Announcing the Megalopolis Racing Circuit

As snow and bitter winds swirled around my home this winter, my mind wandered to an imaginary place where the cream of the sim’s Midatlantic breds frolicked throughout a sunny summer.  What if the tracks of this breeding region offered a series of stakes throughout the year, leading up to the same October championship day we had last year?  And better yet, what if those races were patterned after some of the major races around the real-life circuit, but restricted to MD-NJ-ME-CT-NH-WV-MA breds?  There was an idea! It was fun to plan out a series so that most of the categories running in the October championships had at least one race during the year.

But how to finance this venture?  The answer seemed to be a residency.  Armed with advice from more experienced simmers, I plunged in.  A residency could acquire credits throughout the year, the better to help with this race series, which costs in excess of 5000 credits, as well as the October championship day, which is about the same.  Here’s the odd thing – in a 10-plus year Derbyfever career, I have somehow avoided joining residencies other than the estimable Bargain Bred Racing Series.  I think I felt like the old Groucho Marx line –  I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member!  And here I was about to be running a residency!  But I announced my intention on the message board, and the response was very encouraging.  And so the Megalopolis Racing Circuit was born.

The northeastern U.S. megalopolis – a conglomeration of cities – runs from Virginia to New Hampshire, so since the breeding states for this area of the sim run nearly that far, it was an interesting choice for a residency name.  While other states with their own Sim residencies are part of this arc (Delpenn, Empire), it seems there is room for more.  A deserved shout out too for the old Terrapin Racing Club, which I don’t know much about, but I hear from cortan that his brother ran it.  I hope to have a worthy successor.

With the help of a number of immediate residency registrations, very generous credit donations, and a little of my own scratch, I was able to card the summer-long series a few weeks ago.  Any and all new residency members are welcome – support with one stable or many.  Note that, with one or two exceptions, the races in this series are open to all MD-NJ-ME-CT-NH-WV-MA breds, so you do not have to be a member.

Now let’s talk about the races, and there’s still a little time to train your local bred stars up to even the first ones!

Apr 19th in West Virginia:

The real-life Charles Town Classic is a route race on this date, but I already had a few of those later in the series.  Seeing as Charles Town is a short oval that runs a lot of 7 furlong races, this looked like the opportunity to give the sprinters their race.

The Short Line – 4yo+ 7f dirt open.

Being a mountainous state with lots of coal, West Virginia has an abundance of short line railroads.

Maple Surple – 4yo+ 7f dirt female

The filly sprint is a play on the Sugar Maple of real life.  Roger Miller fans take note.

May 17th in Maryland:

Freakness – 3yo 9.5f dirt open

Ah, yes, the classic of the Maryland season.  If you’ve ever been to the Pimlico infield, you know why.  Let those local sophomores shine!

Painted Daisy – 3yo 9f dirt female

While the Black-Eyed Susan is the acknowledged symbol of Pimlico’s feature races, the flowers do not bloom until summer.  So a little food coloring can turn a daisy into a classic contender.

June 21st in Massachusetts:

Mass-Bred Cap – 3yo+ 9f dirt open

The big summer race, which featured greats like Cigar, has gone by the wayside.  But it need not be so in the sim.

Mom’s Command – 3yo+ 9f dirt female

Honoring a great horse who was Kentucky-bred but based in New Hampshire.

July 5th in New Jersey:

Continental Congress – 3yo+ 11f turf open

The real-life turf stars have the United Nations, but since our focus is on these states that were part of the original 13 colonies, this seemed the appropriate name.

Ho-Ho-Kus – 3yo+ 9f turf female

The filly version of a Monmouth feature bears the name of my favorite New Jersey town.

August 2nd in New Jersey:

Kill Van Kull Invitational – 3yo 9f dirt open (owner restricted, not local bred restricted)

This is a race patterned after the Haskell, and named after a nearby waterway. It is owner restricted but not local bred restricted, open to residency members and founding credit donors (sorry, I mean those that donated at the beginning of the residency). The horse nominated need not be in the stable(s) supporting Megalopolis, but should be in your master stable group. I’m thinking you should be a residency member by the day after the New Yorker to qualify. Maybe a few folks will have a 3yo who came out of the triple crown defeated or needs a test before shooting for the fall races.

August 16th in New Jersey:

Monmouth runs a number of prominent stakes in August for two year olds, the Tyro, Sorority, and Sapling, so here are the versions the residency is running.

Dune Grass – 2yo 5f turf open

Ivy League – 2yo 6f dirt female

Stripling – 2yo 6f dirt open

All of the above races are carded.  The expected additions to the calendar, to be financed by the residency credits, are:

September 24th allowances across the championship divisions, in honor of my birthday, to be run in Massachusetts, since my birth state, Connecticut, has no track.

October 18th in West Virginia and Maryland:

The big championship day, divisional races similar to 2013, just call me part Jim McKay and part Sam Huff, acknowledged as main forces in the real-life MD and WV championships.  I guess that means I could call the football game and play in it at the same time.

I have some other ideas for a few more races, both local-bred and residency-restricted.  If the credit stack allows, there could be prizes or prize horses and the like.  Please join us!