Strategy?

[dragnil]

A post on the main board by Whirlwind has got me thinking about long term strategy in the sim. I've often had things in mind, like aiming my bargain breds at the series, or with a vague target in mind for some of my runners but seldom come up with a concrete plan.

Here's what Whirlwind posted:

I don't know about that 6-8 week penalty for 2 year olds, Lou. In the super stables we usually have between a 125-175 juveniles every year and space them out 6-8 weeks early in the year and 5-6 weeks later in the year and have never felt that we gave them too much time between races. Our primary goal with them is always the Spring Classics the following year, with a secondary goal as the Breeders Bowl at the end of their juvenile season, but we have never wanted to squeeze the lemon dry as juveniles. We have had some pretty precocious ones as juveniles, who could probably run more often, but as a group, we keep score by the spring results, anything else is gravy, so I don't really see what you mean by penalized by resting them well as juveniles.

Does anyone else stick to some sort of plan, or do you just go with the flow? I'm thinking that I should make a list of all the real life South African graded races that Mike has added to the sim and make those an additional focus point for me with the Dubai World Cup races being the ultimate target. I have little interest in the Breeders Cup or UK features, though I suppose they would appear on the radar if I was lucky enough to have a runner good enough.

[Knightmare]

Super breeds to very well bred mares using good sires, so their expectations of Classics makes a lot of sense.

For me I will have one or two in a stable well bred, one or two bargains and 4-6 middle of the road type breedings. So I go with the flow in most cases. I am aggressive with my two year olds at times. If I break a maiden with a nice speed figure I jump to stakes pretty quickly. I am more patient with a three year old for instance. Once a runner posts a nice speed figure plans change and I start to target specific races. I would say I target turf races more than dirt races and the last two years I have had a Breeder's Bowl runner on turf either in the Turf, Filly mare turf, or Juvenile turf.

In general I try not to race my 2yr olds more than 5 times , with 3yr old stakes in mind if they are good enough.

[mtk76]

For my good bargains I pretty much try to keep them in a series race (and there are enough now to do that almost consistently yr rd).

For the others its more seeing what you have and what big races best fit their abilities.

[wilkinsnot]

The guys running the Super stables know a hell of a lot more about the Sim than us fellas. I would follow Whirlwind's advice

[hawkz]

i have same idea as the super boys although i usually run on 7-8 weeks for 2yrolds all year

[axeracing]

I just go with the flow, for the most part. Like mtk76, my good bargains are usually pointed towards the next BBRS race that seems to suit them. Other than that, i try to let the horse tell me what to do by the way it comes back from each race. I let the pedigree lead me to some degree too, as far as how fast to go with them, but with the cheap junk i usually breed, i'm not really "planning" to be in the breeders cup. If i had a horse good enough at the right time to run in the big races, i would surely rearrange it's schedule a bit, though.

[mtk76]

Oct 21, 2010 20:07:35 GMT -5 wilkinsnot said:

The guys running the Super stables know a hell of a lot more about the Sim than us fellas. I would follow Whirlwind's advice

How do you know they just play different their formula is pretty easy to replicate. If you want to make the investment I can help you do it.

[dragnil]

I probably shouldn't have quoted the whole bit that Whirlwind posted.
I'm more interested in the setting of objectives, rather than how they space their horses races and/or how much they spend on their runners or what pedigrees they use.

I've drawn up a schedule for myself, and clarified things in my mind.

1. All my horses are SAf-bred (barring the rare competition entry), so all will be targetting local-bred races.
2. The bargain-bred ones will target the Bargain Series of races.
3. All will target the real life SAf Gr1's that are in the sim if they're good enough (they're low $$$ races in sim terms, and range from stakes to Gr1 level).
4. The exceptional ones will target the Sand Castle (World Cup) races in March.
5. My runners will only venture outside this schedule if there aren't any suitable races in the programme.

[hawkz]

oh I see Idont have any preset ideas just treat each horse differently

[hawkz]

dragnil like your idea and I am going to breed only NZ AUS horses next year in my stables except the ones Ihave in my Ireland stable

[dragnil]

Heh, good luck. It isn't easy breeding in the lesser respected regions.

[hawkz]

YES BACK WOULD BE MORE REALISTIC AND FUN

[axeracing]

As far as setting objectives goes, i play it by ear mostly. I do try to keep them in their local area and work up to the bigger stuff. European horses would aim for the 3yo derbies, american horses to the triple crown races, and so on. Other ultimate goals would be breeders cup, world cup, and any other "HUGE" races. Haven't had anything that good yet, though.

I have an all-AUS stable given to me by someone that was getting rid of a bunch of stables years ago called chifley. It's not linked to my main group. I haven't had anything outstanding there yet either. I'm not even sure what to aim for as far as local "big" races there. Does Australia have a 3yo derby series?

[Knightmare]

That is a good question. Dragnil, Hawkz, could you guys give us a list of big races from your home countries? I think I would be interested in attempting to get runners in both areas, although probably not dedicating a bunch of runners to them it would be nice to know what is highly regarded. I am familiar with some of the big Aussie races like the Cox Plate, Glass Slipper(not sure when it is run), and Melbourne Cup but outside of that I really am not sure, or if New Zealand itself has a few big races as well.

If anyone else if familiar with any other countries let us know as well. Maybe I can gather all the info and put a link on the web page to it.

[dragnil]

Sure Morgan. Here's a list of all the real South African Gr1 races that are in the sim, listed by their sim names.

TWO YEAR OLD FILLIES
May
STK $35k T6f Fillies Big 'un
July
STK $35k T7f Golden Houseshoe
STK $35k T8f Full Fillies Stakes

TWO YEAR OLD OPEN
May
Gr3 $50k T6f Salisbury Medallion
July
Gr3 $50k T7f Golden HandGrenade
Gr3 $50k T8f Premie Champion Stakes

THREE YEAR OLDS FILLIES
March
STK $50k T9f South African Fillies
June
Gr3 $50k T10f Wooly Mammoth 2000
December
Gr3 $50k T8f Carp Fillies Guineas

THREE YEAR OLDS OPEN
Jan
STK $50k T10f Nice Cape Derby
Feb
Gr2 $100k T8f South African Guineas (Triple Crown Leg 1)
Mar
Gr2 $100k T9f South African Classic (Triple Crown Leg 2)
Apr
Gr2 $100k T12f South African Derby (Triple Crown Leg 3)
Jun
Gr3 $75k T10f World Weekly News 2000

OLDER FILLIES
January
Gr2 $100k T9f Horse Station Stakes
February
STK $40k T8f Minorca Stakes
March
STK $40k T8f Cleopatra Club
May
STK $30k T6f Fast Fillies Sprint
July
STK $35k T8f Garden Variety Stakes

OLDER OPEN
January
STK $40k T5f Flying Carp Championship
February
Gr1 $200k T10f Mr. Met Cap
April
Gr3 $60k T8f Horse Chestnut Stakes
May
Gr1 $300k T10f Manha Manha Challenge
Gr3 $60k T5f Vic-20 Sprint
STK $40k T6f Gambler's Sprint
June
Gr3 $60k T8f The Silver Surfer
July
Gr1 $250k T11f The Greatest Show On Turf
Gr3 $50k T9f Big Kahuna Cup
STK $40k T6f Venus Sprint
Aug
Gr3 $100k T16f Cannon Gold Cup
Nov
Gr1 $150k T10f Jolly Summer Cup
Dec
Gr3 $60k T8f Honery Queen's Plate

'The Greatest Show on Turf' (July Handicap) is the big one, the race that every one dreams of winning, with the 'Mr. Met Cap' (J&B Met) being the next big one.