Why?

[Hope Bentley]

Why do some see it fit to pensioned perfectly decent broodmares or broodmare prospects? Then send to AJ? I just saw another mare I bred and sold pensioned and with AJ at 6yo!

I know she was a wow, won some decent dollars including running 2races with speed figures of 80!!. I hypoed with one of my studs just to test her she was A- !!! What a waste... Someone could have bred some superstars from that mare!

I think it would be lovely if you were to AJ a nice mare don't pension her! Maybe she's rubbish to you but could be a treasure to use for someone else! And make sim history even!

[Lori Hamill]

Probably had something to do with the broodmare comment?

I know with the mixers I try to hang onto even the ones with not very good broodmare comments and give them at least a couple tries. I've gotten wow's and scary goods from "not the right fit for the classiest stable" and an even larger amount of them from just "good" broodmares. With mixers still being so young in the SIM the broodmare comments can't be compared to their TB counterparts. Mixers just don't have enough pedigree history yet, so I give them all a try. You never know what might produce a gem.

[Hope Bentley]

She had already seen the agent and was formidable...

[Landon Alexander]

that sucks, Hope. I'm sorry. I'd be cranky, too. I have yet to find a blue hen mare in my stable. I checked about 4 mares (my best producing mares that were foaling scary & wows every time) and none of them were blue hen and maybe just 1 was a "star"... they were "not the best" / "good" / "formidable" or whatever those comments are. It reaffirmed to me that I'm not wasting my money to know what those comments are, because for me they don't hold true for the mares in my barn.

This is a "formidable" mare, winged gallop comment, 1 win, speed figs 65 to 70: http://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=212332 . She has produced 3 scarys, 1 wow, 1 wings. Her first-born is a G3 winner plus SC-placed. Her 2nd born is a duel-graded winner at this time including the G1 SC. Her 3yo broke his maiden debut.

[Landon Alexander]

this mare: http://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=275080?? Wow!! That sucks!


Part of the problem may be that the person who had her before may not have Simperior??? So they couldn't see her speed figures??? That was an awesome pedigree for future breedings & the 1/2 sister looked good. Darn.

[Regina Moore]

I think players tend to get in a one-track mindset when they do things like purge their barns of runners, mares, or yearlings. I agree that going to the point of pensioning before GPing seems like an extreme, as well as an unnecessary step, but maybe they think they're somehow being helpful.

I have considered at times to put on the top line of the notes, for all my horses, that any future owner is welcome to give that horse back to me, if they no longer want it. You could do that just for your fillies and mares, and perhaps say that you'll take the horse back only if it isn't already pensioned.

That might help in some situations. Of course, some owners might delete the note, and some might not pay attention, anyway, in a GPing frenzy. But it still might stop this kind of thing from happening in a few cases.

[Nena Olson]

I think that there is also the case of some people who pension/gp mares because they don't want anybody else to have luck with those mares. They don't want the horse in their barn, or in their green pastures taking up space towards their horse number, so they pension them and then GP them. I don't know how many of those people are out there but it's something I think of when I see cases like this one. Not that I can say that this is the case here. I find it odd somebody would pension a formidable mare without giving her a shot, especially one that is a stakes winner. Maybe they didn't mean to pension it and when they saw it was pensioned, they GPed it.

[Kris Krueger]

And...there's the possibility of an accidental click..in which case the Steward probably could have fixed it.

[Kyasuriin Matsumoto]

And...there's the possibility of an accidental click..in which case the Steward probably could have fixed it.

Or use the new "undo" option.

[Hope Bentley]

That was the mare are Landon. I wasnt looking in AJ just looking at a relative and thought I'd check how she was doing.

Again I'm all for AJ any mare you do not want... But don't pension her ... Unless she was a stiff and awkward!

Note: Sweet Bursaria - dam of champions Black Wolf and Parades and Quarterback Feat. WAS A NOT THE CLASSIEST MARE... According to agent.. And many a good potential mare has had excellent foals.

[Lisa Strummer]

That was the mare are Landon. I wasnt looking in AJ just looking at a relative and thought I'd check how she was doing.

Again I'm all for AJ any mare you do not want... But don't pension her ... Unless she was a stiff and awkward!

Note: Sweet Bursaria - dam of champions Black Wolf and Parades and Quarterback Feat. WAS A NOT THE CLASSIEST MARE... According to agent.. And many a good potential mare has had excellent foals.

Really? Since the advent of the BS agent, I have immediately gotten rid of the few mares that got the "not the Classiest" comment, or just pensioned them. It's pretty obvious that Sweet Bursaria success as a broodmare wasn't just a one time random slide thing. Now I am even more confused, frustrated etc. hahahaha

[Lori Hamill]

Hope, I'm so sorry that happened to that mare. I just couldn't imagine someone pensioning a formidable (or better) without first at least giving her a chance to see what she would produce. Very sad as she looks like she would have done well in the shed.

[Regina Moore]

Yes, really. Some of the most outstanding foundation mares in my herd have merely been "has potential" -- though, granted, I think those have usually been mixers. However, my best turf miler mare -- producer of my only scary TB, five-time Grade 1 winner War Lock -- was a mere "good".

I explain it to myself with the theory that a "star" (now blue mare) can't produce a daughter that is a better broodmare than herself. I mean, a blue hen can't produce a daughter better than a blue hen. The best she can do is produce a daughter the equivalent of herself. Whereas, a mere "potential" mare has a whole lot of room to out-produce herself, and that is what I have seen happen, though mostly in the mixers.

Here is my favorite example of an Arabian CAM that was a mere potential: Bint Minaret. Her best racing daughter, Bint Ghalib, was a formidable broodmare that produced two Stewards Cup-winning daughters that are both blue hens. Her second best racing daughter, Bint Desert, is a blue hen. Just think what I would have missed out on if we had the BA back then, and I automatically dumper lesser mares. Though now I will often pension lesser mares, because my herd doesn't need them -- and I have too many to breed everybody with an open uterus -- and I know other players usually won't buy or lease them, no matter how cheap.

Still, I don't see anything wrong with an impoverished player breeding by "building up" their broodmare band over the generations. (Though, granted, formidable mares can usually be purchased very cheap.) It's likely going to take longer to achieve meaningful success than for those who can afford to purchase quality mares from the start, but I do see it as a viable path to being a successful breeder. After all, that's how things happened for me with some of the mixed breeds -- not because I was impoverished, but because there usually wasn't any horses of proven quality available to buy in those early years.

[Melissa Mae]

I'll pension and GP mares if they suck after a few foals but if they make it into my broodmare band (I go a little gp happy if they don't perform on the track and don't have a family I like) I usually give them at least 3-4 foals before they are kicked out. With mixers, you never know who is going to be a good or bad producer. I've had multiple big horses on the track suck it up in the shed (Cash Monkey immediately comes to mind) and mares that couldn't even win maidens (Do What You Will) produce SC winners and multiple $100k+ earners.

[Lisa Strummer]

Bleh, now I have to actually consider holding onto mares that don't get great BS comments, just in case? The sim is mean.