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Sorting Through AJ's Barn
Original article written by Annie Hay posted 12 years 3 weeks agoWith the end of the Sim year approaching I thought I’d offer some advice on the numerous horses residing in Alexandra Jaysman, also called AJ’s stable. As it stands currently at any time if you want to get rid of any number of horses without the hassle of trying to sell them, you can simply click the send to Greener Pastures button on the horses page and the horse goes to AJ’s barn. At the end of the year every horse in AJ’s barn will go up for sale at a cheap price, usually around S$100. You may think yeah, that’s cheap but there’s a reason these horses were sent to Greener Pastures I don’t need to waste my time.
I’d like to suggest, for those of you starting out on the Sim it’s not a bad idea to find a few decent horses from AJ. Once in a while some real gems emerge from AJ’s barn. I’m not saying you’ll find the next Maelstorm or Whitney waiting in AJ’s barn, while that would be lovely its not likely to happen often. But I’ve learned how to race better from not a barn full of world beaters, I’m not an expert either just trying to speak from experience. These AJ horses could in theory run well every time they step onto the track, thus earning you money. I’ve found money is something you definitely need to acquire the better horses in the Sim. So maybe, don’t worry so much about your win percentage and see what you learn from some maybe not amazing horses and then later if you end up with that amazing horse you’ll be better prepared to handle it.
For example I purchased a four year old filly Dodo at an AJ sale. She’s still a maiden, may never break it and has gotten the ‘Looks like a claimer,’ comment from Mary Weather. Despite that Dodo has raced six times, one second place, two thirds. In only one of those six races did she not bring home a check. Granted she’s not bringing home a lot of money but it’s something I find every little bit helps.
Don’t discount 4, 5 year old geldings they can run quite well on a regular basis. For example let’s look at Highly Favorable a five year old gelding I purchased last AJ sale. In the comments about him it’s noted he galloped with the Wings comment from Mary Weather, I don’t know how he was when he received that comment. Just today he galloped with the ‘Great gallop he should have a productive career,’ comment. I’ve run him three times this year, he has won one race and came in second last time out. So I’d say he’s not been bad at all to have around.
I’d urge everyone to research any horse before they buy it not just AJ’s horses. A few things I look at before buying are obviously its race record if they’ve raced. If you are a SIMperior member this becomes even more informative because you can see how many horses raced as well as the speed figures earned. The number of horses will the first number listed at the end of the running line for that race, next to it will be that horses speed figure. Because I’m not that awesome at figuring out workouts yet I do weigh the speed figures pretty carefully. If the horse has run all low speed figures I’d pass on it. Look at whether the horse has raced on turf, dirt or All Weather and what distance. Take into consideration whether the horse likes soft ground, or mud sometimes you can tell this by a spike, or drop in speed figures.
Check out the horses dam and sire, I’d think the horse could be confused if by some chance the sire was a dirt sprinter, and the dam was a turf router or something. Try to at least make sure both parents of the horse ran on the same surface. Again if you are a SIMperior member and want to spend the money you can always ask the Bloodstock agents opinion of the horse in question.
~Annie Hay