A Breeding Experiment: Sim Bargain Baby Pedigrees Mirror ’06 Real-Life Counterparts
With the 2006 racing season entering its last quarter, the 2 year olds begin the second half of their first racing year. Last year I bred my 2 year olds with horses which I saw racing such as SHAHRASTANI, KAHYASI, COMMANDER IN CHIEF, ZALAZL, LAW SOCIETY, etc. The result was not overwhelming — none of these horses could win a race as a 2 year old. A few of them matured this year into 3 year olds with some ability, but they did not win more than ALW races.
So this year I decided to breed my 2 year olds after original matings of horses which are now 2 years old and have started in Great Britain and Ireland. I was very surprised to see that much of these matings would be bargain bred horses in the Sim!
To this day I have bred 128 2yos from 68 individual sires. Nine of these horses make their first start this weekend. The remaining 119 horses have brought 12 winners and 14 wins. Two of these winners have won two races and two winners were stakes placed.
Only 10 of these 128 horses cost more than 100 BP. The most expensive horse cost 165 BP. The rest of them cost between 25 and 90 BP, including all horses which were bred without returning a horse. The average number of starts per horse is four and I am interested in seeing how many individual winners I will have at the end of the season.
For me I can say that the experiment was to date a good one. Last but not least I can say that of all of my 2 years olds, I have one that I hold in great regard. This colt is FILIBUSTIER (Foxhound x Midyan x Star Appeal).
Filibustier has started 6 times. The first two starts were on turf and, even though he displayed some ability, he showed me that this was not his game.
The colt’s next two starts were over 5 furlongs and 6 furlongs on the dirt, respectively. Coming from last place, he finished third twice, but could not reach the leaders. In his fifth start, he finally broke his maiden tag over 7 furlongs on the dirt with a very good SP of 83. Again, he came from last place, laying five lengths behind the leader at the third call. This time though he won easily by 2 1/2 lengths.
Filibustier’s last start was an ALW over 7 furlongs which he won in the same style, laying on the start of the turn in last place to win easily at the end with 1 3/4 lengths and a SP of 87. My plan for him is a start around Week 3000 in a Stakes or Graded Stakes over 7 to 8 furlongs. I would like to see how he’ll compete against stakes-hardened runners.
With his style of running, Filibustier could with improvement maybe stay 9 to 10 furlongs and fight for classic glory. Hope dies last. I would like to hear if anyone in the Sim has made an equal experiment. Much luck for all our 2yo babies!