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There’s only so much a newbie can absorb at once when joining a game such as SIM. There’s so much to learn, and so much to think about. Probably every player wishes they could start over at some point, and avoid some of the serious mistakes initially.
But most of us get through those, and gradually pick up on various nuances of game play as we go along. Of course, what qualifies as helpful can depend upon what one’s specific goals are.
This series of articles is intended to present newbies with some finer nuances of buying and racing horses that they might not yet have considered before, especially from a financial standpoint. Things that can hopefully be useful to them now, and they don’t have to wait until later before having light bulb moments.
These articles assume two things: First, that newbies are concerned, first and foremost, with making money. No matter what one’s ultimate goals, it’s very difficult to put specific plans into action when one has a bank balance that only shrinks. More money gives one flexibility and freedom to put subsequent strategies into motion.
Secondly, these articles assume that the newbie is focused on the racing of horses to make their money. There are other ways to accomplish a growing bank balance (writing articles, etc.), but ultimately, I think most players want their horses to be successful on the track. Therefore, possible future breeding considerations aren’t a factor in the advice offered, as that is another subject altogether. Nor is the subject of buying a yearling or other unraced youngster, since so much of that speaks to pure potential and it’s more difficult to pin down rational decisions from a financial standpoint.
KNOW YOUR PURSE STRUCTURE
It’s difficult to make good decisions about entering decisions when one doesn’t even know what a horse is going to earn for any particular race. So, it’s very helpful to familiarize oneself with SIM’s purse structure. Thankfully, the purse distribution is exactly the same for every race. No matter the class of the race, no matter how many horses have been entered, the purse breakdown never waivers.
The following is the percent of the purse paid for each placing 1st thru 5th. In parentheses is the dollar amount for an everyday race with a $15,000 purse:
1ST Place – 50% ($7500)
2ND Place – 22% ($3300)
3RD Place – 10% ($1500)
4TH Place – 7% ($1050)
5th Place – 2% ($300)
The remaining 9% goes to the breeder of the winning horse. (If you spend 3000 game points to Create a Horse, you will be considered the breeder of that horse. Therefore, it is possible for a newbie to earn breeders awards, if the created horse wins any races.)
Note that winning pays more than twice what finishing second pays, and finishing second pays more than twice what finishing third pays. Yet, fourth place pays only a little less than third place; while fifth place pays considerably less than fourth place.
Horses finishing sixth or worse do not earn any money.
MANDATORY EXPENSES
Really, the only expense a newbie *has* to pay in SIM is weekly board for each horse owned. Whether a horse is staying at a farm or at a track, there’s a board cost associated with that, which can range from $5/week for many farms, to $200 a week for certain race tracks (Arcadia, The Spa, etc). You can see what board is for a farm or track whenever you click on the shipping icon for a horse. Also, you can click on “Farms & Tracks” under the “Racing” heading at the top of your stable office page.
Board comes out of your bank early Sunday morning, Pacific time, as a lump sum for all of your horses. Say you have five horses. Two are staying at a track with a $50/weekly board cost, another is at a farm with a $25/weekly rate, and the other two are at a farm with a $5 rate. On Sunday morning, when you click on SIM Money in your stable office, you’ll see a description that simply says “Board Paid” and the amount deducted from your bank would be $135 ($50+$50+$25+$5+$5).
Of course, your horses will likely be moving from farm to track and back to farm on a regular basis, so the amount of board will keep changing, even if you keep the same number of horses.
Ideally, you would want to keep your horses at $5 farms between races (horses rest better at farms than at tracks). However, for some tracks, there aren’t any $5 farms nearby, so you need to weigh how much the board is versus how much it costs to ship to a farm that charges less than the nearest farm. Also, note that longer shipping distances are more tiring to the horse than shorter ships.
The only way a player can avoid paying board is if they have their own farm (which costs $2 million to build), and board their horses there.
