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ORLWORLD SPOTLIGHTS ON ADMIRABLE ORLWORLD MEMBERS & THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS

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JimCougar

ORLWORLD SPOTLIGHTS ON ADMIRABLE ORLWORLD MEMBERS & THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS

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Posts: 16926

(02/22/08 2:29 PM)

ORLWorld Founder

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Starting today I am adding a new feature to the ORLWorld. Every two weeks I would like to email to every ORLWorld Member an ORLWorld Spotlight Letter. It will commend an ORLWorld member for their contributions to the ORLWorld and to the horse race gaming genre.

I have four honorees picked out so far and the first one will go honored later today. If you know of a member that you would like to see spotlighted, please email me at jimcougar@aol.com. Send me their name and why you feel they should be spotlighted. I would like to to have the next 6 months scheduled with spotlighted honorees.

ORLWorld Spotlighted Members

Jaylew 18
DodgyDave
Given
Colmodea

Last Edited By: JimCougar 06/28/08 7:51 PM. Edited 6 times.

JimCougar

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Posts: 16926

(03/30/08 3:19 PM)

ORLWorld Founder

Jaylew18 who has been an ORLWorld member since March 2006, is also jaylew1987 on Youtube.� She has produced 91 videos for her Livez of the Horsez channel, many of which are on the various horse racing games that she has played.� They include Gallop Racer 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006.� Her multiple tutorial series are very insightful, humorous and encouraging to any gamer interested in playing these kinds of games.� Because of her�remarkable talent any�game would benefit from a video production of hers on how it is played.

You can view many of her tutorial videos organized per game, in our Horse Racing Games Media forum or all of her productions on her Youtube channel.� I hope she will provide many more productions on horse racing games in the future.� JimCougar

First off, let me just express my gratitude to JimCougar for intricately putting together this wonderful site and advancing the game's potential to its maximum.

I was introduced to Gallop Racer via curiosity and since then, I have not turned back (nor do I expect to)
Gallop Racer offers the excitement of racing, breeding, and owning a stable of champions. I do not own any real horses as yet, but I plan to in the future and I can say just from playing and owning all the Gallop Racer series, I have gained so much knowledge and even more passion for horses. Even though this is the case, for future horse owners out there, being a jockey or horse handler/trainer is very risky and every aspect of the game should not be mimicked in real life.

My first Gallop Racer was 2003 and I had become so enamored with the game and the horses. Now that technology is more advanced, you come to realize that you find yourself becoming attached to your horses as if they were real. It's the closest thing I have to the reality.

GR2006 Info 2

As soon as I got a camera, I began making videos of my originals. At the time, there didn't seem to be much media on Gallop Racer or on how to play it. So, on that note, I decided to share that feature. I also wanted my original horses to be remembered and although they are not as proficient as the originals I've seen on the Leagues at ORLWorld, I believe there is promise that their descendants will have the makings of super superior horses. I plan to enter the future unborn champions into the racing leagues in the future.

I am very eager to see the HCL II come about for the GR2001. It is an awesome experience to have a greater purpose for improving your bloodlines. It is an honor knowing that my horses will be among the other countless champions on ORLWorld. I am looking forward to it. I will have to get a maxdrive first. ^^

Thanks again JimCougar for making this awesome experience possible for all of us. I hope to speak with you all soon.

Jaylew18
ORLWorld Member

jaylew1987
Livez of the Horsez
Youtube channel

Age: 20�
Love Animals (esp Equines),Video Games, Cars.�
I can sing and I love to compose music, lyrics, and songs and I love God ^_^� I also love my miracle puppy, Jupiter. She's a lil Pomeranian and she has her own youtube channel. Her username is "jropsofjupiter". She will have some videos coming out soon.�

Country: United States�
Interests and Hobbies: Playing Video Games and making videos about videos games�
Movies and Shows: Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron, Black Beauty, Seabiscuit,�
lololol H-Horseland, Joe Dirt, Elf, The Animal, Blast From The Past and the�
movies I make of my puppy�
Books: The Tale of One Bad RAT (comic book), Speak Meridian (comic), SCION (comic)

