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Mixed Breed Information: Quarter Horses & Arabians
Original article written by Landon Alexander posted 11 years 1 week agoI was approached by a new Mixed Breed player curious about how these different breeds work. Most of the world knows Thoroughbred racing and to an extent are familiar with harness racing, but those QH's, Arabs, Appys & Paints (plus the goofy looking mules) generally stick to the fair circuits (at least in North American racing) to the best of my knowledge. I am in no way an expert of these racing breeds in real life other than what I've watched at a few California fairs, but I have built quite an empire here in the Sim specializing mainly in Quarter Horses & Arabians. I do run Appys, Standardbreds & a very few Paints, but I wouldn't call myself an expert in these guys quite yet... especially not in Paints.
Any-who... I wrote this player a very lengthy reply and then thought since I took 20-minutes to type all that out and I've had other newer mixed breed players approach me in the past for a little beginner's mentor type stuff I may as well write a quick article for the rest of the Simsters that may be curious yet still too intimidated to try out mixed breeds. They aren't too complex. And the great thing is we MB trainers are all very generous people for the most part so you would / will have a ton of support if desired. Yes, racing is only on Wednesdays, but those are great nights of fun! :) And don't forget we have the super awesome Mixed Up Program to help get people up and running with some free practice ponies and wonderful PRIZE horses (refer to the MB forum to find the ongoing thread re: the MUP).
So.... here goes. (Disclaimer, I'm only writing on the two breeds that I know best and this is generalized. Some people may differ slightly.)
QUARTER HORSES:
1. There are 3 divisions (sprinters, mid, routers) and then a few that can cross divisions (refer to lines of Ok Ok, his son Spanish Okie, Sunny Attitude, Kruytbosch to name a few).
2. Sprinters: distances of 100 / 250 / 300 / 350-yards only. Workout times are the fastest for the most part. I truly very rarely work my sprinters 100-yds as yearlings; I may work them 100-yds when they are older and have had too big of a break between races to help tune them up. I generally always work them 220-yds and then sometimes 300-yds. The 350-yd workouts are new (like only a week old) so I don't have much data on them. A FAST 220-yd workout time is now sub-12.00 seconds... Those times should get you pretty excited about have a stakes worthy horse. Some horses work a bit slow, so sometimes a horse running within the 12.00 to 12.15 second times will still peak my interest. A FAST 300-yd workout time is now sub-16.00 seconds. This season we are seeing yearlings work down into the 15.70 second range which is CRAZY FAST. Again, a horse will still peak my interest in a 16.00 to 16.10 second range for sprinters.
3. MIDS: 400 / 550 / 650-yds. For the most part these horses are equally talented at all three distances, but apparently it wasn't originally planned that way states The Steward.... We the simsters apparently bred them down to like all 3 distances. Interesting. Anyway... workout times are all over the board for this one so that's when I compare horses of the same sire in my barn when I'm looking to sell... So if I have 3 Final Solution colts, I'll generally keep my fastest one... or the one out of the best broodmare. I generally only work my middys 220-yds. Some stallions in this division throw fast workers that put out 220-yds in under 12.20 seconds and some stallions will throw slow workers that work that same distance in 12.90 / 13.00 seconds and both horses could be "wow" gallopers... So again, that's why I compare horses in this division to similarly bred ones.
4. ROUTERS: 870-yds only. Again, this is a division where work-out times are all over the board based on pedigree. Sunny Attitude & Duke of Diamonds throw FAST workers and other studs throw similarly speedy horses... I generally work these guys 400-yds only. A workout time could range from 19.70 to 20.50 and both horses could be "wow". There isn't too much rhyme or reason.
5. Study pedigrees so you know where to race your horse. Look at the dam & sire and see where they raced and what their offspring are winning at. Don't throw your 870-yd horse into a 300-yd race, because it's not going to be pretty.
6. BREEDING: Always breed like to like... I even originally would breed my 300-yd winners to other 300-yd winners, etc. don't breed your 300-yd winner to an 870-yd winner. Now of course I've mentioned up above that there are exceptions to rules with those few stallions that can cross divisions, but do study up and see what kind of runners they throw before going to crazy. If you have the means, try nicking a few horses together and see what happens with those hypomates in terms of graded nicks.
ARABIAN:
1. There are only two divisions: sprinters (4F, 5F, 6F) and routers (10F, 12F & 16F). Generally horses stay in their own divisions though like the QH's, there are a small handful of stallions / pedigrees that can route and sprint.
2. SPRINTERS: there is unfortunately no rhyme or reason to their workout times between sires... Like I mentioned with the QH's, some sires throw really fast workers and others really slow so generally just compare horses to horses that are by the same sire. Theoretically, a fast 4F workout time is sub-52.00 seconds; a fast 5F workout time is sub-1:06.00. I generally always work sprinters at 4F only. They don't seem to perform well in morning workouts at 5F.
3. ROUTERS: these guys are way more tell-tale in their workout times thank goodness. Myself (and most everybody) work their routers at 6F (a few try out 5F, too). A fast 6F workout time for routers is sub-1:21.00 though under 1:21.15 is still sometime that can raise an eyebrow.
4. BREEDING: breed like to like (sprinters to sprinters & routers to routers). Study the pedigrees and you will find those lines that may cross divisions. A few of the original stallions could do it (Ahearn, Midnihte, Haafiz to name a couple). Haafiz's son Guardian of Truth looks like he may be able to as well.