The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Bill Outsilver

Original article written by Jack Meyer posted 9 years 0 weeks ago

For all of us in the SIM, we strive for that “one” horse that places us on the SIM map, a horse that begins our journey to the top of the heap in the SIM. Players like Eric Nalbone, Laura Ferguson, and Susie Rydell all had to get that horse to set their foundation in the SIM, they set the blueprint for us, and through them we know it can happen.

One such player that followed that blueprint to a tee is Bill Outsilver: his superstar Flame and Smoke stormed onto the scene 10 years ago to capture the Louisville Derby beating the likes of Father Ralph and Dr. Ghazi. What made him extra special was the fact that his dam was a CAM named Miss Secretary, it is a rare occasion for something like that to happen anyways, much less to a newbie player who is just getting their feet wet in the game. Bill has had a few ups and downs since his SIM debut several years back, he has been on top of the world with Flame and Smoke, he has felt the pins and needles of the SIM that cause players to rethink their goal altogether, he has been through situations where the game had to be put aside for situations in life, and he has refocused on the goal at hand with an insane crop of 2YO’s who’ve brought him back to where it all started, in the midst of a Derby run.

I reached out to Bill because I wanted to know what kind of journey he has had in his time in the SIM. I am a newbie myself with big goals, and I wanted to hear first-hand what a successful player, who has had ups and downs, goes through, and how they find it in their little SIM hearts to keep coming back day after day.

After doing a little research, I noticed that Bill’s main focus in the SIM has been dirt routers; I’d say ¾’s of his barn is in that division, I wanted to know how he got started in the game, and if dirt routers were the plan from the very beginning, or was it something that came up once he got into the game, this is what Bill had to say, “I got started because I was looking for a horse racing game based on my love of going to the track, interest in horse racing video games and enjoying horse racing books and movies. I joined three of them at the same time, but fell in love with the SIM because you can breed in addition to racing and the community was so welcoming when I started. My plan when joining from day one was to focus on dirt routers with a goal of winning the Juvenile and the Derby”.

Understanding that dirt routers was his focus from the very beginning, I wanted to know if there was a horse, other than Flame and Smoke, that was near and dear to his heart, “Gonzalo is that horse for me. This is kind of funny since he was a turf router and as mentioned before my barn was focused on dirt routers. He was an AJ purchase that was my very first winner, very first stakes winner and very first G1 winner. I had no idea what I was doing and had 6 pieces of equipment on him for his first two starts. One was his maiden win and the next a second in a G2. It was so much fun racing him”. For those of us who aren’t familiar with Gonzalo, he is the sire of a horse named Calgon who won nearly 1.2 million on the track. Gonzalo himself won over 1.6 million dollars, and has sired over two dozen offspring with 100K or more in earnings, so he was a very successful sire.

Bill really loves Flame and Smoke, he knows just how much that horse means to him, and where he is at in his SIM career. I am a player who hasn’t been around long enough to know much about him, so I wanted to know what is was like to own a horse like that, and what and how having him makes you feel, this is what Bill had to say, “It was so exciting owning a horse like him. Throughout his career I went into every race feeling like he gave me a shot to win. The only other horse I had like that was Gonzalo. Looking back this definitely spoiled me and I don’t think I realized how special it was because it happened so early in my SIM career. Since his retirement I have been chasing a horse like him and wondering if it will ever happen for me again”.

He continues, “At first I don’t think I realized how good he was, he had some nice works, but not spectacular. I knew I had something special when he won at a mile in open lengths in his first start. Over his first 8 races he ran either 1st or 2nd until he ran a disappointing 7th in the Long Island Classic. Meanwhile he developed a rivalry with Philosophy in his 2yo and 3yo seasons with each winning two of their head to head matchups. This was a very friendly rivalry and added a level of drama. Philosophy beat him by a head in the Juvenile and a neck in the Baltimore Crown with Smokey winning in the Kentucky Blue Stakes and the Louisville Derby. I was hoping that he would have a great career at stud, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. He had been decent with 68% winners from runners, nearly $28K in average earnings per runner and 7% stakes winners. He hasn’t had a breakthrough runner though as he has no million dollar earners and not one runner has even broke half a million”.

