There is a donate and draft for SOPL international season 1. There will be twelve different categories of races. For 3yo+ there will be sprinters, milers, classics, turfs/legers, stayers/irons, 2yo sprints, 2yo milers, hurdles (short & long), chases (short & long) and nh flat.
For those familiar with the Donate & Draft, this will be old hat. For those who aren't the donate and draft is basically where top trainers donate horses that are not quite good enough to make their main squad. Some people will see these horses as outcasts but they are not. Winners of the BC Classic, Donn Stakes, English Oaks, Lockinge & Queen Anne have all come from such drafts and a host of other top race winners and place-getters.
The donate and draft is in place to give the new trainers and the trainers who haven't been able to devote much time to creating a stable the chance to remain competitive in the big races. The way it works is trainers donate horses up until two weeks before the season starts. A number of races are run over different conditions and those results are published in TOM and the races distributed for public viewing. From those races, you select horses that you think show promise and if successfully bid for they enter your stable.
Some common questions are:
Can anybody donate horses to this draft?
Yes, any trainer can donate to this draft. Be aware though that what you donate could be drafted. Don't go donating your stable stars unless you are willing to face the possibility of parting with them.
What benefit is there to me in donating horses to the draft?
A number of benefits exist. First you are helping the league by promoting growth in it. Second you can ensure better quality in fields. Third is you can get a good gauge on your stable and how it might perform by judging your donations against others. Fourth is that there will be a championship for the top D&D trainer.
Who is eligible for the draft?
Those eligible for the draft are new trainers and trainers with low win percentages from previous seasons. To be eligible YOU MUST be registered in TOM by next Sunday. After that date the draft order will be created. The general order of things are new trainers first followed by existing trainers with worst record to best record.
How many horses can I get from the draft?
The maximum number of horses you can receive from the draft is 7. You can select as many horses as you want and this is encouraged because multiple trainer can and probably will bid for the same horse. By select a large batch of 30-40 horses you can ensure you get at least 5 selections where if you selected just 7 you risk the possibility of only getting 1 or 2 selections as other trainers may have selected your picks too.
