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The ticket for the Grand Prix is found in the Horn of Plenty and once you recieve it, lasts forever. Don't worry if you don't find the ticket first time round - it's all down to luck.
Classical Grand Prix
Monday: Cross Country (primary skill: Stamina)
Tuesday: Trot Race (primary skill: Trot)
Wednesday: Showjumping (primary skill: Jump)
Thursday: Dressage (primary skill: Dressage)
Friday: Gallop Race (primary skill: Gallop)
Western Grand Prix
Monday: Cutting (primary skill: Stamina)
Tuesday: Western Pleasure (primary skill: Trot)
Wednesday: Reining (primary skill: Gallop)
Thursday: Trail Class (primary skill: Dressage)
Friday: Barrel Racing (primary skill: Speed)
So as you can see, both Prixs are similar in that most days the primary skill tested is the same, with the only difference being Classical tests jump and Western tests speed. I have found, unlike normal competitions, that the primary skill matters a lot more than the secondary (as Akhal-Tekes win the Cross Country with highest stamina on the UK server, instead of the Nokotas with best Dressage). Also, BLUP does not affect the Grand Prix.
The Grand Prix takes up 10 hours in your horse's day and needs 99% of energy, but only 89.1% if your horse has a shower in it's box.
The Grand Prix is incredibly rewarding. Each horse entered gives you 500 equus prize money (totalling 2000 equus per day, and 10 000 equus each week!) and each day the following prizes are also given out to the very best:
1st Place: 4 passes (which is pretty awesome)
2nd Place: 2 passes (still awesome)
3rd Place: 1 pass (quite awesome)
4th Place: 1 Horseshoe studs (the bonus that gives a +12 Dressage bonus)
5th Place: One Piece of Cloud (useful for skilling and also tradeable!)
Horses that place in the top 10 also recieve their own pretty Prix rosette on their public page.
Then, at the end of the week if you participate in all 5 competitons in either or both discipline you recieve a ranking for each Prix. The top 10 get trophies/rosettes that are displayed on their page, and the top 100 recieve the fountain bonus. The rounded trophies and rosettes on player's pages are from the Classical prix, and the more angular rosettes are from the Western. You can check your horse's position every day from the competitons page and by clicking on the Grand Prix box in the top right.
The Fountain Bonus
The Fountain Bonus replaces the normal image with this snazzy fountain and triples the energy and morale given by a drink, resulting in:Box without water trough: Morale +1%, Energy +2% => Morale +3%, Energy +6%
Box with water trough: Morale +4%, Energy +8% => Morale +12%, Energy +24%
The fountain bonus teamed with a water trough actually increases the energy and morale gained by drinking 12-fold, making it a super useful bonus when blupping!
The Horn of Plenty Bonuses
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| As you can see, I don't have any Prix bonuses *cries* |
Tranquility of the Breeze: reduces the length from 10 hours to 3 hours
Energy of the Thunderstorm: reduces energy cost from 99% to 55% (and will probably reduce even further when teamed with the shower!)
Strength of the Typhoon: Doubles the winnings you recieve from each contestant (4000 equus a day, 20 000 equus a week!)
Effect of the Tornado: You can enter 4 horses in each event instead of 2 (40 000 equus a week!)
Appearance of the Hurricane: Your horses recieve a +9 bonus in Gallop, Jumping and Trot when entering the Prix events
Power of the Storm: Your horses recieve a +9 bonus in Stamina, Dressage and Speed when entering the Grand Prix events
Bonus Monsoon: Doubles the effect of the Hurricane and Storm
The breeze and thunderstorm are useful for reducing the time and energy it takes your horses, which is useful if you also want to do other things with your horse before aging them. The typhoon and tornado are brilliant for increasing the money you earn from the Prix - up to 40k a week! My personal favourite has got to be the hurricane and storm as this gives you an extra edge over the competition and can bump up your placings, and when teamed with the monsoon, gives you an extra extra edgy (makes you pretty edgy, huh?). I'm guessing it takes many, many, many Horns of Plenty to find these bonuses so I wouldn't worry too much if you don't find them, as there are other ways to bump up your Grand Prix placings!
