Breeding to a popular stud…

[Eric Nalbone]

Tl;dr Eric said git gud but kinda comes off as an arrogant *guy. It’s a lot to read, I know. Follow me for more tips and tricks, going to interpret the Bible next.

Guilty as charged, and I'm thrilled that my first foray into the forum in years has reinforced the prevailing opinion of me in the SIM. There's a reason I stepped back and kept quiet for a very long time.

I have no opinions on the bible, but if you'd like me to wax poetic on the Stud Book, just ask!

Break down the correlations and your opinion on freak percentage/stakes percentage vs pedigree vs hypos. Then we can talk about your interpretation of routers: speed vs stamina. What do they mean to you in the data we can see.

Shorter answers to these, and I'm happy to expand in a more relevant thread, but I sort stallions using stakes percentages, put very little stock in hypos, and a lot of stock in pedigrees and crosses that I'm excited about. I like inbreeding in fillies, outcrosses in colts, generally prefer stallions with natural speed and mares with endless stamina (though some of that is forced by my good mares all being routers through Loki Reflection/Spark/Philadelphia/Schuylkill/etc). Stallions that are plodders are basically dead to me, they're inevitably disasters, maybe not for others but certainly with my bunch. They don't have to be 9f horses, but they have to show some pop and speed, even if they carry it 12+ furlongs.

Hypos are more mare than stallion dependent. I'll occasionally make a decision based on them, but it's incredibly rare for that to be a deciding factor. I usually check good mares with a variety of my own stallions and a couple outside ones, to get a bead on the quality of the mare more than on the quality of the cross.

As to the stakes percentage vs freak percentage, depends on how many foals the stallion has and all, but I'd like to see *some* freaks. Doesn't have to be a ton of 'em, but I'd like to see *some*. Not to call one stallion out, especially since I just actually used him today, but a horse like Mandalorian is really worrisome in his first crop with no freaks. You'd like to at least see *some* sign that he can get one that truly pops, but to immediately contradict myself and explain why I used him, go look at the workouts his horses are posting. Low 0:57.XX is gonna be a really, really good racehorse regardless if that yearling currently gallops stakes or freak. He can clearly sire a good horse, so set the gallops aside and use him.

If you want to judge stallion quality quickly for non-first-year sires in the stud book, sort on stakes percentage. There are more of them than freaks so it's easier to get a 'true' read and it's still a very good read on stallion quality.

[Carolyn Eaton]

I am now saying my piece as I am the one who races the most horses per sim year and one of the so called mass breeders in the game. IF you are saying I am breeding to lower caliber mares just to make more horses you are dead WRONG. Currently I have 1218 Blue hen mares, 465 quality star mares that I will soon be auctioning and NO formidables that I breed. I pension all my formidable mares and never breed them. IF you are thinking of ways to make me cut back all it is doing is making this game NOT FUN for me. I race everything from productive and up and eventually all my solids and under get pensioned I NEVER sell them to other players. I spend tons of sim cash in auctions at seasons end on leases each season to get new blood into my barns. I run everything all divisions in Appaloosas Paints and Quarter horses while dabbling in TB dirt routers. Without the income I make with my mixers I would not be able to dabble in TBs. I may even start dabbling in other TB divisions. But if you make me start running a smaller barn I would not be able to do that. Why should I get punished for being disabled, retired, have ADHD and an addictive personality. I spend 6-8 hours a day on the sim as it is my only way of staying sane as I am unable to work. Sorry to go off but why should I have to change my game play just because someone else doesn't play the way I do.

The Sim has gotten me through a lot of tough times. And I agree - play the game your way (within all the rules). When you have that many mares it would appear to be "mass breeding" to anyone not you, whereas to you, you're just getting the next crop from nice mares and the best studs for each mare - which will often be the same stud.

And the Sim needs people like you - so I say - play on!

[Cleo Patra]

Wise players realise when there is a popular stud, there’s an opportunity 5 years down the line for an outcross stud to see all his daughters. When everyone was hitting a few major TR lines hard, I was going to Kementari and getting Valar. When Impacts came along, I went to Auguste Rodin instead and am hoping Cinema will be a solid boyfriend for many of his daughters. This year I’ve sent my top flight DR mare to Forte in the hope that the resulting colt with be good enough to go to stud for all the DMB mares out there.

Always consider how you can make lemonade with the current game trends. You’re only missing out if you take your bat and ball and go home because you didn’t get your VoF foal cause TIM STOLE THE SPOTS (just kidding, Tim, I loved that experiment). Go find a mare that’s not related to him and send it to a stallion that isn’t either. You’ll be the winner in a few season’s time. May the random slide be ever in your favour.

Of course, I’m only speaking to TBs. Mixers are a whole different set of breeding related land mines.

[Andrew Chillin]

Durn mixers.

[John Smith]

Wise players realise when there is a popular stud, there’s an opportunity 5 years down the line for an outcross stud to see all his daughters. When everyone was hitting a few major TR lines hard, I was going to Kementari and getting Valar. When Impacts came along, I went to Auguste Rodin instead and am hoping Cinema will be a solid boyfriend for many of his daughters. This year I’ve sent my top flight DR mare to Forte in the hope that the resulting colt with be good enough to go to stud for all the DMB mares out there.

sounds like a race riding philosophy... "go where they aint!"

I'm listening - there must be a sim century worth of breeding advice on this stream. Very helpful. But, I will say if you are reasonably in the hunt for a freak is a different strategy than, let's build a/some respectable mare(s), eventually...