Once groomed, Star is ready to be tacked up and taken for a day at the races. Competition commences with Dressage; aesthetics are everything, so you and Star need to look and ride as neatly as possible. You must follow a route within the arena where you'll need to show good control of Star, by walking, trotting, standing and saluting the judges on request. Penalty points are awarded for sloppy riding, and you'll be disqualified immediately if you step out of the arena at any time.

Thankfully, the second event, Cross Country, is a little more lively, and gives you the opportunity to put Star through his paces over an array of novelty jumps. This is the most exciting part of the game, but it's over all too quickly. A couple of falls or one refusal too many will get you disqualified and shunted onto the next event - Show Jumping. Depending on your performance, you may or may not be awarded with ribbons and allowed to progress through the competition. Failure is frustrating - a misplaced hoof and you'll find yourself back in the yard, with an unhappy Star and more manure than even Percy Thrower would know what to do with.

Mary King's is certainly no thoroughbred and, as with many games aimed at children, the gameplay is shallow and limiting, with only three events and an immobile Tamagotchi to play with. Many of the joys of horse ownership, such as country hacks, Pony Club holidays and sugar lumps, have been omitted and replaced by a poor multiplayer mode. One of the most enjoyable horsey pastimes - racing - is also missing. We can't help thinking, had Midas done their research a little more carefully, they might have noticed that one of the biggest selling PlayStation games in Japan is horse racing, ASCII's Derby Stallion having topped the charts, outselling Tekken 3. Any of these extras would have upped the game's pace, which is vastly hindered by appalling loading times, and made it a far more fulfilling experience. As it is, Future Gamer can only sit and wait in hope for the arrival of Barbie's Race and Ride. Now where did those cyanide caps go?