Why did you choose that division?

[Ma Springs]

Hello trainers in the big pond!

As a new player since the end of last year (real and game time) I'm trying my best to run as many races I can at Trial Park. Starting to get curious though about the question above and thought I'd start this "poll thread" for anyone who would like to share.

Why did you choose the divison(-s) you're currently running and/or breeding in? Real life fabless? In-game strategy (bigger races, lighter competition ..)? Or did you stumble over a freak and decide to follow along..?

My thoughts at the moment go something like this:
When I first noticed the turf miler fillies and mares races often were unfilled I started scouting for a troop to get some easy purse money. Easier said than done. Discovered they're not only rare but more or less gold plated (thanks for a clarifying word Peter! ). Got my attention. The turf routers also look fine.
But at Trial Park all the 2yo stakes races seem to be dirt sprint. Perhaps the sprinters are more useful to go for right now..? Don't need to wait so long to start racing...
Also, picked up a couple of decent looking dirt route fillies. Might be some worth breeding in the future, but on the other hand dirt route seems to be the most..competitive..(?) division of all... Is it even worth trying..?

(Yes, I'll try to get a mentor to help me sort things in time!)

But I would love to read a few words from anyone who cares to write about how you ended up where you did!

All best & thank you for sharing!

/Ma

[Dave Trainer]

A chase auction came up and I bought a lot of them (142 to be exact) I got a few decent DS fillies from AJ and they bred well so I got into DS.

A couple of players I became friends with ran TR and my mentor had a great TR stud so I became involved with them as well.

[Gwayne's World]

The dirt route division is the glamour division of the SIM.

Go BIG or go home for me!

[Nick Gilmore]

It’s very simple for me...when I started, I had something of everything. I kept what did well and got rid of the rest. Now I mostly have turf routers with a healthy dose of dirt sprinters. Because of the ds, I had a chance to swap for a breeding to a very decent (and royally bred) Dirt Router. The result gave me a derby horse, so swapping for foals is a good way to upgrade and diversify. Mind you I offered a very nice mare in the deal.

I don’t have much to do with milers or any All Weather. I tried both and failed miserably. I dabble in chasers with no great reward, so that division stays small. I’ve tried quarter horses with the same results, lol.

All in all, it got down to what I had a knack for.

[Carole Hanson]

At the time when I was clearing out my stable, my turf sprinters looked in the best shape and my turf routers were going in the right direction so I stuck with those two divisions mainly with a bit of dirt miler on the side. Then I got lucky with a foundation mare in my TRs and now that's my no.1 division, meanwhile my TS are heading in the right direction.

I did quit dirt milers however and have started to slowly get a couple more dirt route horses though I have to say that I much more thoroughly enjoy turf racing, I enjoy watching it more too especially since I'm European and it has developed very nicely in the SIM these past few years.

[Jo Ferris]

At this risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, I didn't pick my division, it picked me. Seriously though, Paints is my forte, Paint mids in particular. It works now since my real life horse is an Overo Paint/Appy (no Appy markings, but his dam was an Appy, long story). When I joined I never thought I'd do Paints, maybe dabble in them, but not as a main division, I just didn't want them. It all started with my now HOF random create a horse Neverinthemiddle. When I started I really wanted to do TBs, as I'm sure most players do, now I don't even own one other than a few old pensioned ones. I tried getting into TBs many times, even had multi millionaire Crossword Puzzle, but they just never stuck, a decent horse here and there, but never was able to get a breeding program going, believe me I tried and sunk MILLIONS into trying to get a good TB thing going. Meanwhile my Paints were treating me very well, they came easy, or at least felt easy. Officially called it quits with TBs back in Yr 39, 10 years after I joined. I dabble in QH Sprinters, Paint Sprinters and Arabs, I'm starting to make Paint Routers a second main division, but Paint mids are definitely my favorite and my main division. At one point I tried getting into Appys, since I had a RL Appy at the time, but those never stuck either, still have a couple, but decided to call it quits a year or two ago.

Fun fact, Paints are the only breed of horse I've had at least 1 start with every year since I joined. They account for 14 of 16 lifetime SC wins, 64% of my lifetime starts, 71.5% of my wins, 81% of my Stakes wins, 78% of my G1 Wins, and 72% of my lifetime earnings.
Lifetime Paints: 6,052 : 1,370-1,038-853 Win-22.6% OTB-53.9% 294 21 339 412 $30,038,560
Lifetime Total: 9,521 : 1,916-1,468-1,262 Win-20.1% OTB-48.8% 363 27 497 555 $41,712,645

[Garret Folsom]

I started with a little bit of everything. I've slowly weeded out divisions that I wasn't having as much fun with. I've actually been thinking about cutting back elsewhere as well. AW Routers were what I first got into. There wasn't a bunch of horses in the races, so it started as an easy division, but I had fun with it, and have been trying to grow it ever since and get more people involved.

[Rochelle Bos]

Take what I say with a grain of salt, cause I’m still new myself

I feel like there are some divisions you just don’t like, and for me my favourites were kinda skewed by following in my mentor’s shoes, as well as chatting and making friends with a lot of people in the division!

