Bargain Breeding strategy (insta bps)

[mtk76]

I figured Id share this idea with the group although for all I know you guys may already be doing this.

One of my favorite concepts is to have a horse dual eligible for Bargain Series and state bred races so this works best for sires not from KY, NY etc..aka NM and other lightly used places.
A nice way theoretical way to earn quick bps is to glance out at the bid race schedule about 1-3 weeks out and find out when the local bred is restricted to maidens for a place youd like to get a bargain horse out of. That way you know there will be a race that you can enter and face smaller fields or horses without the AP Indys in the pedigree.

I am piloting this concept this week with 3 runners and will report on the results.

[dragnil]

I haven't done this specifically with a mind to earn bp's, or to breed bargains for that matter, but end up doing it anyway.

I breed almost exclusively SAf-tagged runners and, when I copy real life pedigrees as I have been doing lately, they almost always end up being bargains.

Looking for SAf-restricted races has become a habit now. It does wonders for the formbook.

[hawkz]

same as dragnil i tend to use cheap sires from outside the main regions you get a better sire for a cheaper price doing that and i use NZ - AUS sires mostly

[axeracing]

I would breed lots of non-KY stuff anyway because it's just more fun for me, but yes, those local bred races do spice it up a bit. I guess there's not many people running them yet, judging by how many i've won so far! I have this one WV bred that's won 4 in a row in regional allowances. Unfreakinbelievable! He was a fairly decent allowance runner for a while, but now he's like a Charlestown hero or something! LOL fun stuff! We need some stakes!

[Knightmare]

Marble Times is a horse I bred specifically because there was a statebred maiden coming up. Winning at first asking pretty much covered the breeding. Adding a second and third definitely puts her on the plus side of making more than she costs. Hopefully she improves otherwise I may find that placing her where she can be successful difficult.

Still I will probably try this more often, when I get enough time to look ahead.

[planoaxius]

I still haven't found that fun in state bred races. Actually, I'm now sometimes afraid of running horse with "unusual" breeding tag as I lost my decent runner and bargain sprint stakes participant Catamatic in regional race. I realized, there is couple of players, who are very focused on these races and I prefer to avoid them. From my point of view, the sim was better without these races.

But, may be I would speak differently if I would be real "bargain factory" with many bargain runners. But I have now two stables with bargain runners and my only goal is to have them competitive in bbrs. If I don't see the potential after two races (turf and dirt), I send them away. Breeding tag doesn't play a part...ability is only thing I'm looking at.
That's my strategy

[Knightmare]

Well not all bargains come along quickly although good ones generally show their stuff early. I think what state bred racing could do for some bargains is offer them places where they can be successful. It is amazing how getting a win or two can really propel a runner to move forward.

On the flip side if they completely suck you can maybe get a little something out of them before moving on.

Now I think it depends on the state or country. For instance if you breed to a horse standing in KY, IRE, or GB state bred racing is a waste of time. JPN and AUS bred could be other countries where state bred racing is not as appealing.

OK, AK, NM for instance are appealing. You are eligible to run your state bred at all three tracks, and there are not a lot of runners here.

Mike had to do something to get people to use different sires. There are sires out there that are plenty capable of producing stakes runners but people will never use them unless mike specifically says "this sire got a bump in ability". So anything that encourages the use of different sires is a good thing for the game, in my opinion.

Here in the states state bred racing is a HUGE thing. There are stakes series in every state often times paying out pretty nice purses. I think with future changes it will become more popular.

[mtk76]

I think Mike needs to implement state bred stakes and publish the schedule and a championship series way in advance much like the Bargain Series does. Until that happens it will probably stay on the fringe and only those that are very interested will get very involved because its not easy to plan around current state.

As for bargain talent I often try and find talent quickly just like plano. I have 2 stables dedicated to bargains so don't have a lot of patience if they dont show some ability after 3-4 races.

[hawkz]

i have bargain horse across my stables dont dedicate stables for them

[dragnil]

With South Africa being so small, we obviously don't have any state bred racing. However, if it's done in the USA with stakes level races then I don't see why it shouldn't be introduced in the sim. I'd guess though that Mike wants the level/number of state bred horses to increase sufficiently to make restricted stakes races of a suitable quality.

Morgan, as a well-known member of the sim that has put in a lot of work running the Bargain Bred series, have you tried convincing Mike to add a field for each horse that indicates their breeding cost or simply to indicate whether they were bargain scratch breds by the sims already existing requirements? Once you have that, it's only a small step to set races restricted to bargain breds and will open up series to far more players.

I'm completely with you on the using more sires point. Now if only some respect would also be given to the top damsires from outside the USA and UK as well, I'd be happy.

[mtk76]

Well it was not pretty at all but it earned 33 bps first out:

derbyfever.com/hr/runtime/prettyhorse.asp?hossnum=34433

[hawkz]

derbyfever.com/hr/runtime/prettyhorse.asp?hossnum=53633
1 i had go good

[mtk76]

Also dont be afraid to get these bargain 2s in claiming races early on paid nice and I kept them both:

2nd in a 25k mcl earned 13 bps
derbyfever.com/hr/runtime/prettyhorse.asp?hossnum=57812

2nd in a 7.5k mcl earned 13 bps
derbyfever.com/hr/runtime/prettyhorse.asp?hossnum=53293

Pay for themselves rather quickly like that..

[mtk76]

Also had a nice debut from Speed Code. His 60 probably would have won if I found him an easier field..

derbyfever.com/hr/runtime/prettyhorse.asp?hossnum=23006

[dundey]

Nice work guys!
I have been focusing on bluebloods and broodmares so far this year, but will hopefully get back into the bb scene a bit more soon.
As for the state breds, I don't really breed to the races but there are a couple sires that I use anyway that can fit the conditions, so I take advantage from that perspective. I look for quality first and if they can't compete then I start to look for more restricted races for em.