From the games jaylew18 has produced videos on, we have two active leagues and another league as she mentioned above, that many players would like to see revitalized.� The Lucky Seven League V (GR2004) and the League of Champions III (GR2006) are currently in their off seasons, but will be back in season very soon.� The Hardcore League 2 (GR2001) forum has been created plus Signup and Staff Needed threads have been posted.� I hope many of you will join us and participate in one or more of these leagues.

JimCougar
Founder
Online Racing League World
ORLWorld.com

Last Edited By: JimCougar 03/31/08 12:48 PM. Edited 1 times.

JimCougar

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Posts: 16926

(03/30/08 3:20 PM)

ORLWorld Founder

�

DodgyDave became an ORLWorld member in 2004 when he joined� the Starters Orders Pro League in Season Two. He seemed like all the other enthusiastic players competing against each other in the league at that time. Then on March 10th, 2005 he sent this historical message to me;

"Hi Jim
Can I politely make a suggestion for a significant change/enhancement. Collating the entries must be a time intensive activity, given the number of races and horses.

A much better approach would be a database driven application that would provide real time up todate lists of entries.

This would have a number of real benefits:
- ORL staff would not need to collate the entries - the database system would provide a list of entries at the click of a link
- Provided the ratings were updated each week, the system itself would manage whether horses were eligible for a race and avoid the JC issue
- Trainers would be able to more easily plan race progammes eg search for races by distance/course/track conditions
- Past Performance's could be integrated into the system - by simply adding one or two details - finish, trainer's comments
- Trainers would also be able to view nominations eg where is Gentle Response racing this week and update based on this information
- An archive/history of the horses over various leagues would easier be built up ie once a horse was entered into the system, it could easily be aged a year for the next SOPL and all its details included
- Ultimately, trainer/horse championships could be integrated without any additional administration - once results were updated, these would automatically be updated.

While I am not a programmer, I have built sufficient applications to be able to guarantee that I could put in place a prototype that would easily address the first couple of points and take a lot of the administrative hassle out of the mix.

I look forward to your comments as much as I'm looking forward to my first winner in SOPL. Dave Archibald"

At that time neither he nor I had any idea just how much of an amazing impact the Trainers Office Manager or TOM as we nicknamed it, would end up having on both the league and the Starters Orders series in the coming years. �Mark Loveday the creator of the Starters Orders series, assisted Dave by creating a "flat file" that was generated from each race that was run in the league-only Race Construction Kit. �Dave programmed TOM so it could accept those files and distribute the vital information in them throughout its operating system. �These actions significantly reduced the manual labor for the staff, made operating a stables for the league players a much easier task and greatly enhanced the multiplayer competition experience overall for everyone involved world wide.

Dave accepted the SOPL President position for Season Four and held it long into Season Six. Because his work schedule became so heavy he just did not have the time to continue upgrading TOM and hold the President position at the same time. �So on March 17, 2007, he turned the President position over to Colmodea, but continued to �upgrade TOM which he is still doing to this day.

Dave has just begun a new phase in TOM. �He is turning TOM into a multiple league operatlng system. �TOM in the near future will be able to accommodate the Starters Orders Pro League, the United States Racing Association and the very complex Greyhound Pro League.

The Greyhound Pro League's operations are very labor intensive. �Dave's programming of TOM so that �the GPL can move into it will not only preserve the league's existence, but give it the opportunity to expand into a very successful and unique group as well.