I was convinced I wanted to do only turf, but then in the last couple years I decided the longer I wait to get into DR the further away I am from being competitive! If that makes sense...so I started dumping a lot of money there. (Because DR is a money sink lol)

But then I’ve begun to notice that my Turf Route horses are lagging behind the rest, so I will likely slowly drop those (ie race until they’re done and like sell as mares, or lease, or whatever).

The thing that surprised me was my first freak wasn’t in my favourite division (TM) it was in TS! Which is fun, but also terrifying because it seems TS is the new “trendy” division, before that *I* believe it was TM.

Also I found myself with a nice steeplechaser colt so I decided “why not” and jumped right in there, that I kinda regret and personally want to drop the division because it doesn’t bring me joy anymore (Gonna Marie Kondo it REAL hard lol)

I been out of trial park 4 years now, and I’m still figuring it out, but also I just run whatever horses are fun/make me money! Just because you race them doesn’t mean you need to breed or aim to be a major player in that division!

But yeah, I vote race whatever you find fun! You don’t need a specialty, you (and I) are still SIM babies! There is plenty of time, and the game may steer you in an unexpected direction!

[Ali Hedgestone]

I didn't.. Which is how I ended up with a horse hoarding problem.

[Nini Panini]

All my life, I've wanted to own a horse that wins the Kentucky Derby. Like, FOR REAL. Then, I realized, it probably wouldn't happen ever in real life, so I told myself if I can't win it in real life, I'd have to hop on the dirt router train and win it in the Sim.
Then, I did it.
And I'm even hungrier now.

[Gigi Gofaster]

Dirt sprint is great for new players. The horses race young, right from week 1 of 2yo year, decent ones for claimers or trial park are abundant and cheap, and there’s only a few circuits so there’s not a lot of shipping to figure out. It used to be stud fees were cheaper in ds than most other divisions but that’s not the case anymore. I also recommend harness for new players. Only two days to enter races, only a couple circuits to choose from, no fussing with preferred distances, and money earners are cheap to buy.

I enjoyed TS for a while but I started in that division when I had a bit of money as the market was stronger than in DS. I gave up on turf Milers and I don’t have the discipline to figure out circuits, distances and campaigns for routers especially when all route surfaces are so very competitive. I also gave up on chasing for a variety of reasons but I’m watching a lot of the horses I sold go on to big things now *eye roll*

[Cleo Patra]

I bred one of the stakes winningest turf sprinters in the game’s history in my second foal crop. My first SC winner was a dirt sprinter who was a gift from a friend.

Then somehow I ended up with routers. I honestly don’t remember how but I stick with them because I know all the circuits etc now.

[Tammy Stawicki]

Like most people I started out with whatever I could get. Then at some point I decided I wanted to focus so started focusing on turf. I was aiming towards turf routers as I'd picked up a decent mare along the way. I'd also been gifted a nice for a new player colt. But then the steward did a sale of some yearlings to promote some new bloodlines. There was a turf router (can't remember the name) that I was interestd in but it would have almost completely emptied out my bank account. Meanwhile there was a more affordable turf miler, so I went for her. That was Such Trickery she went on to win Simmy's, Steward's Cup, $1 million+ you name it. Not bad for a $150,000 horse. I then picked up another turf miler Stop Flirting the next year. Such Trickery went on to become quite the broodmare (my only stewardbred to do so) and I was hooked on turf milers.As I wished to focus more I slowly stopped acquiring other things and focused my thoroughbreds 100% on turf milers. I had a brief dirt mile phase upon being gifted a dirt mile stallion in one of Slots give a way a horse in a fit of rage contests but that was very short lived.

At some point along the line I decided I wanted to get into mixers as well so I could race more days. I originally got into arabians but was not patient enough for the not racing until they were 3 thing so eventually dispersed all my arabians and switched over to paints in part because the stable I rode at growing up was a paint stallion. I picked up what was available though wound up getting all sprint and mid (I can't remember if that was intentional or not). I soon found that in paints I could actually breed nice horses and keep bloodlines going unlike in thoroughbreds so I slowly started focusing more and more of my efforts to paints. Which is not to say paints is not without its frustration. In the early days before claimers were responded there were a lot of horses I couldn't really do anything with as there weren't races at the right level for them but then we got all the glorious claimers. Now my biggest frustration is my horses I don't want to run in claimers that aren't good enough for stakes. Allowances have smaller purses than claimers in many cases and once you run through conditions there are very few options usually 1 allowance a day which is tough when you own a bunch of horses and don't want them all running against each other. We also know my thoughts on what limits have done to crossbreeding, but as a whole I still really enjoy my paints.

[Dylan Christensen]

I also gave up on chasing for a variety of reasons but I’m watching a lot of the horses I sold go on to big things now *eye roll*

Thanks Gigi

[Rochelle Bos]

I also gave up on chasing for a variety of reasons but I’m watching a lot of the horses I sold go on to big things now *eye roll*

I know someone who wants to get out of chasers!