SoS: FoMT Horse Race (Derby Festival Guide + How To Win)

by Kal S.

Derby Festivals
Date (Spring Derby)	Spring 18th (annual) 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Date (Autumn Derby)	Autumn 18th (annual) 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Location	Rose Plaza
Special Requirements	Adult Horse
Prizes	Medals, Power Berry (2), Truth Jewel

Starting from Year 2 onwards, you will have the option to attend two Derby Festivals on the 18th day of Spring and Autumn.

The Spring and Autumn Derbies host the much-awaited Horse Race, which you can join if you have an adult horse. Winning the race is a combination of luck, timing, and strategy – but if that’s not your thing, you don’t have to join the contest at all!

So even if you don’t enter the horse race, you can still attend the festival and bet on the other participants to earn medals.

Requirements

#1: Having an Adult Horse

If you don’t have a horse, you won’t be able to join the Horse Race itself. However, you can still attend the festival and place bets on other horses.

You’ll only have one chance to obtain a horse during the entire game: during Spring 4th of your first year.

Mugi will visit your farm and offer you a horse, which you should ideally accept. If you happen to reject him the first time around, he will come back the next day – but after the second rejection, he’ll take the hint and won’t ask you again.

The farmer adopts a horse from Mugi.

After adopting your new pony, you’ll need to take care of it and raise it to adulthood.

Mugi will come back after 90 days to check on the horse, so don’t leave it alone!

By the 90-day check-in the horse should have 4 friendship hearts or more, or else Mugi will take him back – and you can never have a horse again on the farm, so definitely be sure to take care of it!

Tip: To check your friendship level with your horse, open the Animal Relationships menu and select your horse to view its status.

Interface of the Animal Relationships tab.

Once the pony reaches adulthood, it can officially be entered into the Horse Race.

You’ll know that they’ve successfully grown once you see them wearing a red bandana. At that point, you can try to mount and ride them around town.

The farmer rides an adult horse.

Performing the following actions at least once a day will raise your friendship level by 1 FP for each:

Brushing (with the Brush)
Talking/petting
Whistling
Giving Pet Treats (for ponies only)

Pet Treats can be bought from Van’s shop in Rose Plaza for 1,000 G, but they won’t be accepted by adult horses.

#2: Mayor Thomas’ Offer

The day before each Derby on Spring 17th or Autumn 17th, Mayor Thomas will drop by for a visit to your farm. You’ll run into him when you exit the farmhouse in the morning.

He’ll invite you to the Derby which takes place the following day. You can then choose if you want to participate in the Horse Race or not – make sure to select the “Enter” dialogue to join.

Mayor Thomas invites the farmer to join the Horse Race.

After the Mayor confirms that your horse is old enough to join the race, he’ll take the horse for the day to prepare for the festival.

Horse Race Details

The Derby officially takes place on the 18th of Spring and Autumn.

At any time between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM, enter the plaza to start the festival.

To get to Rose Plaza, head east from the path above your farm until you reach the very end, and go up.

A map of Mineral Town with an arrow leading to Rose Plaza.

Once you arrive, feel free to go around and interact with all the villagers there!

You can find Mayor Thomas manning the betting booth at the northwest corner of the plaza.

Once you’re ready to begin, you can talk to him and choose from one of three options:

Start the race without buying betting tickets
Buy betting tickets and start the race
Open the prize exchange shop

Mayor Thomas sits at the derby betting booth.

The prize exchange shop can still be accessed even after all the races are over, so don’t rush to spend all your Medals at once.

Betting Tickets

At the start of each race, a menu will pop up showing a list of 4 horses and their odds of winning the race.

You will be able to place your bets on a horse by purchasing Medals for 50 G each. Beside the horse’s name, there will be a number provided that indicates their odds of winning.

Interface of the betting tickets menu.

The lower the value of this number is, the greater the odds of that horse winning the race. For example, a horse with a number of 3x is more likely to win compared to a horse with 25x.

The odds provided for each horse also function as multipliers, and this gives you a general idea of how much you’ll win on each horse. Examples:

If you buy 100 Medals and bet them all on one horse with a 10x multiplier, you’ll receive 1,000 Medals if that horse ends up winning.
Or if you bet 100 Medals on a horse with a 2x multiplier and that horse wins, you’ll only receive 200 Medals.

It’s also possible to bet on multiple horses at once to increase your chances of winning.

Results of the horse race and payout after betting.

How To Win the Horse Race

On the third and final race of the day, your horse will be brought out to compete in the race.

You’ll control your own horse during the race itself, but you can still place bets before it starts.

Often your own horse will have the highest stakes out of all the horses. If this is the case, you can bet on yourself to have the most profits (as long as you actually win the race).

Before the race starts, there will be a short tutorial to walk you through the minigame. Essentially, you just have to keep pressing the action button to speed up – but if the horse runs out of stamina, he’ll eventually slow down.

Snippet of the tutorial segment before the race begins. Source

The trick is to pace yourself and look for openings where you can outrun the other horses.

If you slow down strategically when you’re way ahead, the stamina bar will fill back up slowly, and then you can run at full speed again.

But ultimately, winning the horse race is really just about timing and practice.

Tip: You can save before the Horse Race and keep re-playing the race multiple times until you win. This is also a good way to practice your timing in the Derby race.

The farmer wins the horse race.

When the race ends, Mayor Thomas will greet you with the final payout and congratulate you for winning.

Prizes + Benefits

Winning Medals

Medals are the “currency” the town uses to gamble with during the Spring and Autumn Derbies.

These medals are earned by winning a bet, or racing your own horse. At the end of the festival you can exchange Medals at the betting booth for rare items.

After all the races are over, talk to Mayor Thomas and select the Prizes menu to claim your rewards.

Interface of the Prizes shop at the derby.

These prizes are quite valuable and can be resold to Zack or Huang the next day for some extra profit. You can also give them as gifts to the villagers.

All Horse Race Prizes

SCROLL

Spring & Autumn Derby Prizes
Item	Medal Cost	Sell Price (Zack)	Sell Price (Huang)
Adamantite	4 Medals	50 G
Matsutake	10 Medals	500 G	500-650 G
Diamond	14 Medals	100 G
Brooch	18 Medals	1,800 G	1,780-1,880 G
Necklace	20 Medals	1,800 G	1,780-1,880 G
Sunblock	30 Medals	–	1,480-1,570 G
Skin Lotion	35 Medals		1,680-1,770 G
Face Mask	42 Medals		1,800-2,700 G
Perfume	150 Medals		5,800-6,700 G
Dress	250 Medals		11,800-12,700 G
Power Berry*	900 Medals	–
Truth Jewel*	1000 Medals	–

*one time prizes

If you’re planning to hoard multiple prizes so you can resell them, the most valuable item is the Brooch for 18 Medals. When converted to actual G, one Brooch will only cost you 900 G worth of medals – so you earn a profit of 880-980 G (98-109%) for every Brooch.

Tip: The Perfume and Dress are also extremely valuable, but those items will only become available once the Power Berry and Truth Jewel have been claimed.

If you have any unspent Medals by the end of the festival, they’ll still be there at the next Derby too. So your extra Medals do roll over and get saved between Derby festivals.

Getting the Power Berry

The very first time you win the Horse Race, Mayor Thomas will award you with a Power Berry.

It will instantly be consumed and it permanently increases your stamina by +15.

The farmer receives a Power Berry after winning the race. Source

This means that you can actually find a total of two Power Berries during your first Derby: one from winning the race yourself, and one from the prizes shop.