The Importance of the Breed/Distance/Surface Categories

Original article written by Regina Moore posted 10 years 3 weeks ago

Frequently, I get asked questions by newish players – and similar questions get asked on the Forum – along the lines of:

“Should I bother breeding a mare that can’t get higher than a B nick?”

“Is it a good idea to spend 200k of my 300k bank balance on a ‘wow’ yearling?”

“Should I get rid of all my mares that are ranked lower than ‘formidable’?”

“Should I put my fast working wings yearling in a stakes for his first start?”

Most of the time, the answer to these questions is going to have a lot to do with the breed/distance/surface category of the horse in question. I can’t emphasize enough how important these categories are, when evaluating a horse.

Different categories of horses have been in SIM for different lengths of time, and the quality of each category has improved at different rates, based upon the length in the game and popularity with players. That means that some categories are going to have more “star” broodmares than others, some categories are going to get A and A- nicks more easily than other categories, some categories are going to have more “scary” galloping yearlings than others, etc., etc.

For example, I have lots of “wow” galloping Thoroughbred dirt routers that are lucky to earn back their stud fee, and usually end up racing in Alaska by their 4yo season, because the dirt route category is so intensely competitive. Yet, I’ve had quite a number of mere “wings” All Weather horses that have been multiple stakes winners. I’ve had “hard to tell” turf milers that have been multiple stakes winners. I’ve had “scary good” Paint sprinters that can’t win a stakes race, because there’s so many other “scary good” horses in those races. If you have a Standardbred trotter or pacer lower than “scary good”, it’s very unlikely to be a stakes horse. If you have a Thoroughbred “wow” turf sprinter, you’ve probably got yourself a stakes horse, though how consistent of a stakes horse can vary greatly.

If one counts steeplechasers as being one distance category, then that means there are 23 different categories in SIM, when broken down by breed/distance/surface. That’s a lot! With different categories improving at different rates, is one reason why it’s so difficult to give a definitive answer to generic questions like, “Can I get a nice foal from a mare that is only ranked ’good’?’”

Adding to the fact of variation of categories, is that the SIM gods will mock you if you take too much of a black-or-white, yes-or-no approach to any aspect of the game. Being rigid in your thinking --“A ‘formidable’ mare is always going to produce better offspring than a ‘good’ mare”, or “a wings/great yearling is always going to be more successful than an OK/hard to tell yearling” -- is an attitude that will allow opportunities to slip through the cracks.

Occasionally, just like real life, things work out like they’re supposed to. A “star” mare is bred to a stallion, for a breeding that results in an “A” nick, and the foal gallops “scary”, is one of the fastest workers of his division, and becomes a Grade 1 stakes winner when he starts racing.

But even more often, just as with real life, a lot of unexpected results can happen, despite carefully planned matings. The solid “A” nick only produces an “OK” galloper. A “scary” yearling can win allowance races and place in stakes, but can’t ever win a stakes race. Instead, it’s the “hard to tell” galloper that pops up for a stakes win when it catches a soft field. Sometimes, an “OK” galloper works faster than the “wings” and “stakes” gallopers in the same category. In a Paint sprint crop a few years back, I had two “scary” colts that were bred similarly and worked in similar times. One became a two-time Steward’s Cup winner and earned over a half million dollars. The other only won one stakes race, and has less than 150k in career earnings through the age of five. Who could have possibly predicted which one would be the big star, and which the big disappointment?

Unpredictability is a wonderful thing. It’s the reason we play the game and run the races. Otherwise, if all the best horses were known at conception, there wouldn’t be any point in playing beyond that task.

It’s hard enough to predict outcomes, but even harder when one approaches all breed/distance/surface categories with the same expectations, as to what makes for a quality youngster, quality mare, or quality nick. As new players learn more and more, especially as they begin to dabble in breeding, it’s important to be heads-up about the breed/distance/surface category being discussed, concerning any particular horse.

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