Trial By Summer Auctions

[The Steward]

Rules are In Effect from Year 58 Onwards

Auction Policies
-The Steward may have up to four sale auctions of Steward-bred horses per year, including a main one or two for all players, a tiny (5ish horse) sale for new/junior players, and a Game Point auction. Not all of these are required to happen, but no more than these may happen.
-The Steward is not allowed to name any of her horses prior to going to a sale auction/for sale.
-Players are NOT allowed to buy any horse out of the Steward's foal or yearling barn before that horse has been offered for public auction with the exception of any horse that comes from a mare lease; obviously those will be offered to the player for lease rather than going through public sale.

Player Buying Policies
-Players are allowed to buy two non-retired Steward-breds per year, of any age. Retired horses will NOTcount towards the buying or leasing total.

-Players are able to give themselves more slots at the cost of $3 million a slot. This may appear on the surface as "rich get richer" but know that $3 million does not guarantee a buy. For instance, all the general horses for the year will be in one or two auctions, with a limit of one per person. To buy a pinhook, etc, players are charged that $3 million "tax" for the premium ability to get a third horse, and since they will undoubtedly be going for younger horses, stallion prospects/middle aged broodmares/dispersal horses just became more affordable to newer/poorer players.

-Pinhooking is welcomed! As per usual, feel free to buy a Steward-bred and then list it for a higher price. But just know you wont get an extra slot when you sell a Steward-bred, unless you pay the price. So don't buy one expecting to flip it and buy in a division you like. Either buy it and keep it, or buy it and pinhook it knowing that you have to pay the premium to get another one.

-Claiming still counts as buying a Steward-bred horse, as it is a buy and change of ownership.

The Steward's Breeding/Leasing Policies
-The Steward does not do mare swaps, or Game Point swaps, but will do straight monetary leases from a player to herself (player gets money, Steward gets to lease mare). The monetary value of each mare is determined by the Steward, with Triple Crown/Steward's Cup winning or producing mares getting special consideration, as to be expected. If the player plans to lease the resulting foal from the mare lease (which is also to be expected), then suspected earnings of the foal will be considered into the total price. If the player does plan on racing the foal, getting to breed the first foal from that mare is standard practice and comes as part of the deal.

-Players can only lease two foals from the Steward per year. They are able to lease more mares to her, but give up the right to race those foals themselves. For example, if a player is short on cash, they may wish to lease the Steward three mares, but forfeit the right to lease/race/breed the first foal from the third mare. Any foals that have been "forfeited" as the result of the player already having two leases on the year will go to a lease auction, where players can bid for the chance to race the horses for their entire careers. The Steward can no longer choose who races a foal for her; if the mare owner declines, the foal goes into a lease auction, similarly, if the Steward breeds a foal from her own mare to keep, it must go in the lease auction. Lease auction horses will be named prior to leaving the Steward's barn, and you may have the first foal from them if you lease them out of the auction.

-The Steward is interested in Grade 1 winning or producing mares, or those with exceptional dams/female families. Please do not load up the inbox with queries about lesser-than mares.

New Rules Notes
-Yes, there are ways around these new rules. Players in theory could make duplicate accounts, buy extra slots, sell them to themselves, etc. Don't. Just don't. Getting caught will result in immediate expulsion the first time. If you want Steward-breds to stay and taxes to not show up, play by the rules.
-Partnerships are not allowed to buy/trade/give/own Steward-breds.
-Just like everything else in the SIM, we will see how the new rules go and tweak as necessary.
-Your "Add Ons" page (former Subscriptions page) will show you how many buys and leases you have left for the year, as well as how to add on slots.

The Steward will hold at least 3 auctions annually until further notice. The first two will be Select Yearling Sales, and the third a Two-year-old in Training Sale (not necessarily in that order). The two-year-old sale will always close at noon, the second auction is a "pm" auction, the third is an "am" auction. If the Steward has leftover horses, they will be distributed in some other way, either via a non-select sale, a sales-page sale, a silent auction, etc. The goal of these fourth sales will be to have them at a time convenient to another continent, such as Europe or Australia.

Auctions will always be listed so that each player can only win ONE horse.

What you CAN do:
-You can bid for someone else under their account if they are unable to be around for the end, and have given you their account information themselves. The Steward will not give out account information.
-You can buy a horse with the intention to pinhook it publicly on the sales page or in another auction or on the forum.
-After winning a horse, if you see a horse being pinhooked publicly, you may then buy it. You can also make offers on people's horses as per regular transaction guidelines.
-Although it is considered rude and unkind to your fellow players, you may drop any kind of bids you want, whether you may be "1king" someone or dropping several multi-million dollar bids the second the auction opens, thus making it impossible for others to get in under bids. Although it is allowed (because we can't stop it from happening with the system), keep in mind it will win you zero friends.

What you CAN'T do:
-You may NOT give money to another player to buy another horse for you in the sale. If you are found to be doing this, the horse will be taken away.
-You may NOT buy a horse with your own money, then immediately turn it around and give it to another player who has won a horse in the same auction as a "gift" or "repayment of debt" etc.

Keep in mind that as with all other transactions and horse purchases, you may transfer money to buy a horse "with" another person as long as you do not share earnings of that horse. The horse must race for one person, then race for the other. This goes for breeding horses "together" as well.

Breaking any of these rules will result in the confiscation of the horse without refund.