Turf Talk with the Pros – Balata

Turf Talk with the Pros – Balata

 

Next  up is Balata. Balata is the 15^th and final interview in the series. Following Bala’s I will put together a summary piece which brings together all the information from all the interviews.

As well as this summary piece I’ll also be throwing these questions the boss’s way, that’s right the man himself Mike Wallace. Mike’s questions will have a slightly different spin on them given his vantage point. Looking forward to that!

Now back to Balata. Bala is a sim legend. And according to him mainly due to negligence, laziness and pot luck lol.

Balata hails from Canada and is one of the longest serving Simsters in the community. He is also one of the most successful trainers in Derby Fever history.

He is a chatroom regular. At times I have wondered whether he actually lives there. Whether or not Bala may actually be a creation of Mike’s, chatroom  CGI (Computer Generated Intelligence) so to speak. He is about as iconic to the chatroom as the text box.  Guaranteed if you’re looking for a chat, to get some advice from a long term highly successful player, to chat about golf or even just to have the honour of mingling with one of the Sim’s best……….

 

Look no further than……….

 

 

Balata

 

1.    How long have you been playing?

I began playing in December 2000, 13 years.   I believe my first race was December 23, 2000.

 

 

2. How many stables do you run and how much time on average would you spend ‘simming’ a week.

I operate 34 stables in total.   Of those 9 were inherited from my brother when he quit after a year of play (just when he was beginning to develop excellent runners) so I inherited some very well bred horses.    I also opened stables for 6 friends, none of whom played a minute so I now run those as well.

I may very well be the most inattentive longterm sim player.   I have certainly had far more success in the game than I have worked for.

If you ask my ESR and chatroom pals I’m sure most of them would suggest I spend 5 minutes a week actually “simming” and an eternity “chatting”, although much of my chat time is spent away from the cpu and I tend to time out of the chat quite often.   I’m not the most serious player and my stables tend to go through cycles of no horses racing/trained/entered and then a few weeks of 20-60 entries.   My horses often go neglected for months on a rotating non-schedule. 🙂   My weekly “simming” time may vary from a few hours to 20 hours of real sim-related work.

 

3. Does your partner play and either way what does he/she think of your involvement with the sim?

My ex actually introduced the sim to me, she was from a t-bred racing family and was a frequent horse racing forum participant. The sim was suggested to her by a very young and famous/infamous “Lord Pye”.

 

 

4. Who is your favourite sire and why?
—Easiest question in the world….NIJINSKY! After about 5 years of play I took inventory of my horses, 57% had Nijinsky visible in their breeding!   When I began play I had heard of maybe 6 sires and being Canadian myself, Northern Dancer and Nijinsky were 2 of them so I used Nijinsky very frequently and fortunately he has been one of the top ds in the game.

—“breed the best to the best and hope”….from day 1 my philosophy was simply to use 3 top sires and breed them together, not realizing inbreeding was taboo.   One day during my first year I bred twins…DANZIG-NIJINSKY-NUREYEV, three Northern Dancer sons.   Luck was on my side as the colt won $1 million and the filly won $3 million and a BB Distaff….ignorance can be bliss!

—When I began playing I knew ZERO about breeding/lineage/dosage etc….and quite honestly still know absolutely nothing about dosage/cd, it’s simply not that important to me.   I do not follow real life horse racing at all so I am undoubtedly losing ground to those who are informed.   Any nice horse I breed & stumble upon now is more good luck than good management.

—I don’t think real life knowledge is an absolute must in order to be competitive, I believe logic is an important asset, observe what works in the sim and use that knowledge to your benefit

 

 

5. When looking at your race fields pre race which ……..
a) sire do you most fear racing against?
b) player(s) do you most fear racing against?
I do normally check the other entrants’ racing charts (is that the right term?) searching for the best spot for my horses before entering but rarely take notice of the sires or the owners.

—I don’t “fear” any particular player’s horses because if you enter your horses in their proper company you should have a fair shot at competing and winning. Having said that if I do notice the trainer names when checking results there are some trainers who show up repeatedly, the usual culprits.   I would have to say that Dixiedotco rarely has a horse that is misplaced so I “respect” his horses as much as any player’s.   There are a number of top players, too numerous to mention, who have plenty of great horses.

