Winning pointers?

Can anyone give winning pointers, i.e. What horses need to be successful in shows. Stats alone do not win shows. What gives the edge over others? Training? Tack grades? Treats? Age? Experience? Breeding? Base stats? All of these? For example if two horses have the same stats, one is older than the other, does the older horse have advantage? Does the more experience horse have an advantage? Does it come down to training. If I have a high stat bred horse, say regional, is it at a disadvantage over a horse, say a foundation who has had more training and experience/age over the young inexperiened horse?

Base stats that already are highest in the chosen speciality and lower in the other ones
High stats and low non speciality stats (NS or NSS)
Fully upgraded (5/5) tack
Training and treating with the correct treats everyday
...and some good, old luck!

I've never experianced that an older horse has a greater chance at winning just because it is older. An older, more experienced, higher statted horse - sure, but never just an older. 
A bred horse can have an advantage if the breeding resulted in higher stats and lower NSS.

Please don't hesitate to ask if anything (or all of this) was unclear. :)

Last edited on 2020-02-09 at 05:44:43 by Lord Punkin

Training level also matters (the highest achievable is "5") so, I suppose, one could argue that in this sense an older horse may have an advantage over a younger one.

There are a lot of factors that go into showing, though age is not one of them. Also horses do not complete outside of their grade so horses only compete with those in their stat bracket. 
I encourage you to check out Eliza's Showing Guide for a more simple overview of showing or feel free to take a read through my very in-depth Guide to Successful Showing to get a through understanding.