Thoughts on Steward Breds

[Mr. Lord Rich]

Many of the complaints about the divide between rich vs poor and revolve around stewardbreds.

I have had thoughts for many years how the game would be without stewardbreds where players compete against each other horses and not the magical steward bred horse, but it would be too hard to implement since many vets have all the good bloodlines in there barns from previous stewardbreds they purchased.

I thought up some ideas to try and make things more fair for future stewardbred auctions. Just curious on some thoughts.

Hoping to have a nice constructive conversational thread with ideas vs an argument thread so please try to stay positive with your responses.

[Nick Gilmore]

We would survive, no doubt. But I’ve always viewed it as Emily’s way to actually partake in the game. I don’t think I’d like to take that away from her. And as you said, there really is no way to take them out of the game, so we need to give the current rules a chance to work. It is tricky working around the 3 horse rule, but I think it will work in the long run.

[Mr. Lord Rich]

My ideas (implemented as a whole).

**Steward breeds all, but 75 mares a season. Saves 75 mares for annual lease auction.

**(4) auctions per season: wk2 yearling sprinters, wk8 yearling milers, wk12 yearling routers, wk15 mare lease.

**Players can bid on (3) and win (2) for yearling auctions. Players can bid on (2) and win (1) for mare lease auctions.

**All horses at yearling auctions appear unnamed. The steward given names appear post auction.

**All stewardbreds are “bind to account” ages 0-3 (unless an account is disbursed). “Bind to account” ends at age (4) where players are free to sell/lease stewardbreds starting ages 4 and up. (“Bind to account” means horses can not be leased/sold)

**Players can own (2) stewardbreds per account ages 0-4. Unlimited starting age 5 and up.

**Partnerships cannot purchase/lease stewardbreds age 0-4, however they can however buy/lease starting ages 5 and up.

[Carole Hanson]

I always thought it was strange that people are so obsessed over steward breds. I’ve personally owned just a few (less than 5 that I bought at auction myself) and none have turned out to be exceptional talents. My stable is entirely built on the success of my own horses or player breds so it is possible.

[Karl Smythe]

I think the Stew bred thing is always going to be a problem for the have/have nots.
One thing that people forget is not all of them make back their purchase price/win stakes/produce/stand at stud.

Let the Steward have fun playing her game and let those that wish to buy/own/lease/sell/trade, go on with it based on the current parameters.
Most of these sellable Stew breds nowadays don't sell because most of the players have their limit of 3 so if people are looking for the pinhook money, it is gone.

I used to have 75 Stew breds back in the day because i would buy older horses off the sales page to see if i could do better (and sold Keep Your Promise because I couldn't and he turned out amazing).
It was always fun but i get the most pleasure from the game when one of my home breds wins a major race because it means that i am on the right track breeding.

Everyone needs to enjoy playing the game and not worry so much about how someone else is doing. We all strive to reach the Laura Ferguson/Eric Nalbone stables and hope that we have fun along the way.

Pete, you have some good ideas but i think in the long run that you can't make everyone happy so we keep doing what we are doing and best of all, let Emily have fun playing her game.

[T.D. Palm]

I brought this idea up a few years ago and got hammered for it by some people who have large amounts of funds & can usually get any stew bred they have an eye on in an auction.
My thought...one (possibly two) auctions a calendar year; with maybe only 15 horses in the auction, and open to members with less than 3 million dollars in their account. Something like that can enable the "have nots" acquiring a stewbred.
Personally I have lost interest in getting a steward bred and have turned to standardbreds which now compose about 70% of my racers.

[Garret Folsom]

I firmly believe that stewardbreds are a reward for hard work. It took me 9 game years to be able to finally win one. I remember I was bidding on my phone while shopping for a camper with my family. Since then I've been able to start getting more and more throughout the years as I've slowly (VERY SLOWLY) started to build my barn up. It's still not very good, but one day I'll have a horse in the Steward's Cup Classic, and it will be glorious, then I'll have to try to win one someday after that!!!

I'm not a "have" at the moment, and I don't want to, unless I can get there the same way everyone else has before me.

[Jack Meyer]

I love having Steward Breds....I love that EM gets to enjoy her creation this way, and I would truly think about leaving if they go away. Not because of not being able to own one, but because EM would not be able to enjoy even a little bit of her game....I don't want them to go away, not at all, I do want the loopholes to be fixed to avoid people trying to "get ahead" of the game through this.

[Te Akau Downs]

i think steward breds are great with the limit so it gives everyone a chance at getting them until partnerships were created to hoard them, i never got into debates on here in the 7 yrs i been playing but ive had my rant on this issue, i love the idea of the input Em has with the SB's if SB went away i don't think it would worry me too much as i rarely have them anyway.

[Dave Trainer]

Give this current tweak a try before bringing in more changes.

[Mr. Lord Rich]

Of course we are going to give to current tweak a try, we don’t have a choice. However no reason why we cannot continue thinking up ideas for a potential fix of a broken situation.

Lots of positive comments about keeping stewardbreds around, but not so many ideas. Keep me coming

[Leigh Ann Anderson]

I like Steward breds. The good ones, the bad ones, the ones I cannot figure out. I love that Steward breds give Emily a chance to be active in the game, in the day to day playing instead of being sidelined in a spectator only capacity.

