Track King

Cup races are more prestigious than other races within Track King, as entry is via invitation only! If you are qualified for a forthcoming Cup race, the invitation will appear on your Stable page, and any races that you are qualified for will become visible when you enter your horse into a race. (See Entering a Race)

There are a variety of different Cup competitions that are run throughout the course of a season. Some of the more regular Cup styles are:

• Open Invitational Cups - everyone is able to enter!
• Stables that were promoted/relegated through the same Class barrier (stables that moved from 4 to 5 competing against stables that moved from 5 to 4 in one Cup)
• Stables that finished top 10 in their class
• Stables that have won Cup competitions within the past 2 seasons
• Class-based Cup competitions against other stables in your region and continent
• Corporate sponsored Cups, sponsored by 'real life' companies or people

Cup races are generally held at Regional tracks (See Regions), which means that you're very likely to need to book travel. Don't leave your travel bookings until the last minute! In many cases all Regional tracks across the world will play host to an equivalent Cup - some being more prestigious than others, and some offering a larger race purse, or demanding higher stakes to enter. Check out the description of any Cups you are invited to - there may be a good alternative away from your Regional track....although bear in mind that travel times will be longer!

Cup races are held on weekends - Saturday and Sunday - throughout the racing season. Race entrants (horses and jockeys) must be nominated by 23:00 on the day prior to the race time. You may withdraw (scratch) your horse from a race voluntarily up to 1hr prior to the start of the racing in that continent. (See Continents)

Qualifying for the next round

When working out which Stables have earned entry to the following round, all results are sorted by:

1. Finishing position; then
2. Longest distance completed; then
3. Race time

If you check the Information about the Cup (you'll find a link from every Cup race to the Cup Information pages, as well as a link from your Races homepage, and also a "Cup info" link from the Home page), you'll notice a table detailing how many runners/races there will be at each Round of the Cup. With that information in your possession, you can then calculate whether your Stable has made the cut to get through! Of course, if you wait until after Race Meets on the Sunday in your Continent, you'll know for certain as the invitations will arrive within an hour of the end of the racing day....but if you're inclined to work it out yourself, the following example may help.

Example: Round 1 of a Cup event has a maximum of 75 runners, spread over 3 races of 25. Round 2 of a Cup features 25 runners total, in one race, as follows:

• Round 1 (up to 75 runners):
  Race 1: Field of 17 runners over 2000m
  Race 2: Field of 8 runners over 1800m
  Race 3: Field of 20 runners over 2000m
• Round 2: up to 25 runners

On completion of Round 1, the 25 places would be awarded as follows:

• 8 places automatically given to each race (Remember, first we sort by Finishing Position);
• So with 24 runners allocated out of 25, we look for the longest race to award the extra invitation to 9th position. As both of the remaining races were 2000m, we then look for fastest time;
• Whichever 9th placed runner in Race 1 or Race 3 would then receive the 25th Invitation

Of course, quite often there are more races and more variation of race distance to sort through, but the same basic principles apply. Hope that helps!

Cup Finals, Trophies, and Prize Money

So the big day has come and gone, and the big question of course is 'Where's my shiny trophy?!'. The results of Cup racing are updated as follows:

1. At the usual time of closing for a Race Meet, the top 5 runners will get their normal race purses, as with any other race. Experience, prestige and health updates are made, and the results are final.
2. On the following day (Sunday), the results of racing for the entire Cup weekend are processed. This includes issuing invitations for future Cup rounds, presenting trophies to the winning horses, jockeys and stables.

Cup Finals also offer a special bonus to all entrants that finish inside the top half of the field. These runners will also receive a payment equal to 5% of the total race purse. This payment will be made during Trophy presentations.

Community Cups

Community Cups are a chance for the Track King Community to help build their own racing calendar! A Community Cup can be "proposed" by any individual player for a fee in Game Credits. Then, the "proposed cup" is made visible to everyone, allowing the community to donate Game Credits to support the idea. You can see a list of who proposed the Cup, and also a list of who has donated towards it presented near the heading of the Cups description page.

Once enough credits have been received then this Cup is scheduled! On a Thursday night at 22:00, any Community Cups that have received enough support are automatically scheduled to take place for the weekend beginning in 30 days time, and Invitations will be available as per the standard Cup processes.

After a Community Cup has begun, it will again open for Support from the general public, so that it can be re-run every season if you like!

Rivalry Cups are a special form of Community Cup, where all stables from two Local Tracks are invited to compete at a neutral venue in an elimination Cup. Aside from the winning stable getting their personal glory, there is also an award for the winning Track. The winning Track is the one that has the highest total number of placings in the Top 5 over every race of the series. No extra score is given for 1st or 2nd - all placings are equal. Every stable from the winning Track that competed at least once in that Cup series will receive a bonus payment equal to 25% of the final race purse! In the unlikely event of a tie, then all competing stables will receive a bonus payment equal to 5% of the final race purse.

Local Cup Days

Starting in 2011, Local and Regional Tracks with sufficient populations will have several Local Cup Days throughout the Season. These events will be arranged at the start of Week 0, for the season ahead, and will be advertised to all Stables at the local tracks. Details of Local Cup Days can be seen on the Track page.

Local Cup Days will be held based on Local Track Prestige Rankings as follows:

• Grand (14) and above = Meetings on Wks 4,6,7,9/10
• Satisfactory (10) and above = Meetings on Wks 4,6,9/10
• Moderate (7) and above = Meetings on Wks 4,9/10
• Underdone (4) and above = Meetings on Wks 4,10