Feature Race | Auction | Breeding | General | Hall of Fame | Harness | Interviews | Mixed Breed | New Players | Racing | Site Updates | Steeplechasing | Steward's Cup | Triple Crown
When Stars Align: A Claimer Champion
Original article written by Renee Scarted posted 3 months 2 weeks agoOne of the biggest flexes of my career is the time I won a stakes race with a claimer-rated horse. No, I'm not kidding.
I bought Mirza Bakir in year 59 preseason for $200 purely because I like cheap horses, although what motivated me to buy her remains a mystery. Her damline is nothing special, from her dam Sexi Tin to her grandam Sexi Rexi and great-grandam Rexanne who was actually a stakes winner, but in hindsight, probably too far from Mirza Bakir to be of much significance on the racetrack. Either way, with my then limited knowledge I liked the odds of one stakes winner in the dam line, and her name was the same as my best friend's horse, so cha-ching I went and found myself with a claimer that I spent the better part of year 59 getting fit for the track.
Mirza Bakir's sire is In Shadows, a stallion that won over $1,2 million, but only sired 4 foals that went over the 100k mark in winnings. He also had a 40% ratio of siring claimers and different careers, my newest acquisition belonging right into that crowd. Again, in hindsight I never would've touched little Miss Mirza, but I was young and inexperienced, easily swayed with a single stakes winner in the pedigree and a pretty name that reminded me of another horse. I was also not much into the business of checking out sires. If he was in the studbook, he was good enough for me - something I since learnt was a mistake.
Mirza Bakir debuted poorly, but then started pulling in steady money from maiden claimers and claimers, and honestly, so early in my SIM career, that was fine by me. It took her a whole year to break her maiden, immediately winning a NW2 (it was a match race), then coming in second in a 7-field allowance. Now, that fired me up, as I didn't have much success with the "higher" races back in 59, so what did I do? Threw poor Mirza Bakir into a stakes race with 4 other mares and fillies that she ended up dominating by 3.5 lengths as she became a freak of nature, a claimer stakes winner. True enough, it was the Trial Park, where we all know chances of success are elevated compared to the rest of the in-game map, but when the game labels a horse stakes winner or stakes producer, it doesn't really care where that stakes win is coming from.
After that win, Mirza Bakir's career plummeted, even though in year 60 she improved up to productive (thus ruining my claimer wins stakes story), and then retired as a formidable broodmare with 63k of winnings under her belt. She produced me a solid and a productive out of sires that seemed to go well with In Shadows. Her solid daughter was retired and deceased, but her productive filly is still alive and being raced. I wonder if she ever gets into the breeding barn to pass this legacy on.
Due to my (so-perceived) success with Mirza Bakir, I wanted more. Luckily the breeder, John Nicholson, was ready to accommodate me, although it was entirely by accident as I never spoke to him in my life. It just happened that he kept producing full siblings to Mirza Bakir, and I made it my mission to get my hand on another one if possible. I managed to get her brother, Persickles, in year 60, although after a long struggle to break his maiden he didn't reach up to my expectations and was given to AJ in year 62, eventually finding his way back to the breeder, now living out his retirement with Rochelle Bos as an eventer.
Mirza's other brother The Mongolian Chief debuted with 3 wins, but that proved to be the height of his career even though he was claimed 2 times during his life. Mirza Bakir's sister, Seven Peaks, also raced in maidens and claimers, breaking her maiden in a 45k claimer and actually being claimed for 25k at one time in her life. None of these horses had any outstanding success, however, and none made it into the breeding barn.
The story of Mirza Bakir is dear to me because it was the case of an ignorant newbie getting lucky under very specific circumstances, with a horse I only paid attention to because of her name. I went to great lengths to examine whether this success could be recreated, through siblings or progeny, and found out the hard way that it was not the case. Still, it's fun to be able to say that I won a stakes race with a claimer horse, and to make a tribute to a not-so-outstanding horse out of pure sentiment. Mirza, thanks for the freak adventure.