I do wish that the "good old days" of few SBs going to extraordinary prices were still here, but pinhooking and huge bankrolls are part of the game now. I think that the limits and disallowing partnerships to own new SBs might help, but I suspect that those new rules won't solve the "rich players own all the SBs" complaint.

One thing I do really like, and think has helped, is the recent format with larger numbers of SBs in each auction.

[Dave Trainer]

Is it broken now? I thought this change was made so it was fixed. The only reason this change was needed was because some players used partnerships to get around the steward bred limit. Now they can't. Go back to the way TBS auctions were before partnerships could buy steward breds and see how that works in year 55. If there is a problem discuss how to fix it when we know what the problem is.

[Stormy Peak]

I'm so tired of people hen pecking over this subject. Geesh, let Em have some fun playing the game she created.
Those whining that they can not get a Steward bred, just need to keep playing the game until they have the money to afford to do so.

Does anyone think that the average horse owners in real life go to the auctions at places like Tattersalls, Keenland, or Fasig-Tipton and demand changes to be made so that they can buy the same quality horses as some Arab prince?

It's just the way life is, that there are those who have more money than others. I am always surprised at how someone comes in and plays this game for 1 or 2 real years and then starts whining that they can't compete because they can't afford a Steward bred.

I've never bought a Steward bred at the yearling auctions, although I have found a few in AJ's barn and in claiming races. And some years back I was able to race one, a filly I got from a mare I bred and raced, then leased to the Steward. The resulting filly was given to me to race for a few Sim years, then returned back to EM to join her broodmare band. However, I have bred a good number of horses that have won races and beat many Steward breds...and I'm not a big rich stable.

People that complain they want the Steward bred bloodlines and can't compete because rich people buy them up at the auctions... well... go look at the Stud Book. You will find stallions there that are Steward bred, breed a mare to one of them and you now have Steward bred bloodlines in your stable. A person can also do some research and find someone with a Steward bred mare who might be willing to do a lease, or foal swap...etc. Those bloodlines are out there, so to me, that's not a great reason to be complaining about not getting a Steward bred.

I just took a look at my stable and see I have 6 Steward breds. I picked up 2 of them from AJs, got another 2 in cheap claiming races, bought 1 (a mare) at an auction for less than $4,000 and 1 was a gift to me because it had a headshot, and after it had been pensioned. The ones I did race earned some money for me, but they were often past their prime and gelded...but I can say I've owned some Steward breds, even if I didn't pick them up as yearlings for millions. : )

This game is a game of patience, work, and luck - and I think if a person has a little of all three, they can build up a nice stable, and bank account over time, then to go to the auctions and have a real chance at a Steward bred if they want one, especially since here, there are buyer limits in the auction.

Stormy

[T.D. Palm]

I'm so tired of people hen pecking over this subject. Geesh, let Em have some fun playing the game she created.
Those whining that they can not get a Steward bred, just need to keep playing the game until they have the money to afford to do so.

Does anyone think that the average horse owners in real life go to the auctions at places like Tattersalls, Keenland, or Fasig-Tipton and demand changes to be made so that they can buy the same quality horses as some Arab prince?

It's just the way life is, that there are those who have more money than others. I am always surprised at how someone comes in and plays this game for 1 or 2 real years and then starts whining that they can't compete because they can't afford a Steward bred.

I've never bought a Steward bred at the yearling auctions, although I have found a few in AJ's barn and in claiming races. And some years back was I able to race one, a filly I got from a mare I bred and raced, then leased to the Steward. The resulting filly was given to me to race for a Sim few years, then returned back to EM to join her broodmare band. However, I have bred a good number of horses that have won races and beat many Steward breds...and I'm not a big rich stable.

People that complain they want the Steward bred bloodlines and can't compete because rich people buy them up at the auctions... well... go look at the Stud Book. You will find stallions there that are Steward bred, breed a mare to one of them and you now have Steward bred bloodlines in your stable. A person can also do some research and find someone with a Steward bred mare who might be willing to do a lease, or foal swap...etc. Those bloodlines are out there, so to me, that's not a great reason to be complaining about not getting a Steward bred.

I just took a look at my stable and see I have 6 Steward breds. I picked up 2 of them from AJs, got another 2 in cheap claiming races, bought 1 (a mare) at an auction for less than $4,000 and 1 was a gift to me because it had a headshot, and after it had been pensioned. The ones I did race earned some money for me, but they were often past their prime and gelded...but I can say I've owned some Steward breds, even if I didn't pick them up as yearlings for millions. : )

This game is a game of patience, work, and luck - and I think if a person has a little of all three, they can build up a nice stable, and bank account over time, then to go to the auctions and have a real chance at a Steward bred if they want one, especially since here, there are buyer limits in the auction.

Stormy

If the "whining" remark was meant for my post, you didn't read it right.
Pete brought up the case of "haves" & "havenots" concerning Steward breds in the first sentence of his post. I made a suggestion about how some people could acquire a SB in a different kind of auction. I didn't whine; didn't pose an end of SB's and since I don't see any post in this thread calling for an end of SB's as you insinuated, I take it your rant was directed at my post.
Sincerely sorry if what I stated hurt your feelings.