I absolutely love this game. I bought Admiral, the fastest male horse in the game, & Biscuit, the fastest female horse in the game. This allowed me to breed them to create better, faster horses to race with. I have set all of the records in each race. I know this game starts out really slow, but once you earn enough money from races you can unlock even faster horses. If you buy this game, I highly recommend that instead of buying a horse, you go to the breeding section & rent two horses to breed, which is in your $650 price range. The horses bred are usually worth more & have better traits than the parents. Also, in the beginning of each race, just hold down the green button the whole way through. That's how I won all my races. If that strategy doesn't work for you, I recommend you train your horse in the categories "push" & "resistance". You won't need "recovery" if you use my strategy. Again, very good game, I highly recommend it for you if you love horses or watching horse racing.