STOKED UP ABOUT BREEDING

[The Harlequins]

Am buzzing about breeding my first 2yr old North American Champion Sprinter guys.

It Can be done.

Get your game face on and go for it.

I chose the cash to build route,so sold, but get in with every spare penny after costs you can muster SOONER THE BETTER in my humble view.

[Andrew Chillin]

Too bad his owner dodged the sprint championship

[Jack Christensen]

I agree somewhat Frank, but you also got very lucky with a freak in your first crop. Not everyone gets that lucky, and breeding can often be a money pit for newer players

[The Harlequins]

I hear you also Jack, but the way its been going with leases and all that ,a new player can earn 4 million plus in there time at Trial park.

Theres a BIG BIG chance to spend 25% of that to start there own breeds, before the lean times start sim year 2-3-4.

Only my view, but the lean times start sim yr 3-4......you need somthing in the locker by then, why not start as soon as.

Frank

[Gwen Morse]

I agree with both Frank and Jack at the same time.

Breeding is important for a new player. You can't count on the kindness of gift/free lease horses forever. So, I feel the sooner you start breeding the better (because you need a few seasons before your first crops can race). I think it's also important to start breeding early because there's a lot to it and reading advice only goes so far. You need to see what happens when you cross horses and can look at the results as a breeder (just like seeing what happens when you enter horses in races as a trainer).

But, breeding is a huge money sink. And while Frank made millions both his Novice seasons, not every player does that. I made a little under 500k in my first season, which put me in the top 10 of Novice Players (I vaguely recall being around #7). My second season I made 2.7 million (and for a good part that season I was #1 in Novice players by both wins and earnings). I used to watch the stats a lot and Frank was in the top of his class (maybe Andrew or Ma beat him for a couple weeks here and there but he was always up there). Most of the Trial Park money each season goes to 4-5 players.

Both seasons I basically spent all my purse money just on stud fees (I wrote articles and received some sim cash gifts and went to the Exchange to keep myself in the black once I became a Junior). So we're not even counting the costs of any mares I bought. My mentor (and other kind people) sent me free mares. I was given a couple free or half-cost breedings to expensive studs. But at the end of the day, just paying stud fees cleaned me out.

New players cannot _count on_ making millions each of their first few seasons. "I'll just win 4 million a season" should not be the business plan of any new player.

If it happens enjoy it and make the most of it. Just don't bank on it.

[Kelly Haggerty]

New players cannot _count on_ making millions each of their first few seasons. "I'll just win 4 million a season" should not be the business plan of any new player.

If it happens enjoy it and make the most of it. Just don't bank on it.
[/quote]

Well said Gwen. I made just over $1m in my first season, and this one and the next look tough. You can earn enough to breed a few foals if write enough, but like you suggest it's a balance.

[Gwen Morse]

Kelly ...

This is your second season, right? It'll be good. You'll (likely) make a lot more money than your first season because you'll know what you're doing at TP and the second season lease horses seem to be better quality than the first. When you start at Junior High things are still pretty good. Some horses who ran in allowances will move down to claimers and you'll probably retire some fillies/mares who bottom out.

For me season 3 has been grim. I have one horse whose pretty much carrying my whole stable while I wait for the 2 y/o miler races to open up (that's the distance where all my good potential baby racers are at). If none of those milers are strong their first season, I don't know how I'll be paying stud fees this year.

It's not dire. I'm not at risk of bankruptcy or anything. And it's at least partially good because it's making me take a hard look at the horses I'm racing now and I'm culling the ones who can't make money anywhere. But stud fees are their own level of expense. I've gone back to writing articles to pad my income in the meantime.

[The Harlequins]

Afternoon Gwen and Kelly,

I am glad i did my big breeding last year,200 + foals all the best i could afford at the time all from blue hens and all A+ nicks.

I my view the 3rd season is a survival season until your own stuff starts coming into play.

I feel better with foals in the barn than the money sitting in the bank.

My only outgoings this season will be board, travel and GPs.so far the breeders rights are covering those.

You know where the winnings are going

Frank

[The Harlequins]

I think Trent will have a record new player season this year, i hope he starts his own stuff in the breeding shed while the money flows.

Frank

[Kelly Haggerty]

New player strategy in re to TP is interesting. One strategy is to go for all the marbles, buying all the allowance and stakes horses you can get and soak up millions of TP winnings. This will cause other new players that join at the same time to go bankrupt, but ensures the winner has all the cash to become a major player and add good stock.

Another strategy is to think more about dynamics in the game and future relationships. I joined when a cohort was doing more of the latter, and I saw the line and followed suit. This way everyone gets earnings and can stay in the game. This even applied to auctions, where we didn't tend to outbid one another much, so everyone got runners for good prices. But everyone also earns less. Enough to survive, but not enough to fling money about.

There are pros and cons to both and in business school both are taught. But as a famous executive once lamented, you can only be a smart as your dumbest competitor.

[Dave Trainer]

I am glad i did my big breeding last year,200 + foals all the best i could afford at the time all from blue hens and all A+ nicks.

Frank

You had 200+ different mares get A+ nicks?

[Andrew Chillin]

I am glad i did my big breeding last year,200 + foals all the best i could afford at the time all from blue hens and all A+ nicks.

Frank

You had 200+ different mares get A+ nicks?

Trotters bro

[Dave Trainer]

Still don't see 200 different mares getting bred with A+ nicks.

[The Harlequins]

Still don't see 200 different mares getting bred with A+ nicks.

I should have said breeding from the end of yr55 till last Sunday.

I still have 102 blue hens that nick A+ to stallys.

Frank

[Gwen Morse]

Another strategy is to think more about dynamics in the game and future relationships. I joined when a cohort was doing more of the latter, and I saw the line and followed suit. This way everyone gets earnings and can stay in the game. This even applied to auctions, where we didn't tend to outbid one another much, so everyone got runners for good prices. But everyone also earns less. Enough to survive, but not enough to fling money about.

Oh nice! The group I went through with had knives out . So roll back what I said a little bit . But you should still do well at TP, even sharing out the purse money among the cohort.

It's also a good chance to take the training wheels off some of your horses and race them out in the world. I saw a post where you were trying to figure out how to stay at Peyto Canada and still race at other tracks. Move a few of your horses away (keep any routers at TP because the company is a lot softer). Don't worry about the advice to keep every horse at TP. If you're not trampling the still-warm bodies of the other novice players and riffling their pockets for their lunch money to add to your bankroll, then there's no reason to avoid exploring the bigger world of the sim.

I race a lot of my horses out of Peyto Southeast now . I'm not really "close" to many tracks but I'm "not far" from a nice mix of locations. I race in Florida, Puerto Rico, whatever state Middleground is in, Simperior Park, some player-run tracks that seem to pop up and then disappear with their own regular mini-seasons, and I race mixers too.

If you don't want to go that far, then Peyto California is far enough away to be close to a good mix of western tracks (including Mexico), but not so far that you can't sneak back to TP for a quick confidence boost.