The Economics of Sim Breeding
Leaving sentiment aside (which is admittedly difficult for me), there are a number of “economic” aspects to breeding within the Sim that may be useful to keep in mind. While we all want stakes winners (heck, GRADED stakes winners), not all breedings will accomplish that, no matter how great the pedigree may be.
Breeding Points vs. Credits
It’s probably not a good idea to remain locked in to a commitment to use only one or the other. Not all sires are available for credits, even 5 minutes after breeding starts for the week! If you’re fast enough, and have credits enough, you can probably get any sires you want at the start of the week if you’re willing to pay a hefty premium price – some “superbreds” could easily cost you $25 if you want to use three top-tier sires before they’ve come up as “available.” This could be worth it, if you have plenty of cash to spare, and are bound and determined to breed a superhorse, and are willing to accept the possibility that your expensive superhorse could still be a dud. We’ve all seen horses with amazing pedigrees running in low-budget claimers.
On the other hand, if you’re short on breeding points, credits are an excellent option, even if you don’t drop the “big bucks” on supersires. Many good sires are available for credits, sometimes even late in the week, and even more good damsires/dam’s damsires will still be available for credits. A little research can go a long way in this instance, particularly for damsires. Check their stats and check out “older” sires. Newcomers to racing may not be aware how good some of the previous generation sires were. The minimum amount of credits you can buy is 500 ($5), and a pretty nice horse could be bred for that amount. The only breedings you can’t do with credits are bargain breedings – stay under 100 breeding points to breed a horse, and the price is divided in half; and if you don’t have 50 bps, it might not be all that good an idea to try to breed a bargain until you’ve had a bit more experience.
Another consideration, if you want/need to use credits, is that breeding using a horse already in your stable allows you to use credits, even if the damsire/dam’s damsire are not available for credits that week.
Breeding Using A Currently Active Horse
If you have a beloved favorite horse, all logic goes out the window, so we won’t even worry about that. If you love the horse, you’ll use it anyway. I confess, I’ve done that, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. Using any horse currently in your stable also has the advantage of being able to use credits to breed, even if the damsire/dam’s damsire are not available for credits. This expands your options!
The two things you want to look at before breeding an existing mare is her race record and her pedigree. For the race record, Mike has said that a mare’s ability somewhat influences her offspring, anywhere up to 50%. Your first question to yourself: “Would 50% of her ability be a disaster?” Depending on your goals, she wouldn’t necessarily have to be a stakes winner – was she competitive enough? Was she able to win or hit the board often enough, and with decent enough speed figures, that you’d be satisfied with another like her? If not, is her pedigree outstanding enough to compensate for it? Untalented mares by elite sires can still produce well – remember, it’s UP TO 50% of the ability; it could be much less, and some of that ability could be inherited from the very talented damsire.
To be consistently competitive in the claiming ranks, speed figures of 80 or above are needed for sprinters (and that’s an absolute bare minimum), and 70’s or above for distance horses. Was your mare able to run those figures most of the time? If not, and she is NOT by an elite sire, she is not worth breeding. And if you still want to use her and “upgrade” by using an elite sire, keep in mind that the cost for breeding from an existing mare is 50% of the sire’s “stud fee”, or a minimum of 50 breeding points. A poor quality race mare with a mediocre or worse pedigree simply isn’t going to be worth it. The chances of her offspring being “cost effective” in terms of earning breeding points are minimal.
Using existing male horses as “she-males” is a little different. Remember, you always want to check lifetime past performances. Older males who have made a lot of starts, even if they’re running for a $2000 tag now, may have had quite a bit of talent in their younger days. Were they stakes winners? Did they have a time period of running consistent 100+ speed figures in their youth? Are you willing to accept a foal who would peak at 2 or 3 rather than at 4 and up? If so, the older males can be “she-male” material.
In this scenario, the next thing you want to look at is the pedigree. How expensive would it be to duplicate the pedigree from scratch? The cost to “create” a she-male is a flat 250 breeding points/credits. If it would cost more than that to duplicate the pedigree, it starts to be cost-effective to perform the (ahem) “operation.” A male horse with a good record and a good pedigree will probably be more affordable in terms of bps/credits to use than a similar mare.
Yes, I agree that “converting” males to females is “unrealistic.” However, so is “breeding” using only sires and not actual dams. This is a game, after all; the use of “she-males” is permitted, and if your current male horses are better than your current females, this breeding can be work to your advantage.
In another article, we’ll take a look at breeding from retired mares, breeding from scratch, and bargain breeding.