How does really showing works

[Raven]

Hello!
I've been playing since the beginning, but I can't understand how horses manage to win or lose a competition.
I understand the temperament influences, the weight, training, the stats ecc BUT I don't understand how does a horse with, for instance low speed, wins a racing competition, while a horse with better speed, strenght and stamina, loses it (3rd or even 5th place).
Is it random? Do I have to breed selecting very carefully on the conformation of the sire and the dam, or do I have to just hope that the foal grows into a good horse?
I think that I don't know even how to breed....

[Retsi]

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I find that some of my better competition horses have more balanced stats. I have developed some of my highest tier race horses to have a more appealing panel. There's no drastic differences besides the one trait that I am trying to bring out, for example, speed - and slightly better strength or stamina. One of my stallions maintains over 90% WPS in racing, while being sometimes as many as 5 points slower than his competition in the speed department. The advantage lies in him having speed, & slightly higher stats advantageous to racing.

I think that if an untrained horse with bad stats manages to win, it is a fluke. Sometimes under dogs have to win too