicking the race number (this only works after the races are posted for viewing)
  • Scratch a horse as detailed above.

 

The other buttons are MyRaces are used as follows:

  • Archive Results takes all of the data from MyRaces and stores it in a archive database. Eventually this will allow you to view the history of a horse for running style and settings.
  • Clear all will just remove all entries from MyRaces, no saving
  • Print My Races will print the listing in its current state to the default printer.
  • Export creates a file that can be read into a spreadsheet program of the data currently in MyRaces.

 

 

Other things that you can do with Stable Tool.

 

Build resident schedules by selecting Build Resident Schedules from the races menu. This uses a file kept in the ST folder named restracks.txt. This is a simple text file that contains a Residency name and a list of the track number that that residency supports. ST comes with the residencies listed that sent me there supported track lists when I requested them. This file can easily be edited, by you if you feel comfortable doing so, or can do it if you supply me the track number list.

 

There are a number of different screens available under Stable Mgmt, most are self explanatory. Most are just for different views or either your stables or the horses.

 

You can update a single stable using the Update Single Stable option which will list the currently configured stables in a dropdown and let you update the one you select.

Add horse is outdated and will likely be removed in the next release. That was there mainly for use during development for testing.

 

Currently remove stable only removes the stable data and leaves the horses for that stable in the database. This is a safely feature so that settings for horses are not lost. The horses will be removed the next time a Stable Update is done, but can be recovered by configuring the stable again before a Stable update.

 

A good basic weekly schedule of things to do to best use Stable Tool

 

1. After you are done checking results and viewing races for a week it is good to do the following:

  • Update the week number to the next week on the Configuration screen.
  • Make certain you Archive or Clear MyRaces
  • Using Clear Week from Schedule on the Races menu, remove the week that just passed and the next 3 weeks (this is not absolutely necessary, but a good safety step)
  • On the File menu select Database Cleanup. Enter the week number of the next week into the dialog. This will remove any previous week’s Residency Schedule data and any previous week’s results data. You don’t have to do this every week but the more weeks in the database the long it takes. I do it weekly. It only takes about 10 minutes or so. It then does database compacting.
  • After the Update is complete on Sunday:
    • From the Races Menu, Update the race Schedule for the next 4 weeks.
    • From the Races Menu, Build the Residency Schedules
    • From Stable Mgmt select Stables Update