The USRA will come into existence when the Starters Orders 3 is released. �Both the US and the Australian add-on packs for Starters Orders 2, will be merged into the SO3 game. �Players who choose to play on the US race tracks and racing system, will be able to join the USRA in TOM. �The USRA will be a branch of the Starters Orders Pro League. �Players in that league will be able to interact will players in the UK Racing Association league. �Players from both leagues will be able to qualify horses for some of the prestigious races of the other league just like in real world thoroughbred racing. �Dave will see to it that TOM's multiple league operating sytem will be able to handle cross-league competitions such as these. �Someday if enough Australian players demand it, TOM will be able to host a UK, a US and an AUS league simultaneously for more unprecedented experiences for everyone involved.

Dave's ingenuity and willingness has made the sky the limit as far as what TOM can do for online multiplayer competition. �Could it possibly evolve some day into a totally online multiplayer horse race gaming system. �Only Dave and TOM could answer that question.

Trainer's Office Manager v 6: SOPL 8

Welcome to Starters Orders Pro League 8

Entries for Week 7 close in 6 days 4 hrs 11 min

Your Stable	Racing Information	Status
View your stable	View all stables	Week 6
View & enter races	View all horses	Uploads allowed: NO
View your nominations	Download races	Retirements allowed: NO
View your financial report	View race results	Maximum stable size: 30
Add (upload) horse	Search races	Active horses: 0
Update personal info	Donate & Draft	Retired horses: 0
Change password	View reports	Enter Restricted Races: YES
Log Off \| Switch Games	Admin Entry	Enter Banded Races: YES

�

Dave Archibald's (DodgyDave) Biography

New Zealand born and bred. Haven't traveled a lot but hope to get to the US and Europe in the next five years.

Started working life as a teacher and also spent some time working at a university before I eventually left teaching to join a rail company as a business analyst.

Ended up using my experiences in training and writing to build up the company's embryonic intranet way back in 1997 which was the early days of corporate webs. Then moved on to a web manager's role here which has evolved into the IT manager's position I have today. IRL is a research company with world leading scientists in carbohydrate chemistry, glyoctherapeutics and high temperature superconductivity. If you understand what I'm talking about, you most likely have a PhD in science!

Have had a life long interest in racing from my parents and grandparents. My PC game playing was mostly on football (soccer) management games not that soccer is my favorite sport but I really enjoyed the sports management sims genre. Had looked for a horse racing game but didn't find anything satisfying. About 3 1/2 years ago, I stumbled across Starters Orders and that was just right for me. My first season was Season 2 and I found out straight away what happens when you export horses straight AFTER they have raced.

It took me a season or two to get my first winner. While I've had the odd good horse - Hellen Wheels is most likely the best - I've struggled over the last few seasons to find the time to compete with the top trainers.

This is also due to TOM. TOM started as a very simple suggestion - to make it easier to enter nominations. It grew to include a whole bunch of features that weren't originally planned. Perhaps the biggest advance was when Mark Loveday added in the extract file - this took away an enormous overhead for the game but also gave us a lot of data we wouldn't otherwise have had.

I enjoyed my stint as President but have also enjoyed seeing the league continue to prosper under Colm.

For most of us oldies, it's not just the game that keeps us coming back - it's the people. Colm, Dave Fuller, Frank, Padraig, Lefty and whole bunch of others are people I have never met but I feel like I know them well.

For the last couple of years, I'd also been on the committee of my local racing club, largely to build and manage the club's web site. The club went through some painful issues last year and I ended up as President of the Levin Racing Club. We had an eventful couple of months, but things are now starting to travel a lot smoother. While we are a relatively small club, we still have 4 race days, regular trials and a training track (formerly a racecourse) with anything from 40-80 horses in training. The Club also has a Group one race - one of only 24 groups one races in NZ. It's almost a full time job at present although I've enjoyed parts of the journey. For a small town like Levin, the Group One Levin Classic is one of the few events that puts Levin on the national stage.