With Flame and Smoke being 13YO now, we don’t have much time left for him at stud; I can tell this is heartbreaking for Bill since this horse means so much to him. Bill kind of took a step back from the spotlight after Flame and Smoke, I wanted to know if there were reasons behind the choice, or if was just a spontaneous thing that just happened. I asked Bill those exact questions and this is what he told me, “I didn’t take a break right after Flame and Smoke, but I definitely backed off of many of the social aspects of the game at that time. There was some negativity over the fact that a colt out of a create a mare (CAM) won the Derby. That really made reaching one of my goals bittersweet at the time, I took it a little personally, but shouldn’t have. In retrospect I totally get it, here I was some wet behind the ears newbie with a random slide from a CAM that takes the biggest race of the year. I should have been focusing on the fact that the vast majority of the SIM was congratulatory and supportive”.

He did have this to say about the break he took recently, “I actually did take a little break from the game last year, real life was pretty crazy and I was finding the SIM more work than fun. I had way too many horses and trying to train, enter races, breed and all the other things needed to maintain a successful stable were getting too much. I stepped away for a month or so, but I couldn’t walk away entirely because I had a nice 2yo in Never Enough and a couple of yearlings that I was really excited about. I then focused on reducing my numbers to a more manageable level. I’m finding that this season with a smaller number of yearlings and less racers has been much better”.

Speaking of Never Enough and that insane group of yearlings, now 2YO’s, that Bill was referring to, I wanted to know more about them. I asked him how the climb back to the Derby Trail has been for him, how it feels to regain that magic he had, and how serious are his contenders are for the SC Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies this year, “I believe that I have a long way to go to be a force in the dirt router division, but I am happy with where the current group is. My goals since I started were the Juvenile races and the Derby and this year I believe I have two Juvenile runners (Michael Jordan & Safe Passage) and a Juvenile Fillies runner (Rekindle the Flame). The biggest reason that some of the magic is regained is that the quality of my mares has improved although a little luck never hurts. Michael Jordan and Walter Payton are both out of blue hens, but Safe Passage and Rekindle the Flame both are the products of a generous random slide. I’m going to need to enjoy this group because my yearling crop doesn’t appear to be anywhere near as talented”.

I wanted to delve deeper into each one of his prized runners beginning with Never Enough, a 3YO colt by Just Victory who was on the Derby Trail earlier this year, “Never Enough has been a nice colt for me, I was expecting pretty big things from him based on his super-fast works. He has had some nice runs with speed figures in the 80s four times, but he has been inconsistent. His first two TCT races in New Mexico were good with a win and a solid second, but then he threw a clunker on Monday of Derby week in St. Louis. Part of that is because my race placement hasn’t been the best. It looks like he doesn’t want anything beyond 9 furlongs so that is where I will try to keep him moving forward”.

Being a son of Just Victory, you never really know what distance your horse wants since some of his horses run for a long time, while other prefer the shorter route distances, even as short as a mile, he is just one of those sires. I see Never Enough being quite successful under the 9 Furlong distance that Bill has planned for his speedy colt, I think he will rebound nicely to end his 3YO campaign, and have some surprises in store for Bill next year as a 4YO.

As we move on from Bill’s sensational 3YO to his insane crop of 2YO’s, I wanted to begin with the interestingly named filly Rekindle The Flame, she is sired by none other than Flame and Smoke. I also noticed Bill had her in a 100K claiming race for her debut, and wanted to know what his thought process was behind that, and what he would had done had she gotten claimed away from him, “Rekindle the Flame was a huge surprise for me. She was a stakes galloper with pretty solid works, but there was nothing that screamed to me that she would be anything like she has been on the track. I have had a number of stakes/wows by Smokey, but none of them have debuted like her. It is really cool since he is getting up there in age, I would love to see him get a big time earner as he has yet to have one break half a million. She seems like the real deal winning with fairly large speed figures and in open lengths in both of her starts. She has another test on Monday with a solid G3 field and then it is hopefully on to the Juvenile Fillies”.

He went on to say, "I have a pretty big group of stakes/wow gallopers in the dirt route division and typically throw some of the ones I hold in lower regard in the $100k claimers because there aren’t enough MSWs for all of them. I am extremely happy that no one claimed her; if someone had claimed her I would have sent them congratulations and wished them success with her. Now that I know she is talented though, I have turned down multiple large offers for her”.