Bumping up your Ranking
Tip #1: using better horses. Always enter your best horses into the Prix, and if possible buy better horses especially for the Prix. I don't breed Akhal-Tekes, but I managed to buy a decent, 100 BLUP stallion for 500equus and 1 pass (1 pass well spent as he places around 100th each week!). If you wanted to go big or go home, you can always splash out and buy skillers (I'll hopefully do a post on skilling in the near future) with the most expensive being up to 10 passes for the best. If you aren't sure where to start, here's some advice on what breed to go for (based on UK server)
Cross Country: Akhal-Teke
Trot Race: French Trotter
Showjumping: Holsteiner
Dressage: Nokota
Gallop: Thoroughbred
Cutting: Akhal-Teke
Western Pleasure: Tennessee Walker
Reining: Irish Hunter
Trail Class: Nokota
Barrel Racing: Arabian
Tip #2: Bonuses are you best friend! Stick on everything you can afford that adds a bonus:
- Golden/Vintage Apple gives +5 bonuses in all skills
- Medusa's Blood gives a +3 in stamina and a +4 in speed and dressage
- Poseidon Pack tack gives a +6 in everything with each tack piece
- The comb found through missions gives a +4 in stamina and speed
- The tub of grease found through missions gives a +8 bonus in stamina and speed
- The hoofpick gives a +8 in dressage
- The whip gives a +4 in dressage and a +9 in gallop, trot and jumping
- The bell boots give a +6 in speed, dressage and jumping
- Spurs give a +9 in everything
- The lunge gives a +12 in dressage and +10 in gallop and trot
- Horseshoe studs give a +12 in dressage
Other bonuses include:
-The gelding bonus of +8 in stamina and speed and +4 in dressage
- The Falabella bonus of +9 in stamina, +8 in dressage and +7 in jumping
- An equestrian centre bonus up to +40 in all skills
- Bonuses from the special coat black market items: 5th element, Bewitched Pumpking and Seal of the Apocalypse. My personal recommendations as to the best for each one is the Bellum coat (Seal of Apocalypse), the bat (Bewitched Pumpkin) and the Metal 5th element coat.
Another useful tip is not to worry if your horse is coming around 150-200th in each event - you will probably still achieve a ranking. I have found it easier to achieve a ranking in the Western Prix as less people enter it, therefore your horse places higher and your overall ranking is higher.You should also always be training new horses every few weeks, otherwise your ranking will slip out of the top 100 and you will lose the fountain bonus. Training new horses and buying skillers also boosts your general ranking, so not only will you be placing in Prix rankings, but will become one of the top few 1000 or even higher....
On Prix days, my typical routine for horses competing is as follows:
8:00 wake up
8:30 Groom
10:30 lesson
10:45 Carrot
11:15 Feed up to 100% energy
21:15: GRAND PRIX
21:45: Stroke
22:00: Drink
If you want your horse to go to bed at 10, you need to have a water trough in their box. If they don't, they will need to have the mash and go to bed late to ensure they have the 20% of energy they need. Going to bed late means their energy and morale is lower the next day but this is easily resolved with grooming. If your horse doesn't have a water trough and you have enough ageing points to age inbetween Prix competitions, aging inbetween is a good way to ensure you horse wakes up with the most amount of energy, health and morale it can. Black Market items are useful here too. Horses with a Nyx Pack have the Nyx Star and wake up at 6:00, meaning you can bring their energy back above 20%. The Achilles' Heel also means your horse can go to bed late with less than 20% of energy and wake up in the morning right as rain!
Remember, Grand Prix rankings aren't the be-all and end-all. There are plenty of other ways to succeed on Howrse, but the Grand Prix is a good measure of how well your horses perform compared to others overall. It also brings a sense of pride when a horse you bred and raised performs well!
Good Luck and Happy Howrseing!
F x
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