�
2007 Levin Classic (G1) Otaki, NZ - Keepa Cruisin From: nzracing

While I live in Levin, I work in Wellington which is (allowing for traffic and road works) about 90 minutes south. I have a small apartment that I stay in during the week so I don't go crazy commuting. Apart from work and racing, I play a bit of golf when I can and try to keep fit. I enjoy sports of all kind although rugby is not my favorite - I'm more passionate about rugby league which is an offshoot and a better game. Dave Archibald

�

At this very moment Dave is working on the Greyhound Pro League's move into TOM. �The Starters Orders Pro League with players and staff from all over the world, is in its eight season. �This makes it our most prestigious league in the ORLWorld. �The United States Racing Association of the SOPL, has a forum and the logo for league is currently being discussed. �Feel free to post any questions in there, to those who are currently playing the US add-on pack as to how it works in the Starters Orders series gaming system.

JimCougar
Founder
Online Racing League World
ORLWorld.com

Last Edited By: JimCougar 04/01/08 9:32 AM. Edited 2 times.

JimCougar

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Posts: 16926

(03/30/08 3:21 PM)

ORLWorld Founder

Given (Dan Silver) has been an ORLWorld member since 2002. His competitive spirit made his stables one of the top stables in the New Breed League (GR2003). Then he asked me if I would be willing to create a forum in the ORLWorld for a residency (the name of groups) that he had organized called the GR Simsters. This group was to compete in a horse racing game called Derby Fever. I had no idea at the time, that this residency would become one day, the most dominating group of all the residencies competing against each other in that game.

"I was hooked on horse racing from an early age. The first big race that sticks out in my mind was Strike the Gold winning the Derby in 1991. I was 12yo at that time, and distinctly remember watching on TV and being awed at the sweeping last-to-first move that this sensational horse made. I've heard people say that for whatever reason, horse racing grabs them and doesn't let go. That certainly has been my experience.

Through middle school and high school I looked at the racing picks in the paper at Philadelphia Park and circled my choices. After getting home from school I would watch those races and see how my horses did. After obtaining my driver's license, I started dragging buddies out to Delaware Park on a monthly basis. On my first trip, I played a straight $2 Trifecta that hit for $600. If the sport hadn't hooked me before, it certainly did then.

I became involved in Jim Cougar's awesome ORLWorld after playing Gallop Racer for the Playstation. Like everything else horse racing, this game hooked me from the start. After accomplishing everything in one-player mode, I went out to the internet and searched for more Gallop Racer-related materials. The ORLWorld was the first hit and I loved it from the start. Just knowing the forums were populated with others as into the sport as me was fantastic. I still thank my lucky stars that Jim had the foresight to create this site! He really is a trailblazer.

Gallop Racer 2003 was the game that really hooked me. Thanks in large part to the ORLWorld, I played this game for more hours than I care to remember. The online leagues for this game on Jim's site were the real prize. Many of my best friends today are those I met while on the quest for dominating GR2003. We pushed each other to master every aspect of that game. No matter how many horses I bred for the leagues, I knew that players like Lenny and Lopo were probably breeding more! It was a blast!

Eventually I was introduced to the online game known as the Sim, located at www.derbyfever.com/hr. For a pedigree enthusiast likes myself, that was like hitting yahtzee. This game is aimed at those that enjoy the competition of real horse racing and love looking at pedigrees and breeding. You can breed horses using real sires like A.P. Indy and Ghostzapper and then point them on the Breeders Cup or Kentucky Derby trail. Along with Geoff, who introduced me to the game, we created a residency in the Sim. A residency is a group of players in the game that want to have their own forum and compete together in the big events in the Sim.

Jim Cougar was nice enough to set up a forum for our new residency on the ORLWorld. We called our residency the GR Simsters, and opened in early 2004. Four years later, we are the leading residency in the game in terms of money earned, and we are only getting better. We would love to have new members! Our graphic design expert Brian has created a dedicated website for us at www.grsimsters.com, and you can also that we still have a presence on the ORLWorld. I am eternally grateful to Jim for creating such a great place for horse racing game enthusiasts the world over!

