So MY road to get a pedigree 9 Chocobo was long and... Long...
When started it was pre 3.2 so experience was not easy to get and there wasn't much reason to level besides that I wanted the helmet and i like chocobos...
If you are going for your Pedigree 9 I will tell you MY outlook on how to get it more efficiently... I say efficiently because you can't do it any faster than getting first, yet you can waste a lot of MGP and skill points getting there.
First off mistakes... I don't know why but it seems people seem to want to go for "Head Start" which i think is just dumb pointless and a big waste of time... The things you will want is Stamina Boost and Dash, why you would want anything else I have NO IDEA...
Another thing I have noticed is people who do have Sprint use it right at the start as a sort of Head Start... Though that is a better way to get a head start instead of using Head Start it's still not the proper use of Dash... So lets look at the most commonly used traits...
Chocobo Dash (3)- Temporarily boost speed without depleting stamina 3 seconds
Increased Stamina (3)- Reduces Stamina depletion during acceleration by 13%
Head Start- Start the Race at Full Speed (not teach able)
Chocobo Reraise (3)- instantly restores 200 stamina when you reach 0
Super Sprint- Sprint without Weather or Terrain penalties until all stamina is spent
Speedy Recovery (3)- Increases ability-induced stamina recovery by 80%
Head Start is bad for 2 main reasons and 1 obvious reason. 1 main reason is you start off in the front of the class so all abilities are now on you. 2nd would be though you start off at full speed you also start off at full LATHERED causing you to end up spending more stamina at start... 3rd reason is everyone will catch up to you in only a few moments anyways if not pass you at the end of the course. In my early pedigrees that didn't have good stamina control i would not start sprinting until 10% in to the course and still would beat people who used head start...
Chocobo Reraise sounds groovy however the simple rule (goal) of chocobo racing it to reach 0 at the end of the course. The only time you should be using this ability is when people really go ham on you which you will have more problems then just reaching 0. Admittedly I could see where it would be helpful at times sure but I dont see as many benefits to this ability.
SUPER SPRINT!!! ...is poo poo... The worst of poo poo... Granted it sounds awesome (it even has super in it's name) but what it doesn't tell you is that you loose your stamina at an AMAZING rate... Imagine being Frenzied for the WHOLE course (or well as far as your stamina can get you which will be about half way). After that your chocobo will be straining with all it's effort to try to finish while everyone passes you by and you finish last... if at all... I would say use it near the end or middle but you shouldn't have much of any stamina left at those points to begin with...
Speedy Recovery also is a pretty cool ability and it has good intentions but the more you race the more you will learn that you dont get those abilittes very often so it will end up a waste of ability. Granted you can put this with Chobo cure to increase the amount of stamina you get even further... but if you have been paying attention you shouldn't be needing it.
Now for the 2 i like...
Chocobo Dash (3)... This ability is made to be used AT THE END! Think about it when you are racing IRL you pace yourself then use all the last of your power to sprint at the end SAME CONCEPT. At the end of the race most everyone including you will be (should be) just about out of stamina. Heres a secret of why this ability is so good even though you are out of Stamina it will put your chocobo back at full speed so you can pass everyone bouncing like goobers while maintaining that no one can/will pass you... Also if someone tries to Heavy you at the end or meteors everyone this will put you right back at full speed (wait till meteor is removed BEFORE using). ALSO this ability will STOP your stamina from dropping for 3 seconds so it can also be used as a stamina potion of sorts
Real quick i will admit that at the higher ranking this ability is seemingly less effective as you can't go faster than your max speed. However it is still useful to stay in the front of the pack at the end or to push you back out of Heavy and Meteor (it's the kind of thing you have to use to completely see what i mean there)
Increased Stamina (3)... Admittedly i was reading this wrong for the first while that i used it thinking it Increased my max stamina (derp) but i thought this because after getting it it allowed me to hold down the go button for the full course and run out of Stamina right at the finish line practically every time... BUT The main reason why i say this ability is a must is b/c for the first (lets just say about 1/4th) of the course you are using 18% less stamina than everyone else who doesn't have it so you can run longer. Also when someone uses heavy on you or you get slowed down for any reason you are now back to accelerating causing you to use 18% less stamina again... I have seen only positives for this ability...
Ever since i have started using these abilities (around pedigree 3) i win pretty much every single race unless they just go ham sandmich on me with abilities...
If you prefer one of the abilities that i say are Poop please let me know which one/s you use and why, i would really like to know.
