Pro Breeders Advice Needed

[Randell Johnson]

I have never figured out inbreeding and all that stuff, but is this going to be inbred? Is this a 2x3 or...? I know I "can" breed them but is it a good idea. And for those who are actually good breeders (unlike myself), does this seem like a good match?

[Nick Gilmore]

This is question for the ages! I googled it for curiosity and laughed at the answer…

Inbreeding means mating father to daughter, mother to son, and brother to sister. Line breeding involves mating more-distantly related animals, although there is a conventional wisdom that says line breeding is whatever works and inbreeding is whatever doesn't.

Thanks google, just what I thought!

[Rochelle Bos]

Nick got the technical part right, but usually with linebreeding I try to cross nice damlines on the bottom row for both the sire and dam’s pedigrees, for example Starfall

BUT I’ve also used it like you are suggesting. When I can’t find a sireline I like that crosses with my damline…a related sireline is always worth a shot! I just did that a couple weeks ago, but I can’t remember who the foal was HA! Found one Owl Always Love You

[Lily Wilkins]

This would be considered Line Breeding (a nice way of saying inbreeding haha), and is a 2x3 cross to Tapit. The basic idea behind line breeding, is that it can amplify good traits. Some people like to line breed to particularly great mares for this reason. That said, line breeding can also amplify unfavorable traits. In this case, I think the cross you've presented is fine.
As far as reading 2x3 versus 3x3, Ect goes.... An easy hack is to treat the pedigree chart like a table, but you're only paying attention to the vertical lines. #1 would be your Flightline x Grey Wildcat, #2 would be the Tapit/Feathered/Kentucky Wildcat/Seesaw, and so forth. Tapit appears in column 2 on top and column 3 on bottom.

[Kelly Haggerty]

These kinds of patterns are classic in RL TB breeding. Some breeders really like a 3x3, 3x4, or 4x4 pattern to a particular horse where the cross comes through both a male and a female to capture X and Y chromosome traits. Genetics is so much more complicated than that, but it has been a "thing" in bloodstock breeding for a while.

I use this in my own program and for the layaway program to some extent, because I see evidence of it working in the SIM. This is my favorite layaway breeding ever, pedigree-wise https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.ph ... ID=1728629

[Eric Nalbone]

This is 2x3, yes. I like the cross personally.

I've usually observed better results breeding fillies on a 2x3 cross and knowing they might not be the best racehorses but could be amazing broodmares. The broodmare potential seems to be accentuated even if you lose the dice roll on racing talent.

In real life, Enable is a recent example of success with crossing horses over each other, 2x3 to Sadler's Wells.

In the SIM, I *prefer* to find crosses where I can layer top mares on each other, instead of leaning on the male portions of the pedigree, but if I can do both I will readily do it.

My long-term understanding in the game is that inbreeding has an effect positive or negative, for three generations in the actual determination of a horse's abilities when bred. So I often like to do things like find 3x3 crosses or 4x3 crosses where I know I'm playing with it.

As in real life, playing with this in the SIM polarizes your outcomes. It'll be very good or very bad, relative to a non inbred cross to a stallion of the same talent. They tend not to find middle ground of any kind.

Ara Davies was famous on the earlier eras of the SIM for loving 2x3 crosses to top mares and was probably the most successful with it.

[Tammy Stawicki]

I had a nice little stallion many moons ago with 2x3 inbreeding/line breeding whatever it's called: Dr. Stawickery: https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=246810 and it looks like Afraid to Follow had 4 stakes winners out of Performing Tricks mares. I usually try not to do anything closer than 3x3, but every so often if it looks like a cross as worked thats closer I'll give it a go.

[Cleo Patra]

Conversely, when I first started doing breeding suggestions for the Steward in whatever year Reddington was born, she gave me some rules. The first one was no closer than 3x3 with inbreeding, try to keep it to mares only OR full brothers 3x3 can be cool (not that there is many of those nowadays). Awake As I Am and Just Victory were a great example of the brother cross with Sahara Gold and Blades Hill. If Looks Could does it with a full brother and sister, which is also neat.

So I would only ever consider 2x3 for a filly, and probably only if the bold is a blue hen insanely good mare. Colts I would never do it with because so few studs with a lot of bold go on to be greats in the shed. See You Monday is one of the few I can think of with 3x3 to a stallion (he’s a double up of Perfect Night). But you look at DMB, James Dean, War Like Me, Trafalgar, Sidney, Two Toned, Perfect Night, Improvisational, Black Condor, A Bus etc they mostly have 4x4 if they have any bold at all. There’s also not a lot of examples of studs with doubled up or tripled up inbreeding to males. Fearless Spirit with 4x4 Star Signs, 5x4 Performing Tricks and 5x4 Eastward Bound is probably the most intense example in all the top 50 studs by progeny earnings.

[Eric Nalbone]

Conversely, when I first started doing breeding suggestions for the Steward in whatever year Reddington was born, she gave me some rules. The first one was no closer than 3x3 with inbreeding, try to keep it to mares only OR full brothers 3x3 can be cool (not that there is many of those nowadays). Awake As I Am and Just Victory were a great example of the brother cross with Sahara Gold and Blades Hill. If Looks Could does it with a full brother and sister, which is also neat.

So I would only ever consider 2x3 for a filly, and probably only if the bold is a blue hen insanely good mare. Colts I would never do it with because so few studs with a lot of bold go on to be greats in the shed. See You Monday is one of the few I can think of with 3x3 to a stallion (he’s a double up of Perfect Night). But you look at DMB, James Dean, War Like Me, Trafalgar, Sidney, Two Toned, Perfect Night, Improvisational, Black Condor, A Bus etc they mostly have 4x4 if they have any bold at all. There’s also not a lot of examples of studs with doubled up or tripled up inbreeding to males. Fearless Spirit with 4x4 Star Signs, 5x4 Performing Tricks and 5x4 Eastward Bound is probably the most intense example in all the top 50 studs by progeny earnings.

Stick around long enough and we all figure this one out! Line/inbreed your fillies, outcross your colts.

[Xander Zone]

wait what is this i just pick 20 send to a stud pick another 20 send to the next stud and so on!

[Brad Fabman]

My head hurts!

[Anthony Zappulla]

My head hurts!

Breeding is beautiful!! Lol