Under Steward's Orders - Chasing Questions Answered!

Original article written by Gigi Gofaster posted 8 years 1 week ago

Chasers are a funny business. I’m still pretty new to the chaser world, but I tried to apply everything I’d learned from dirt sprinters and trotters to breeding, training, and racing chasers. Well, I pretty much fell at the first fence, so I more or less gave up and just went random on my chaser barn. This year, as I started sorting out my wheat (naturals) from my chaff (everything else), I got to wondering whether that was a mistake, and if I should hedge my bets and look for some comparable science between chasers and flat horses, or if I should go for the long one and try and find out if there is some chaser-specific stuff I should be thinking about? Well, who better to ask, than the Steward! What follows are my endless questions (she agreed to this before she knew how many questions I had) and her late night observations on chasers in the sim.

Training:

Do early gallop comments hide an indicator of a horse’s performance, or are flat and chasing gallops totally unrelated? In other words, is a horse bred for chasing that gallops wings/natural likely to be a better chaser than one that gallops different career/natural?

—Flat and chasing gallops are unrelated; a flat gallop tells you about the horse’s ability on the flat.

Chasers don’t start from a gate, but does gate training "do something" for chasers? Does repeated "train to jump" have any kind of cumulative skill effect?

—It has the same effect it has on all horses of adding experience to your horse, so yeah it’s good. Repeatedly jump training has a similar effect of getting your horse fitter and more experienced but it doesn’t make them better at jumping.

Given that chasing races are typically two miles or more, is swimming especially useful to chasers for developing stamina?

—No, swimming is the same for chasers as for flat horses.

Do race conditions matter as much (or more) for chasers as they do for flat horses?

—I assume race conditions means weather; if so, they have the same effect as they do for flat. It’s not increased just because the horse is a chaser.

If workouts are best used for getting horses fit for racing, should chasers be working out more? Are longer works better for race preparation?

—Longer works do make horses fitter!

Racing:

How much does distance matter in chasing? Would it be worth it for us to figure out if our horses are the equivalent of sprinters (2 mile), mid distance (3 miles) or routers (4 mile)?

--I think it’s worth it, and some other people think it’s worth it, but I know some trainers don’t think it’s worth it since all the horses are closely matched

Any plans to develop specializations in chasing like in real life, like hurdles versus chasing, or timber races?

—No CURRENT plans, but definitely not off the docket.

Why can't chasers go back to racing on the flat? Is there a reason why ‘become a steeplechaser’ is permanent?

—Easier to code

It’s getting harder and harder to place horses in chasing races, especially iffy ones - ‘with confidence’ horses are rapidly losing value. Are there any plans for an equivalent of an Alaska circuit for these horses? maybe an all claimer point-to-point type of thing in the US or Europe?

—No current plans, but it’s a great idea

Jockeys and horses never fall in the Sim, but that’s a big risk in real life Chasing. Is that maybe on the cards one day, a bit like random injuries?

—I personally would be down with adding falls, but it’s a very tricky situation. You don’t want SIM Peta on you!

Many people race chasers only every three weeks, but then we see horses like The Jumpstart do well over a shorter break. Is the three week cycle a Sim myth? Is there an optimum pattern for racing chasers?

—3 weeks isn’t a myth. Just like the flat, some horses prefer 2 weeks, some 3, and a small percentage 4. Just like a small percentage can go 7 - 10 days.

Some people race chasers at 3, others (like myself) don’t. Is there a significant advantage or disadvantage to starting chasers in their three year old year?

—I am not a fan myself of racing chasers at 3, but that’s because I feel like you should get all you can out of them on the flat first since you can never go back.

Why are so few steeplechasers any good on the flat? Is there any advantage to a flat race career for a chaser, like in gaining experience?

--People aren’t breeding for both, but it’s possible to do!

Not many sprinters can hold their form past age 4, but routers often last longer. Is there an age at which chasers start to fade or are typically at their peak?

—I feel like 8 year olds are in their prime, but like sprinters and routers, they all have different peaks.

It’s been said that chasing struggles to get followers because it takes a long time to get a horse to a race, and so to make any money. Can you suggest any incentives to get more people into chasing?

—Suggesting incentives is the SIM’s job, then it’s my job to implement them!

Breeding:

So, Caliber was discovered languishing in AJ’s barn. Are there many more undiscovered chaser sires still out there we should be looking for?

--Probably! But I don’t know them off hand. Whenever I discover a good AJ horse I try to post about it immediately.

Some recent GP sires are doing well in the chaser scene - Shea Shea, Novellist and Dandino get some decent results. Is that deliberate, or just random?

—Definitely deliberate.

In the same vein, Sadler’s Wells was one of the best real life chaser sires, but in the SIM he’s not. Howcome? Can we request GP chaser sires based on real life impact, or is that tricky to do with SIM pedigrees for real life horses?

—Adding GP sires for chasers is the same as the flat horses - you can add them to be anything you want (like a chaser), but you still have to contend with 3 generations of pedigree that may or may not also be chasers.

Any plans for a neat new chaser sire in the create a horse? We’€™ve done well with oddballs like Synthetic Speed, but can we expect another Over and Up one day?

—We need to update all of them.

Speaking of all weather sires that produce good chasers (Synthetic Speed and Shea Shea spring to mind), it seems like turf routers would be more likely to transition to chasing since the surface and distance is more similar. Is there any SIMlogic to that, or is chasing potential pretty random in the flat sires?

—There is SIM logic to that, but chasing started out random, so both work.

Stallions and mares are at risk of pensioning after age 13. That’s often just when a chaser’€™s offspring are just starting to show their merit. How do you think this has influenced chaser breeding?

—It’s a definite major part of training a chaser. You’re supposed to really weigh the risks and pros and cons. You know that for every year you take another shot on the track, you’re missing out on very valuable breeding time. Unlike a lot of flat people, chaser people are more willing to go for that extra year on the track, which makes breeding tricky!

I struggle with chaser breeding, and it seems less systematic than I can do with my flat horses. I pretty much just take my Greatest Strength mares and cycle them through the stallions that I think can get a ‘A’ nick. Am I missing something? Should I do like with flat horses and look for proven crosses, powerhouse dam lines, and so on?

—It’s the same as flat horses, that proven crosses are a thing, but like I said above, finding powerhouse dam lines are hard because horses run so late and get so few opportunities to breed. Cycling though nicks takes less thought so it’s what most people do.

Do the same guidelines apply for chasing sires as flat race sires - e.g. the $350K in winnings type of thing, or are there good chasing sires hiding among lower earners? What are the things to look for in deciding to stand a chaser at stud?

—The same guidelines apply.

Why doesn’t the Steward breed chasers? Have you got any mares in your breeding shed that are hiding serious chasing potential?

—Same reasons as I don’t breed Mixers: 1. People already think I’m too involved in flat horses, so here are divisions I have no influence in, and 2. If I tried to add 5-10 chaser mares and 5-10 of each Mixer breed, my brain would explode.

Whew! Thanks to the Steward, and now, back to the drawing board...time for some research!

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