My love for horse racing has embedded itself on my real world activities as well. I am currently serving as the Marketing Communications Manager for The New York Racing Association, the group that runs Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park, and Aqueduct Race Track. If you are ever at any of the tracks, please look me up!"

Dan Silver aka: Given

About The GR Simsters

The GR Simsters are a group of dedicated players of the Derby Fever game. Within the game there are different groups of players called residencies. Within each residency there are lots of contests and also a lot of general discussion about each member's horses in the game.

Every two years is an event called the Equinics, where all of the residencies in the game challenge each other in a large quantity of races. The GR Simsters won the 2006 Equinics, and we are looking to defend our title this year! Anyone who plays the Derby Fever game can join the GR Simsters, they just need to visit our website, www.grsimsters.com, for details.

Derby Fever is a simulation-based game that sets itself apart from the back by virtue of the ability to use real sires to breed horses. It is a very difficult game to have immediate success in, as most horses are claimer or allowance level. It makes it that much more special when you actually get a stakes winner and possibly even a graded winner.

The game also uses a real race schedule.

Thanks to the dedication of ORLWorld members like Given, the enthusiasm in the horse race gaming genre continues to grow.

JimCougar
Founder
Online Racing League World
ORLWorld.com

Last Edited By: JimCougar 06/28/08 7:53 PM. Edited 1 times.

JimCougar

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Posts: 16926

(06/23/08 10:49 PM)

ORLWorld Founder

Colmodea (Colm O'Dea) has been an ORLWorld member since 2005. He joined the Starters Orders Pro League Season in its third season which was using the Starters Orders Pro game engine from Strategic Designs, Inc. Below was Colm's first posting in the ORLWorld.

Title: SOPL, watch this space. New Competition has arrived!!

Hi Folks!!

Well, if only I could feel that way after I ran the trials against your past and present champions. " src="http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/frown.gif" width="15"> How did you guys breed & train such racing "machines" " src="http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/eek.gif" width="15"> .

This will be my first season in the SOPL and looking forward to the races. I've exported my horses (some of them are multiple group winners in my own game).

Sprinters, well, let's just say that my nags might just get out of the gate after the winner has been announced " src="http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/embarassed.gif" width="15"> . I think 1m - 1m2f will give me some chance of keeping my pride based on the trials. Also the possibility of a surprise result from 1m6f - 2m.

Talk to you all soon and good luck in the new season.

Colm O'Dea Sandhills Stables Carlow, Ireland

His competitive spirit and easy going manner with all the SOPL members eventually caught the attention of the SOPL President DodgyDave, who asked him to join the SOPL staff. His willingness to sacrifice his time to help other players enjoy the multiplayer competitions, took him all the way to the SOPL Presidency. His excellent management of the SOPL allowed me for several seasons, to remove my attention almost entirely from the league and put it on other areas of the ORLWorld. And now he will a play a key role in making a long time dream of mine, come into existence.

Name: Colm O'Dea
Age: 31

Location: Originally from Waterford, Ireland, but now living in Carlow.

Work and Life: Happily married to Claire for almost 4 years now. Been an IT Hardware Technician, with some software experience, and Training experience for over 10 years. Now, I run my own driving school. Been pretty successful and paying the bills, but a bit more to do before I'm comfortable.

Hobbies: Horse racing, some small betting, and flying. Training to be a pilot, and who knows, maybe make a career from it. Always been in awe to see heavy metal lift off the ground with such grace.

Horse racing and Starters Orders: Before I was introduced to Starters Orders, I had no interest in horse racing, except for the Aintree Grand National. After playing SO for a few months, and see my horses do well in the game, I started to watch some races. The big meetings in particular. Epsom, Ascot, Breeders Cup and Melbourne Cup. I was immediately hooked. To see a horse seem to run so calmly, then accelerate with such great pace and burst from the field to win. Amazing!! I've since been to Gowran Park regularly (my local track). Also visited, the Curragh (home of Irish flat racing), Tramore & Punchestown (home of Irish hunt racing).

