New Year Goals Thread

[Laurel Addams]

Saw some comments in Cleo's awesome leading trainers post with people reflecting on their Y66 and figured it was far enough into break for this one. How'd your Y66 go and what accomplishments are you most proud of? What are your goals for Y67?

Personally, I improved in every category stat wise this year, other than G1 wins (equal to last year with 4) and stakes wins (only two fewer). I also had 7(!) SC runners, which as a "newer-ish" player feels like a major step forward for my barn, and excites me for the future. They didn't all run well, but that's how it goes sometimes. Both of my 2y/o runners were second with 90+ speed figures, so the future looks bright!

For next year, I'm hoping to continue to improve my stats across the board, and would love to pick up another trophy, but as always having fun remains the priority.

[Lily Wilkins]

I was shocked to see myself in the top five for win percentage and OTB percentage. Granted, I didn't have many entries, but I race in the most competitive division in the game and it's challenging to consistently do well. I'm very proud of my little stable, even though our year lacked any high profile wins.

As for next year....
- I would like to end the year with 80% OTB and 38% win.
- I want 24 Stakes wins (that's 10 more than I had this year)
- I would like to get on the board in one of the Triple Crown races. Don't care which one. I've accomplished this before, so it feels doable. Especially with the TCT colt I've got
- I want to get Zarabeth past $500,000 in earnings.
- I want to win at least one SIMuseum-level Grade 1 race --- Preferably a Steward's Cup!

[Kelly Haggerty]

I will keep my forever goal of being >20% winners and >60% OTB. I also want to try to run a stable that is about triple the size of what I have done in past years and just see how that goes. Hopefully I can win at least 2 G1 races.

[Brad Fabman]

Sorry to be boring but I don't set goals. I just keep throwing things at the wall and see what sticks. Year 66 was pretty good to me. Year 67 could be good as well. Year 68, just looking ahead, may be potentially a Debby Downer. We will see.

[John D'arc]

Y66 wasn't that good for me, I wasn't happy with my Win and OTB percentages as there wasn't much improvement from last season. But the season turned great the last couple of weeks, had my first homebred Freak win me my first G1 race and 3 weeks later a Steward's Cup in my first ever participation.
My Y67 goals are:
- At least 20% Win and 50% OTB
- $2.5m in earnings
- Win 10 stake races
- Win a G1
Anything else would be a bonus

[Evelyne Cergerac]

Pretty sure I lost more money than I earned on the track some weeks during this season and since I gave up having a look at my entries before shipping my racers back in Y65, my stats went, unsurprisingly, down the drain. Goals for next season are to survive another year and checking entries to determine if I should scratch not.

[Nicole Marie]

I don't really set goals for a season, though this year I do have one on the breeding end - breed FAR less foals. Because Halley was a B+ hypo out of a formidable mare (and also because that mare has given me a stakes galloper in addition to Halley being a freak) I have fallen into the trap of breeding a TON of B+ hypos and a ton of formidable mares. I mean, my only SC winner and only Simmy nominee to date has been Halley, not any of my A or A+ hypo matings from hens.

I've also gotten a stakes LB off of a B hypo/unpredictable mare (Pleakley) who just bloomed to freak on W16D6. Realistically I know that stuff isn't going to be common and it makes a lot more sense to just pension lesser rated/lesser hypoing mares, but I haven't been able to put that into practice. SO for my one actual goal in Y67, I'm planning on doing a mass cull at festivus (waiting for festivus because if something does throw me a stakes or freak they can have another go) and being a lot pickier about what I breed. I'll still have a larger barn than some, of course, but I'm really hoping I don't have a 1000 foal barn like I have the last couple of years (I've actually leased most of my unnamed yearlings to Autumn this week since she likes naming horses and I don't )

[J.P Dogood]

All these >20% win rate I’d be happy with 10%…. Guess I need to stop racing anything less than allowance

[Autumn Blackmill]

Y66 went alright, I was down in all stats except earnings (and tied with 1 G1 win from last year) but that was solely because Hat brought in a million. At this point I've stopped worrying about my %'s, though I do get annoyed on race nights when I have a particularly bad night of racing. I've decided to try and get everything a couple starts under their belts just to catch any big improvers, so that's going to affect my stats but it'll hopefully be worth it!

This coming season I want to try and figure out why my wheels seem to fall off in the latter half of the season. But mostly I'm just excited to debut my incoming 2yo crop! And see how my current foals do in gallops and timed workouts.

(Oh and I think I set a new SIM record naming yesterday, thanks Nicole!)

[Nicole Marie]

(Oh and I think I set a new SIM record naming yesterday, thanks Nicole!)

You'll get to do it one more time next break and then I will hopefully have gotten my foal crops under control

[Meghan Kingsley]

My humble stable's goal for next year:

- $4 million in earnings or more
- win at least one Grade 1 race
- get my OTB % over 50% for the season
- cull my broodmare band. I have a whole barn of 'mares on thin ice' that are out the door if their year 66 foal's gallop is not an improvement on previous attempts
- acquire or lease some better mares.

[Erin Sanderson]

Absolutely shooting for the moon here, but I really, really want my first Derby win and have a colt that would make it even more special this year. Crossing my fingers.

Last year was one of my lowest in the last 10 years in terms of win and OTB %, as well as average earnings per runner, graded stakes wins and performances, etc. Bouncing back even a little bit would make me happy with my year.

[Nick Gilmore]

Peace and goodwill to my fellow Simsters! Other than that, if just one of these %#$&.,% freaks would run like one, that would be sweet.

[Craig Mcgee]

Had my best season ever as far as percentages, overall stakes wins , G1 wins and most money won in a season.
That being said it was also my most expensive season in spending on many things and ended the season being $2+ million in the red. Good thing I have a big bankroll lol.
As everyone that has played the sim for awhile knows I enter the most runners every season and with my last few crops I see that not slowing down lol.

For those having problems culling mare my 2 cents is give them 3 tries. If they do not produce an allowance or up cull or sell them. Every season tons of fillies will have the chance to become broodmares so do not hang on to non producers.

Another thing I also do for those having problems culling runners. My other 2 cents is once they turn 4yo and go 3 races in a row without cashing a check they go bye bye.

NOW let us bring on FESTIVUS. Woot woot and may all your claimers turn out to be freaks.

[Joseph Depaulo]

My goal is to breed 150 mares in the next 2 days SMH