Sale shopping tips?

[Kim Helley]

I spend a ton of time perusing the sales page hoping for a decent inexpensive pickup. I tend to focus on good sires and mares who have decent produce records but I end up with a lot of not so great buys.

Am I missing clues? Is there a better way to shop sales page without it being a mystery purchase?

[Brandon Schultz]

I'm assuming you are a new player (since this is the new player portion of the forum)...

ALWAYS USE THE NEW PLAYER RECOMMENDED TAB ON THE SALES PAGE

I can't stress this enough. It's a magical little button that only the new players have access to and it is so helpful! You can use it on the sales page, to view auction horses, and to view game owned (AJ) horses. A lot of new players don't understand what it is and so they don't use it. The recommended tab will make sure that you only buy productive galloping or better horses. Bad horses like claimers and solids won't show up under recommended. And, most young-ish productive horses with the right equipment can consistently earn a paycheck, especially at trial park. I have a productive horse with over $20k earned this year! Another pro tip on the recommended tab, if you ever feel like you want to buy broodmares, the recommended tab is also very helpful.

Other than that, always buy from trusted players. As a new player, I would buy one horse at a time from other players and then wait to see if I thought that person was fair in how they sold horses. Keep track of how much different types of horses sell for in the forum and assume that you will pay similar amounts most of the time. Lots of people are not fair and will overcharge for their horses. Take notes on who does that and avoid them like the plague. Also, keep a note of the players that are very fair in their pricing and keep an eye out for when they have sales. It's worth saving money so that when those players have sales, you can buy a couple of horses instead of just one.

Another good way to find trusted players is through the forum or chat. Feel free to post, "I am looking for horses from <division> that are <age> years old with a gallops of <blank> or better and I have <$$$> to spend. I'd happily try and make you a deal on a horse if I had one that fit those conditions and many veteran players would do the same. Just be careful, like I mentioned earlier, not all players are fair. Just because someone makes you a deal doesn't mean you have to take it.

The best way to get a really good value on horses, at least as a new player, auctions. Auctions can be risky since oftentimes nobody knows how good the horses are. Luckily as a new player you have that handy "recommended". Just search for "recommended" and "at auction" in the buy horses tab and then use that to inform your horse buying. I've gotten allowance horses for under $1k using this trick. I can't recommend it enough.

Finally, if you want to take a chance on a horse, you should totally do so, just remember to never spend more on a horse than you are willing to lose. Assume that every time you buy a horse it could turn out to be a claimer and spend your money accordingly. There's nothing worse than having a horse that loses money, especially as a new player.

And remember the recommended button!

[Kim Helley]

Thanks Brandon!! I just lost the “new player” designation and am trying to look for horses and don’t have the new player or recommended buttons anymore and didn’t realize how great those were.

Since I’m still excited about horses who earn checks almost every time I try not to spend more than $1000 on a horse who I can’t tell what they are because I’m poor haha

Knowing what something was I could probably spend more because then I know I’m not buying a “needs another career” galloper

[Brad Fabman]

The sales page should have a big flashing sign that says "BUYER BEWARE". There is even as we speak, a lot of overpriced junk there. I never paid $20,000-$30,000-$50,000 for anything off that page and like you early on I bought my share of lemons too. Just looking well bred is no guarantee of success. Sometimes there are horses that have already raced. You can pretty much tell what that horse is about. There are many unraced ones as well. I want to see time trials or what is called works here. I have set a personal set of standards for all the different breeds. If they don't meet it, I pass. I have nothing to go by. And I have seen those with big price tags too. Not this kid. I'm not falling for that. In my opinion, never mind the breeding. Go by how they have raced or check their works if they have any and decide what you are comfortable with.

[Cleo Patra]

Keep an eye on the forums for sale and auction catalogues. I personally always post as much information about my horses for auction as I can. Saves you buying a claimer when the horse looks like it should be an allowance.

[Lee Tuttle]

I haven't bought anything in a season or 2 off the sales page.
I'm at the point where I ride with the mares in my barn and try to use outside studs to progress things.
When I was new I did the same constant hunt for anything with 4 legs as mentioned previously to get a win.
At the same time I was trying to set my stable up for the future so I was always looking at the retired ladies.
I did some research and tried to figure out who the top 3 studs of each type and distance were.(The stud book is a big help here)
Then when i came across a potential broodmare I would hypo her with the top 3 studs on my list depending on what category she was in.

Tbh, I spent a LOT of real dosh doing hypoes. But I have what I feel like is an improving by generation band of broodmares.
Some DR thoro mares that have A hypos with a top stud or 2. Not that its gotten me any big race thoroughbred wins so far.
That's where patience plays a huge part here. Making a long term plan and sticking to it.
Will it pay off? Dunno, but I'm 3 crops in and have had a miracle freak thoroughbred foal and a fair amount of decent mixer foals. So I have hope.

[Lily Wilkins]

I mainly stick to claiming horses or the auctions. As others have mentioned, the sales page tends to have junk. If you are looking for animals that will consistently earn you some cash from week to week, consider combing claiming races... Just hop on at the beginning/middle of each week and use the "Circuits" page to check each track for claiming races and snag horses.
My criteria with claiming is that I only pick up horses who generally throw an 80 or better speed figure (generally those will be at least "productive") and I like them to be competitive (on the board in a 5+ horse race) MOST of the time. I also feel like I always have better luck with Mixed Breeds, but if you want to dive into Thoroughbreds, all the power to you.

[Ronnie Dee]

I have placed a number of unraced 3YO TBs for sale at "give away prices". Essentially, I used the price to mark each horse as follows.

$22 each: Productive Gallop with Equipment revealed from Gallop
$21 each: Productive Gallop with Equipment not revealed from Gallop
$12 each: Solid Gallop with Equipment revealed from Gallop
$11 each: Solid Gallop with Equipment not revealed from Gallop
$2 each: Claimer Gallop with Equipment revealed from Gallop
$1 each: Claimer Gallop with Equipment not revealed from Gallop

All these horse have been galloped regularly since they were yearlings. So they are fit,

Note: Equipment revealed from Gallop means that one piece of recommended equipment is known but the other piece is unknown.