Had to try to emulate that myself. After a few months of beating the game and constantly being to top of the trainers table, I had to seek a more challenging environment. I found the SOPL by following some links from the Starters Orders homepage, that led me to the ORLWorld. I was in luck. A new season was about to begin. I entered my few superstars (or so I thought). I was initially gutted to see my horses fail miserably, but yet excited at the challenge that lay ahead. It really would be the "best of the best". After 12 longs weeks of waiting, I got my reward. I was delighted to hear the commentator call out my horses name as it crossed the line. I worked hard ever since and have had my share of glory. Highlights being, winning the Epsom Derby and the Racing Post 2yo Cup.

After a few seasons, I was surprised that the President at the time (DodgyDave), asked me to come on board the staff and be race secretary. I loved the league, and felt that it was good for me to give somebody back to it. Especially with the staff working hard to provide us with a league, in the first place. It was hard trying to keep my mouth shut and not to celebrate publicly, when I won one of the big races. Over time, I accepted the role of Vice President, helping DodgyDave with various decisions, organising the league, and so forth. Now, I'm the president. I was delighted to have been offered the job, that my piers thought, I would be capable. It's a tough enough role, since my predecessors have done a fantastic job, and made the league so well respected, and enjoyable for all involved. Yet the challenge remains to keep it successful, while adding different rules and touches to bring it on the next step. As the game develops, so must we.
Good luck to you all with your breeding and training programmes for your respective leagues.
Cheers..

Colm

Mark Loveday, the creator of the Starters Orders Pro 2 game, created U.S. and Australian Expansion Packs for players who wanted to play with the familiar horse racing systems of their countries. That set the stage for something that I wanted to see happen in the SOPL. I wanted to see multiple leagues competing with racing schedules running parallel to each other. I also wanted to see the exceptional horses from the various leagues qualified to compete in the prestigious races of the other leagues just as they do in the real world. With Strategic Design's release of Starters Orders 3, players can now choose to play the United Kingdom, the United States or the Australian racing schedules. And another demand of the Starters Orders fans has been met. Jump races have finally been added to the game!

The vast expansion in Starters Orders 3 has allowed the SOPL to expand dramatically as well. There will now be three racing associations operating with racing schedules that will run parallel to each other. They are called the United Kingdom Racing Association, the United States Racing Association and the National Hunt Club. The UKRA which is the original UK racing system called the SOPL, will start its ninth season. The USRA and the National Hunt Club will start their inaugural seasons. All three will operate out of a new version of the Trainers Office Manager (TOM) which is being created and beta tested right now. Each racing association will be staffed with a President, Vice President, Race Secretary, Betting Manager and possible other volunteers.

The three racing associations will operate under an umbrella organization called the Starters Orders Pro League International. Colmodea agreed to resign from his position as the new UKRA President and accept the position of the SOPL International President. Colmodea will preside over the operations of the three racing associations. He will be responsible for coordinating their schedules as well as setting up new rules and regulations for their smooth operation. He will also oversee the cross competition invitations of the racing associations in prestigious races such as the Woodbine Mile, the Canadian International, the Kentucky Derby, the Arlington Million, the Breeders Cup, the English Derby, the Irish Guineas, the Australian Derby, the Melbourne Cup, the Dubai World Cup and others. He will also oversee another new feature which will be a new challenge for the more wealthy trainers in the SOPL Int. He will introduce and manage the new Player-Owned racecourses feature in the SOPL Int. Players who can financially afford it, will be able to apply for ownership of a racecourse. Colm will post all of the details on everything a player must first do in order for their application to be accepted for the highest accomplishment in the SOPL Int. The SOPL International Presidency will be a challenging role which I know Colmodea will fill very well.

Thanks to the dedication of ORLWorld members like Colmodea, the opportunities in the horse race gaming genre have just taken another step forward.

JimCougar
Founder
Online Racing League World
ORLWorld.com

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Trainer's Office Manager v 6: SOPL 8

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