—When I started playing I rarely posted on the message board (I still rarely read the mb) or in forums and while I visited the chatroom I did not ask questions….I observed from a distance picking up ideas from certain players’ methods.   The two players I observed the most were Dixiedotco & Zgreat, never did chat with either.   While I didn’t pattern my play after another player I feel that type of experience helped steer me in the right direction (I tend to do things my own way and learn from the results).

 

 
6. Is there one race you set out to win each year above all else and if so why?

 

I would have to say the race I’d most like to win would be the Bluegrass Derby.   I don’t know any of the top international races so the Derby would be my choice.   I am also a notoriously poor schedule planner for my horses…..as often as not I miss important races due to lack of training……I don’t need an assistant trainer…I need to BE the assistant, LOL.

 

 
7. What is your greatest achievement so far?

 

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to own a number of very successful horses over the years but having VOLOTILE NIJINSKY inducted into the HOF would be my #1 achievement (his achievement, my coat-tail riding good fortune), easily my favourite sim horse of all time. Only because he had Nijinsky at ds did I pluck him out of the horse pool in my first couple months of play.   Back in the days when the sim did not divide horse rankings into numerous divisions he held the sim’s #1 overall ranking for 12 consecutive months. He was such a great horse he was able to overcome even my negligent training “techniques”

I also have a broodmare named BOTWISTED that will be inducted into the HOF under the new criteria. She is a terrific producer and currently her DRt rating is 97.

—Having two horses in the HOF far exceeds my expectations…… so now I am back to the habit of running outside during thunderstorms brandishing a 1-iron in hopes of being struck once again by lightning. 🙂

 

 
8. How many individual G1 winners have you trained?

I have had 19 different horses win G1 races for a total of 30 G1 victories.

 

 

 

 

9. What is your opinion on the current mare breeding costing? This has recently provided much debate. Please comment on your thoughts on this.

 

also please select your preference for charging of your own mares when breeding out of these 3 options:
a) As is – ie pay the sire cost again to breed your own mare
b) Flat rate – of say 250 – 500 credits as a mare ‘stud fee’
c) No charge – its your mare why are we paying to use our own mare?

 

For the good of the game, definitely not “C” The flat fee notion may kill the use of less expensive sires. I don’t mind the general principles of the current structure but I do cringe when faced with the (sire + sire x 2 when mixing credits & bps) cost for breeding a previously bred mare when I am using an expensive sire share. It seems a bit steep to me.

—The one thing I would like to have changed is the co-owned retired mare breeding rights.   I believe the owner who retired the mare should have exclusive breeding rights, if not for the entire year, at least for a number of months.   In real life you cannot waltz into the barns of a mare you once owned, be the first to arrive, breed her and cart off the foal …….. at least not legally.

 

 
10. Funniest story where your involvement in the sim has affected your outside world eg. missed a wedding, called in sick to work etc.?

I haven’t allowed the sim to interfere with my life to that extent, rather the opposite as I tend to virtually disappear in the summers because of golf obligations.

—The closest thing might be something that happened a month or so ago.   I was returning home from a visit with my family and halfway through my 7 hour trip I remembered I had a sire share expiring that day. Figuring I would not arrive home before midnight game time I stopped at a McDonalds to breed a horse before the share expired.   To my surprise the share was already gone….Mike did rectify this when I mentioned it to him…more than a fair man is Mike.

 

 
11. Most valuable piece of advice for new players just starting out?

I’d say that patience is vital and proper placement of horses is imperative if you expect to meet with enough success to enjoy the sim. I think breeding some bluebloods at the sire/ds slots is important to kickstart your broodmare stock for the future….your broodmares will be the foundation to annual breeding of quality lines and hopefully quality runners.

—Seek out advice/knowledge from other players. Players in the sim are more than happy to assist new player with any questions they may have, the chatroom is a great place to meet some of the most helpful players in the game.

—In summation I’d just like to say that Mike has created an incredibly enjoyable simulated horse racing game that is continually evolving. For a non-horseracing individual like myself to play for more than a decade speaks volumes about the game itself.   Each individual is able to play at their own pace (leisurely, hardcore, whatever) and seek their own level of satisfaction independent of other competitors.