OPTIONAL EXPENSES
1. Shipping. Unless you keep your horse at one particular track all the time (not recommended, since the horse won’t get the benefit of farm rest), you’ll be shipping your horse. Shipping always costs at least $100. Most ships can be done from one place in North America to another place in North American for $100 - $150. However, if you’re going from, say, northern California to southern Florida, then it’s going to cost close to $400.
From my research, the best place to ship from in North America is Kentucky. From Kentucky, you can reach half the tracks on the continent for a mere $100. The most expensive North American ship from Kentucky is $310 to northern California.
Horses can usually ship within Europe for $100.
When you start going from one continent to another, it gets more expensive. Shipping from the eastern U.S. to Europe is roughly $650. Going from Illinois to Argentina is $840. When you’re going halfway around the world, you can expect it to be over $1000. Kentucky to Hong Kong is $1210. Japan to Brazil is $1730.
The most expensive shipping cost I’ve come across is $1870 for going from Spain to Australia.
A sidenote about shipping: If you’re a newbie, you’re probably racing mostly claimers. North America is the only continent that cards a substantial number of claiming races. In fact, you can usually find plenty of claiming races at the three “distance” tracks – Dashing Downs in Kansas (sprints), Middleground in Tennessee (mostly mile races and short routes), and Marathon in South Dakota (routes). Since all three of these tracks are located in the middle of the U.S., you can have a “home base” at a farm in the area, and have minimal shipping costs to the races. On the other hand, if you’re racing mostly at Trial Park, you’ll want to be resting your horses at a farm nearby.
2. Entry Fees. It’s always a glamorous thought to consider entering a stakes. Whether that’s a smart move or not depends on the horse, who you ask, and your own comfort level. Financially, it means that you’ll pay 1% of the purse for an entry fee. ($500 for a $50,000 stakes, $1,000 for a $100,000 stakes, etc.)
The entry fee isn’t deducted until the race is run; ie, it hits your bank account at the same time any purse money does. Therefore, you can enter a stakes, and then later scratch, without worrying about losing the entry fee, since it hasn’t yet been deducted. It also means that if your horse only finishes fifth, you’ll get twice the entry fee, since the fifth place pays 2% of the purse. Of course, if your horse finishes sixth or worse, then running in a stakes has only cost you money (and perhaps quite a bit more than the entry fee if it was a long ship to the race).
Non-stakes races do not have entry fees.
3. Veterinarian. Dr. Henede Hacklu can speak to how sound and rested/tired your horse is. He can’t tell you how fit your horse is, or how it will do in its next race. Having Dr. Hacklu examine your horse costs a discounted amount of $500 for newbies.
If you don’t want to spend the money for the vet, I suggest jogging your horse a few days before its next race. Assistant Trainer Mary Weather will tell you if the horse is “ready for more work or a race”, if he’s “sleepy” (needs more time to recover from his last activity), or if he “didn’t need that exercise” (is already being asked to do too much). If one gets one of the latter two comments a few days before a race, I’d recommend scratching and waiting until the horse is more rested.
3. Horse Whisperer. If you’ve subscribed to SIMperior status (something I highly recommend), you have access to the Clark Hoss, who will tell you, in a colorful way, whether your horse prefers a wet track, a fast/firm track, or if the track condition doesn’t matter. Like the vet, the discounted fee for newbies is $500. Unlike the vet, you only need to consult the horse whisperer once for each horse, and can paste his response in the notes, so you don’t have to pay for his services a second time.
4. Miscellaneous Expenses. There are a few other costs that you might come across as you play SIM. There’s injuries (which are often a result of over-racing, and can cost $5000 to $20,000), purchasing the contract of a second jockey ($25,000), changing a horse’s name ($5000 – and can only be done if the horse hasn’t yet raced), and nominating to the Steward’s Cup or Triple Crown ($5000 per horse, unless it’s a late nomination and then it goes to $50,000.)
Once you lost your training wheels and become a Junior, the cost for the horse whisperer and veterinarian will increase to $700 per visit (it will go to $1000 when you become a veteran). Also, you will have to start paying a daily stall fee, which is $5 per horse per day, and comes out of your bank in a daily lump sum.