Advice For 3 Y.o. Filly

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

I have a 3 y.o. Filly that is out of an Affirmed Mare, Regalfirm, and out of Thunder Gulch. I ran her on the Turf for week 10 after giving her a break from week 8, and she ended up injured with "bucked shins".

Should I retire her for breeding or wait for the injury to heal and race her some more. Her first two races weren't all that great, but after switching her from dirt to turf she went from a 8th and 11th place finish to 1st place year 17 week 10. Should I run her after she is "healed"? Should I retire her for breeding purposes to see what her foals can do or should I race a few more races and then retire her to breeding? Either way I'll still need suggestions as to which bloodlines to breed her to to get good quality foals with distance in their blood. :unsure:

Heiressthunderfirm
roan 3 y.o. filly 16.2 hh.
Total Stats: 3-1-0-0
Dirt Stats: 2-0-0-0
Turf Stats: 1-1-0-0
Regalfirm (Affirmed x Words Of Royalty) x Thunder Gulch (Gulch x Line Of
Thunder)

I was thinking maybe Barbaro or Unbridled lines, but think I need to do a lot more research before I go that far, just yet.

Here is her page:
<a href='http://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=31358' target='_blank'>http://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php ... D=31358</a>

I also have a Loki mare that I'm wondering what to do with. She has been okay in her races but I haven't been able to get her to place better than 3rd or 4th place. She is 5 y.o. and was given to me, which I greatly appreciate

, but I don't want to do the wrong thing by this mare :unsure: . I want to give her the best shot possible at being a good broodmare as well has having a decent racing career.

Here is her information:

Loki Sailer
5 y.o. 16.1hh ch. Mare
total stats: 18-0-0-3
Dirt stats: 17-0-0-3
Turf stats: 1-0-0-0
Her Info is at: <a href='http://www.simhorseracing.com/horseped. ... seID=13044' target='_blank'>http://www.simhorseracing.com/horseped. ... D=13044</a>

Canoe (Contest x Rain Dancer) x Loki Brilliance (Canoe x Loki Goddess)
She Obviously has Storm Cat and Sahara Gold lines but would like to get some opinions as to what I could do or what I can do to improve her racing career. If nothing then would it be better to retire her for breeding and get some good foals out of her? What lines should I breed to? Would War Emblem lines be an option for either mare/filly? <_<

I'm just at a loss at the moment and don't know where to go from here.Not on;y with These two horses but with my other horses as well.:blink:

Angela Dee Cochran · Post by **Angela Dee Cochran** » 17 years ago

If I were you I would deffinataly race your 3yr old again, just give her extra time to heal and race her lightly- give her more time off between races, prob at least 2 weeks- but for her what would be better is 3 weeks. I rarely race every other week and I dont think I have ever raced back to back, even older horses.

I will let more exsperenced people advise you on your older mare. Good Luck!!

Rebecca Rose Hepburn · Post by **Rebecca Rose Hepburn** » 17 years ago

I'm rather new as well, but I figured I might as well toss in my two cents

As to the first mare I'd personally keep her around, she ran a nice race first time out on the turf. However, I would recommend that you give her more time between races once she recovers. Racing in consecutive weeks puts a very big stain on horses. My understanding is that, at most, you should race horses 7 times at most over a SIM year, less starts depending on age. A more experienced player can give you better info, but I personally normally give my three year olds two weeks off between starts, with some downtime at a farm.

For the second mare, my first thought was to give her about a month off at a farm. The fact that she's been tiring and dropping out of her past few races indicates to me that she wants a break. If you decided that you want to either keep her around for next year, or try for another race before you retire her for breeding, I'd say to give her at least three weeks off at a farm.
Based on her running lines and equipment, i'd also add the whip back in along with a figure 8, just to see what happens.
I'd also drop her in class, and try her in a maiden claimer. I'd personally try cutting her down in distance as well, something along the lines of 4-5 1/2 furlongs or so, but those can be hard to find.

Carolyn Eaton · Post by **Carolyn Eaton** » 17 years ago

Definitely needs at least 2 weeks off between races (once healed - next race should at earliest be week 13, better at week 14 due to injury). My understanding is that "bucked shins" are the horse equivalent to shin splints, which is an overtraining phenomenon.

I don't think she needs a drop in class- she won against a full field. Stick to turf, and since she won, she doesn't need to change equipment

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

I really appreciate the help, and really don't want to retire a 3 y.o. so soon after having created her from the steward. I'll give her the time off she needs that is for sure, and will give Loki Sailer some time off to see if I can't get better response out of her. I know with her being 5 y.o. that the races have to be hard on her and was told that just as long as I kept to a 2 week interval that she should do well. But since no one explained the sim horse tiring factor as to how many races a year to race a horse I can see why I'm having so much trouble now. Loki is a good horse and I just need to get more experience on here. Obviously a fault that I have created for my horses on here since I lack the experience. Anyway, I will give Loki a few weeks off the track at a farm, as well as, Heiress. Then I'll work Heiress back into the races slowly and keep her on the turf with the same gear. As for Loki Sailer I will probably race her one more time this race year and then a couple more times next race year depending on how she does.

