Some SB auction buyer stats...thus far

[Kelly Haggerty]

I ran a quick spreadsheet based on (RL, not SIM) years of play. The 83 horses sold thus far in the SB auctions were purchased by players with a median of 11 years of experience, and the average is right on that, too, at 10.7 years. The breakdown is thus:

20 or more RL years in SIM 7.23%
15-19 RL years 12.05%
10-14 RL years 43.37%

So approx 63% of horses were sold to people with at least 10 RL years in the SIM. The rest break down as"

5-9 RL years 20.48%
and 8.43% each to players with 3-4 and 2 or fewer RL years in the SIM, or 91.57% to players with at least 3 RL years thus far. I would guess that might drop a bit with this last auction, as people used up their slots.

[Kelly Haggerty]

I ran a quick spreadsheet based on (RL, not SIM) years of play. The 83 horses sold thus far in the SB auctions were purchased by players with a median of 11 years of experience, and the average is right on that, too, at 10.7 years. The breakdown is thus:

20 or more RL years in SIM 7.23%
15-19 RL years 12.05%
10-14 RL years 43.37%

So approx 63% of horses were sold to people with at least 10 RL years in the SIM. The rest break down as"

5-9 RL years 20.48%
and 8.43% each to players with 3-4 and 2 or fewer RL years in the SIM, or 91.57% to players with at least 3 RL years thus far. I would guess that might drop a bit with this last auction, as people used up their slots.

PS- I did the math on RL SIM years roughly, ignoring months for the most part as it wouldn't make a huge difference.

[Dave Trainer]

You would need to put that into context by analysing how many people there are in each group. If the majority of sim players have been here 10 - 14 years then that % would be expected. If only a small minority of sim players have been here that amount of time then that would be very high.

[Sara Julin]

I joined year 21, and could not afford a SB until year 42, when I managed to get my first SB, All Your Might for a little more than 700k.
That means I played the game for over 6 years before I could snatch a SB.

[Art K Stables]

and that is as it should be.. tough to do.. the worst thing to do is to make things so easy that the challenge of coming from nothing and building to something is practically a handout which then makes the higher levels too unexpectedly hard and that's when you have a dispersal in their future.

[Anthony Zappulla]

Look in RL for second. Their are so many big name star people that are into horses racing. They don't train they buy expensive horses and hope for the best. Some are very successful not because they are horse racing gurus, because they are spending money.

Who is yelling at the Bobby flay's style, for not coming up through the ranks?

[Kelly Haggerty]

Dave Trainer: 100%, but in no way did I want to work that hard . Guessing there are not a ton of 20+ year players, though.

Art K: I agree that moving up too fast overwhelms a bunch of players. But, I also believe that buying too many top horses might bore them out of the game, too, even if they run them well. Bottom line is that most of the SB are going to vets, which is probably the intention of the open sales. It gives the older barns a way to add some spice and interest and helps everyone with SIMflation. I would feel differently if the SB dominated every graded stakes, but that just isn't the case. They are useful and fun and not worth having big fights over IMO.

[Kelly Haggerty]

Dave Trainer: 100%, but in no way did I want to work that hard . Guessing there are not a ton of 20+ year players, though.

Art K: I agree that moving up too fast overwhelms a bunch of players. But, I also believe that buying too many top horses might bore them out of the game, too, even if they run them well. Bottom line is that most of the SB are going to vets, which is probably the intention of the open sales. It gives the older barns a way to add some spice and interest and helps everyone with SIMflation. I would feel differently if the SB dominated every graded stakes, but that just isn't the case. They are useful and fun and not worth having big fights over IMO.

Anthony: I used to work for Godolphin. They spent like....well like oil-rich barons and I think of the 200+ mares on the farm, being bred to the likes of Mr. P, Nureyev, Seattle Slew, etc. I think they got 1 gsw out of the bunch. So, still believe a lot of the fun and challenge is the unpredictability. And, if someone spends $1000 on the exchange and nabs a productive progressive in the SB auction, well we can all giggle just a bit.

[Nicole Marie]

So, still believe a lot of the fun and challenge is the unpredictability.

I agree. I have never been able to afford a SB and I likely won't for years, but a couple sim years ago I grabbed a mare from AJ and she's a stakes producer now with a stakes galloper and two allowance LB gallopers from four foals to gallop. And I bought another mare for $3500 (that I did later have to claim back, to be fair) that has also given me a stakes winner. I certainly hope I have horses competitive in the Steward's Cup or the Triple Crown races or the Arc one day, but I also have been thoroughly enjoying grinding it out on the lower end of success.

[Abby Brooks]

So, still believe a lot of the fun and challenge is the unpredictability.

I agree. I have never been able to afford a SB and I likely won't for years, but a couple sim years ago I grabbed a mare from AJ and she's a stakes producer now with a stakes galloper and two allowance LB gallopers from four foals to gallop. And I bought another mare for $3500 (that I did later have to claim back, to be fair) that has also given me a stakes winner. I certainly hope I have horses competitive in the Steward's Cup or the Triple Crown races or the Arc one day, but I also have been thoroughly enjoying grinding it out on the lower end of success.

This way is the most fun to me Nicole ^ Finding hidden gem horses that build you from the bottom up and give you that NEW pedigree.

[John Smith]

Bought my one and only SB for 167k, hoping he returns the money! it was my 2.25 season. unproven sire at the time, maybe still is, but has decent gallop outs and hypos well..still has only 2 year olds racing, so... but have won some stakes it looks like at 25k top earner! (the sire, not my SB)