Bowl Starters vs. Cup Starters: a Breeding Point Comparison

What do you need to spend to breed a Breeder’s Bowl starter in the sim? If the Breeder’s Cup starters were sim horses, how much would they have cost to breed? This analysis shows that sim championship starters are much more richly bred than their real-life counterparts.

The analysis was done with the Horse Ticker between 1 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. eastern time (some downtime when my internet went down). The Breeder’s Cup starters were done first, then the Breeder’s Bowl starters. This may introduce a timing difference of a few points, but as it turns out this only narrows the gap between the two groups. Only sires and dam sires were analyzed (the dam’s damsires were not as easily available for the Breeder’s Cup horses).

The Breeder’s Bowl starters had an average sire cost of 250 and an average damsire cost of 274, for a total average of 524. The Breeder’s Cup starters had an average sire cost of 186 and an average damsire cost of 170, for a total average of 356. Note that two damsires of horses in the Breeder’s Cup are not used in the sim – Gold Seam (for Lifestyle) and A Native Danzig (for Island Fashion).

Ten of 101 Breeder’s Cup starters cost less than 100 points (possible bargain breds), while only one Breeder’s Bowl starter was less than 100 points (A Rub of Irish in the Turf). Only five other Breeder’s Bowl horses cost under 200, while fourteen other Breeder’s Cup horses cost under 200 (including Lost In The Fog, Gorella, and She Says It Best).

The most richly bred horse in the Bowl is Niner Connection in the Mile (817 points). The most richly bred Cup starter is Set Alight (756 points).

It is clear that to breed a championship starter in the sim, you must spend points. You stand a better chance in real life of having your moderately-bred horse rise to contest the Breeder’s Cup.