One thing is for sure and that is that it is hard to find the 4 - 5 1/2 furlong races. Even harder now that the racing year is closing. Thank you for all the advise and I'm always open to suggestions as to what I should be doing or need to try in order to get the best performance out of my horses. I'd love to get my War Emblem colt up and going well too, but all in due time

Carolyn Eaton · Post by **Carolyn Eaton** » 17 years ago

I misread Rose's post (I was still reading it as advice for Heiress)

Loki Sailor - the shorter the race, the better, and you may want to look at going to South America, where the field sizes are smaller but have a good dirt program (Chile/Brazil, etc).

And as a complete shameless plug for my stallion - when she's ready to breed, I think she'll do well with Pico Central

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

[QUOTE]Carolyn E
I misread Rose's post (I was still reading it as advice for Heiress)

Loki Sailor - the shorter the race, the better, and you may want to look at going to South America, where the field sizes are smaller but have a good dirt program (Chile/Brazil, etc).

And as a complete shameless plug for my stallion - when she's ready to breed, I think she'll do well with Pico Central

I will keep Pico Central in mind. I have basically decided to give all my horses some time off at least for 3 weeks. Except for Heiress of course who will get more time off and work her back in slower to get her back up to speed once healed. I went back and reviewed all the horses performances and have noticed that a lot of them are "tiring out early" in the races no matter what I have done. So, I figured 3 weeks should a least give them enough time to rest and recoup what strength they had lost through the every other week racing that I have been doing with them. So, more than likely I will not be racing any of them until Week 13 or 14. More than likely Week 14. Anyway, I haven't really decided on a plan for next racing year as to which races to enter and so forth but by that time I should be better able to tell what is going on with my horses and when they need a break. Also, hopefully by then my War Emblem colt, Silver War Eagle, will be "in the money" and doing as well as his sire. His second race out he placed 4th out of a field of 6 in a 5 furlong race, and figured to try to keep him at that level for a few races before moving him on the bigger and better races. His other races weren't as impressive obviously as he placed 8th in his first race, 12 in his 3rd race and 6th in his 4th race. So, now that I realize that I'm on the verge of "burning him out" along with the rest of my horses I'm definitely going to be giving him the 3 weeks off he deserves. As do the rest of my horses.

Anyway, I really do appreciate the advise and thank you guys for being so helpful to the newbies like myself

. As, I have seen on other games where they are suppose to have places like this for the newbies to get the help they need and instead get told nothing more than figure it out on your own

. So, that's what I was trying to do, figure it out on my own, and figured that before I get a good horse killed or seriously injured that I really should come here and ask :unsure:. Like I should have done before I went "crazy" with entering them in so many races so close together :blink:.

I know I'll more than likely need more help in the future but will try different things and I feel that all the advise that I have received from everyone is very reasonable and I will more than likely combine everyones advice to see if I can get some GOOD results. Thank you guys soo much

Rebecca Rose Hepburn · Post by **Rebecca Rose Hepburn** » 17 years ago

No problem, glad to help. This is one of the best games for newbies that i've ever been in, hands down.

Quick piece of advice with your War Emblem colt: Try him in some maiden races. I've found allowance races to be some of the hardest ones in the game, you frequently get stakes horses running in them. This page has been really valuable to me for figuring out races: <a href='http://www.simhorseracing.com/racing/conditions.html' target='_blank'>http://www.simhorseracing.com/racing/conditions.html</a>
If he were mine, i'd try him in a maiden race, and if he wins go to the NW2 level and see how he does. If he isn't doing well on dirt for you, i'd try him on turf again at a shorter distance. One of the things that i've learned the hard way is that you don't want to increase them in distance too fast, you gotta work em up to it lol.

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

I totally agree with you witht the newbie help being one of the best, and I will definitely try him in the Maiden races and that like you suggested, and see what happens. If you and everyone less would like I will write back and let you know what happens with Silver War Eagle as well as Heiress and Loki Sailer. Just so you guys will know what worked and what didn't work and how they have performed. Along with the rest of my horsey crew on here

John Slotmon · Post by **John Slotmon** » 17 years ago

Sorry - I just saw this thread. Eek! That's a lot of running for the poor girl, no wonder she has bucked shins!

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

[/QUOTE]J Slotman Posted on Nov 20 2006, 07:21 AM
Sorry - I just saw this thread. Eek! That's a lot of running for the poor girl, no wonder she has bucked shins!

It was only her third race {Heiressthunderfirm}, but now that I've gotten some really good advice I've definitely learned my lesson on what happened with her, and I'm difinitely going to be taking things a lot slower with her and all my other horses. As a new player (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be in this situation) unless you ask for advise you have no one but yourself to blame. Something I've learned the hard way.