Bill’s trio of super colts is our next stop, Walter Payton, Safe Passage, and Michael Jordan all have the potential to be that “one” that Bill is hoping for, that “one” that comes full-circle once again. I asked him about each one individually beginning with Walter Payton, he had a sub-par Speed Figure of 78 in his debut, but his works are very solid clocking in in the lower 57.50’s for 5F on the dirt, this is what Bill had to say about him, "I’m really hoping Walter Payton is a late bloomer, he was the one I was most looking forward to in this crop. The 78 speed figure didn’t disappoint me as it was a small field and my initial thought was that he wasn’t pushed very hard. Last night he got destroyed in the Persevere Stakes which was stacked with talented colts, but is concerning for his future. It looks like I will need to take it slow with him."

Next up was Safe Passage, who, unlike Walter Payton, had slower works but threw low 80’s Speed Figures in his first two starts. He has also beaten the likes of Legend Returns who threw an 86 Speed Figure in his debut before losing to Safe Passage in the Awake As I Am Stakes. When asked how serious a contender he is, and what made Bill place him in high maiden claimers in his debut, he said, “Safe Passage has been a big surprise even more so than Rekindle the Flame. As mentioned earlier, I often put what I believe to be sad wows into claimers in their initial start to make room in the MSWs for those I have higher expectations on. This year was crazy with two of those breaking their maidens with speed figures at 84 or higher. My guess is that he isn’t a serious contender with the big boys of the divisions, but he will get the opportunity to go in the Juvenile if he has a decent final prep. In my own barn I like Michael Jordan better, so he will likely get second choice on race placement."

With the two appetizers already out of the way, I moved on to the main course, Michael Jordan. MJ, as Bill likes to call him, has several sub 57.55 works to his credit, and scored a speed figure of 90 in his debut, which is one of the best of his generation. Next up for him is the Thriller Stakes where he faces the likes of Answer The Call and Spaceman, both of which are highly thought of in the SIM Dirt Router division, I wanted to know his thoughts on MJ, where MJ is headed, and what is in store for him next year, “I was thrilled with MJs first start, it lived up to his works. It looks even better after the horse he beat in his maiden, Until the End, won his next start with a 94. The Thriller Stakes was an extremely tough field and I think he proved he belonged in losing by a neck to Through the Ghost. The positive sign was that he was coming on strong down the stretch and came up just short after going wide on the turn. MJ is a definite for the Steward’s Cup Juvenile; I’ll wait and see about next year based on how he is running. I have some concerns about his ability to handle the Triple Crown distances with Just Victory as the damsire, if he is winning on the TCT he will definitely get a shot in the Derby”.

With surprises, a slight letdown, and the anticipation of a strong run in the Steward’s Cup, Bill’s four 2YO prospects seem to be headed right where he wants them go. After all the dust settled, I had one more question about Bill’s 2YO crop, was there something I may have missed, a “dark horse” in his 2YO crop that might be flying under the radar, “I doubt there are any surprises left in my barn outside of Rekindle the Flame and Safe Passage. If any it might be Daily Anthem who hasn’t been particularly fast, but is 2 for 2 to start his career. He will get a true test in the G3 Canadian Juvenile in Week 15”.

Now that we’ve discussed the past and present, what about the future? I finished up the conversation with that exact question, I wanted to know what kind of future Bill Outsilver’s barn had to look forward to, what yearlings or foals are he excited about, and what road will his stable venture down, “The future will continue to be about dirt routers and trying to win the Juvenile, Juvenile Fillies and the Derby. I want to continue to keep the racing/training sections of my barn smaller, so you will likely see me selling, leasing or pensioning my broodmares. My yearling crop doesn’t look like it has any huge stars, but there are 17 wows or better so it should be a solid crew."

As I bring this article to a close, I looked back at everything that I researched about Mr. Outsilver, I realized that his road to success is the way I am trying to build my own stable, with the exception of the Mixers that I use to better my Thoroughbred stable. Bill got lucky with a CAM prospect who gave him his superstar Flame and Smoke, I have a pair of mares named Merope and Hallowed Halls who I’ve been “lucky” enough to get that could be my “foundation” into my TB stable. Bill used homebred mares, for the most part to get the insane crop of 2YO’s he now has, I will likely have to do that with my future TB DR prospects. I think this story should be taken to heart by the newer players who are struggling to get started in the toughest division in the SIM, it shows that a little luck, and as my friend Scott Eiland says, “It only takes one”, foundation horse to build an empire in the SIM.

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