TBS Zero Year Old Auction

[Tammy Stawicki]

So am I the only one who spent way to long trying to find the train option on my new horse's page before I remembered she was a foal?

[Louise Bayou]

So am I the only one who spent way to long trying to find the train option on my new horse's page before I remembered she was a foal?

No, no you are not.lol

[Laura Ferguson]

And here I was thinking your strategy was... Oh I like those, just drop $15m on each and walk away.

I laughed when I read that. That'd be great, except there's auctions where someone's willing to go to $17 million, or $20 million, or even $25 million. Plus, I don't make $45 million every year in racetrack earnings - that's the one-off. Most years, historically, my racetrack earnings are $19-$25 million - still a large amount, but not enough to cover three $15 million yearlings. Factor in that we could buy 3-5 horses per year at auction, plus unlimited number of pinhooks (if a good opportunity arose), you'd quickly hit a point where you'd have to spend a SIM year or two rebuilding your bankroll, unable to drop a $15 million bid. Plus, if I'm paying $15 million plus, it's because I really want the horse, not because I think I'm getting a good deal or paying value. I'm most likely overpaying, but I don't care. On the other hand, there aren't that many horses I feel that strongly about.

Low, to me, is mid-20s. I try not to go below that bankroll-wise, because sometimes the Steward throws in an additional auction that includes a horse I really want and I want to have the capacity to react to that (or in this case, has all the yearling/foal sales in a one week period). There's also the occasional player sale/auction that comes up that I want to spend money on.

I look at the Steward's foal crops at the end of each year and rank them (this year I had to play catchup), so when the auctions come up, I know, my number one draft pick is in this one, so I need to go big, or in this one, the ones I like are not in my top five, so I need to try to find some value, so when the next auction comes around, I do have the bankroll to go big.

[Trastevere Peru]

Laura, I’ve always admired the way you go after what you want regardless the cost! I agree the horses themselves are the higher value.

In the old system of auctions, it was the greatest adrenaline rush at the end to see what you got, if any! With proxy bidding I put down what I’m willing to pay and left it at that. So I wasn’t around for the end of tonight’s auction. To my surprise, I got this one on an underbid of $1 million. Last time I looked he was somewhere around $1.8 million. Does anybody have an idea what his high bid was? Mmm and no I won’t be pinhooking, sorry.

Trastavere had it at 1.8 and i wanted the underbid!! lol

That´s true, finally I got a Westpoint yearling instead of Mauretania´s one. Best luck to Nick and Tim

[Madelene Gilbert]

I managed to grab 2 of the 3 AW route foals I had my eye on, and both went for about $1 million and some change. Considering yearling prices typically top $3 million each nowadays, I got a bargain.

[Garret Folsom]

So, I finally got my first Steward-bred in an auction ... and got to name him, to boot!

EDIT: He has a twin, but I got outbid for him.

I picked up his twin Blade of Marmora and also picked up my first ever AW Stewardbred Allura.

It was an interesting auction. I had placed a bid on all 5 of the AW Routers in the auction, and wanted to get at least one of them. I had another Turf target as well, but missed out late in the auction and tried to find another target at the last minute. Then with almost no time left, I saw that I was outbid on my #1 AW Router target, so I quickly got in a very last second bid in on another one.

[Cate Lynn]

As far as strategy goes, I’ve gotten very good at looking at the foals ahead of time and really slimming down who I like. With such a small stable, I don’t bring in tons of cash and it takes me years to earn for the SBs I want. So I prioritize bloodlines I want to buy from and pass on every auction or opportunity that doesn’t intrigue me as much.

Basically, I’ve gotten very good at targeting what I want and passing on all else

That’s how I -finally- ended up with both of my top 2 favorite DS mares’ foals in yesterday’s auction (Graces filly, Letter from Home colt). I strategized quite avidly to be able to afford them, and that’s how I have to plan and play in order to both stay small yet compete high.

[Laura Smith]

Similar to Laura, I usually have an idea what I want in a given year before the auctions even go up. I don't often double up on fillies from female families that I already have a quality piece of, especially when they're expensive (almost always) though I do now have two colts that are half-brothers, oops.
I very rarely bid on offspring of my own sires (nearly 20% of my TS mares and, holy crap, almost 2/3 of my TS racing barn -- have Gentle Courage up close, don't need more of that!) and when buying colts I assume the best-case scenario and try to purchase things that will work out with my mares, if they end up being stallion-worthy.

If I decide I want something, and I have the bankroll, I'll go stupid high on it. What's my money for, if not to buy things I want? I went all-in last year (and the year before) on some very expensive nice pedigrees, so I was able to tone it down this year, stay away from the high-dollar super-trendy dams, and get a few for what I thought were pretty good values.

I also thought there were a lot of really interesting opportunities in terms of player sales and leases this year. Of course that's a riskier investment than a Stew-bred, for sure, but I was happy to drop a bit of cash on some opportunities that I might not get again. That was actually a really fun part of this "auction season" for me -- sifting through everyone's "gimme your money" sales and big stud fee discounts and picking out the cool stuff.

[Jon Xett]

Well that was a frantic ending to the TBS Zero Year Old Auction #1. I had to change my plans with my "horses mid stream in the rushing river" (Ah, Alliteration) because the turf routers that I had set my hopes on were getting a lot of bid action. I did not think I could hang in there and be successful as the bids kept climbing. Also, on many of these turf route females, I could not even get a bid in in my price range because the bidder had set the upper limit way above my comfort zone.

I like that you can't gallop these zero year olds. Later on, hopefully, it will kind of be like finding a $5 bill in your jeans pocket when you take them, warm and toasty, out of the dryer.

So in zero #1, I ended up with what I think are a dirt mile filly and a turf mile filly. That decision came about as I try to shore up my other thoroughbred racing/breeding divisions in my route top-heavy barn.

On to zero #2, how has your strategy changed?
Will you swing for the fences? Make a mega bid early and sweat it out to the end?
Will you hide in the forest? Make no bids until the end of auction then spring into action.
Will you have to watch the clock? Since the end of auction is at a different time, does this change things?
Will you under, under, under bid? Knowing many big guns are down to 1 yearling slot left?
jX

[Leigh Ann Anderson]

Once again I was shut out. So frustrating. My Sim luck seems to be set to zero, much like the number of Stewardbred foals and yearlings owned by me. (insert violins here)

[Nick Gilmore]

Can we gallop our foal purchases

How about a game point option? 50-50 chance, “great buy” or “sucker”!

[Laura Smith]

I like that you can't gallop these zero year olds. Later on, hopefully, it will kind of be like finding a $5 bill in your jeans pocket when you take them, warm and toasty, out of the dryer.

Ha! I love this.

[Nena Olson]

I got this and hope that he is a nice addition to my turf route stallions someday!

[Jon Xett]

Zero year old auction completed today without too much anxiety. Some interesting late bids and some really amazing under bids. I was actively bidding on the Together and You Never Know foals and saw the bids move up above $2 million. They both went for under a million SIM dollars. Congratulations to all who got their first Steward bred in these auctions. Way to go to those who got their first Steward bred in quite some time. Nice going to those who got exactly what they were hoping for. And here’s hoping for positive outcomes for all of your new Steward bred horses. jX

[Burgundy Hill Farms]

Missed on the first foal auction, but got one this time. Loved the pedigree.
https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.ph ... ID=1102745

He galloped freak..............get anyone?
At least let me dream...