Been playing for a couple real life years now, but never had a horse that I really felt a pull to give a threat in this forum, until now.
Halley is a (currently) three year old daughter of Blast Onepiece and Circus Kitten (P.T. Barnum). She is named after Halley's Comet, but specifically the song "Halley Came to Jackson" by Mary Chapin Carpenter.
I bought her mother in Y56 and it took twelve races for her to finish in the top 3 - so I was not at all expecting her to be claimed in that race. Circus Kitten does have some black type, but it's not like her page is saturated with it. $32,000 for a horse that had earned me $4,550 across multiple sim years at that point probably should have been something I considered good fortune and moved on. But despite not previously feeling attached to Circus Kitten, I thought to myself, "you have to get her back." In her very next start, I claimed her back, for a $50,000 tag, taking a loss on the claim money I'd made a couple weeks before. At that point I was determined to get her a win, so after she ran fifth in her next start, I created a maiden race and she beat three others to win it. One more fifth place finish after that and I put her into the broodmare barn, (she's formidable) and she gave me a solid progressive (wound up productive peak) filly by Beggars Anthem. I don't remember what prompted me to send her to Blast Onepiece next and it might have just been because I like the horse in real life - and she foaled Halley. At festivus, when I got one freak and two stakes gallopers, I was not in a million years expecting Circus Kitten's Blast Onepiece filly to be one of the stakes gallopers. (I was pleased, though, given that I'd lost her to a claim then had to claim her back for more, so the stakes filly almost didn't exist, at least not in my barn.)
Halley is currently 8: 2-2-2, and is a stakes winner, and her two second places finishes are stakes as well. Although before W13 last year I had planned to, I opted not to run her in the Steward's Cup as a two year old after she ran fifth in her final prep race (I talk a bit about this in an article here) because I didn't want to be overly ambitious and possibly ruin her. She's a late bloomer, and stayed stakes even after the gallop adjustment, so I think she was probably near the stakes/freak threshold initially to stay stakes (as opposed to a change to allowance the way the other stakes filly of mine did from that crop) and she could bloom back to up to high stakes or even freak, we'll see.
I don't like to get ahead of myself or too excited about a horse, so right now my goal is to get her to at least $200,000 so she can keep her name. I don't have any delusions about her blooming into a world beater, but I think realistically I can get her to that amount, especially since she hasn't bloomed yet and so I can probably race her at least one more season after this one (I am hoping for her to race through her five year old season, but I can't see her retiring before the end of her four year old year at least). I don't know still how much it's really worth, but she is also 'brave'. I haven't gotten the shed vs. longer career yet on her (because I rarely gallop her since she seems to like a heavy race schedule) but even if I got the breeding shed comment, I would still race her longer.
Her two year old half sister is unfortunately a claimer, and I used Circus Kitten's yearling as a 'balance out the filly/colt ratio' cheap breeding, but he somehow galloped solid, so maybe he can pick up a few checks next year. Halley's baby half sibling is by Lloyd's Keeping It and is the only A range hypo Circus Kitten has gotten so far (Halley, her Beggars Anthem sister Heave Away, and their yearling Red Falx sister Hoonah were all B+ nicks), so hopefully the Lloyd's Keeping It baby will wind up on the good end of the slide!
Halley races next in the Summer Battle Stakes tomorrow, and based on speed figs it's a race she could in theory win or finish last and I wouldn't be shocked at either. A few horses have hopped in and out of the race since entries opened but I don't plan to scratch her regardless of who may go in in the next few hours.
I'm so proud of this mare. She's officially over the 200K mark that was my goal for her, but since she's longer career and just peaked this year, I'm in no rush to get her in a breeding shed.