Graywolf: A Stable BIG on Experience!
This article continues a series where I have interviewed some of the biggest names in the game. You will recognize the names and hopefully like me will gain some insight into what it takes to have a lot of stables and turn them into a winning syndicate. They all have a unique perspective on the ins and outs of running the really big farms. Our next owner may not have quite as many stables but has real BIG experience :
While this article’s subject, Graywolf may not have as many stables as some of our interviews, he is majorly BIG on experience and like me I figured that you could learn some things about running a successful stable from him like I did. Besides that, as you will read, it sounds like his stables are getting a lot bigger anyway! I give you…Graywolf:
I started way back in November of 1999 and since then I have only missed one week of racing.
Like most folks, I started small with only about five stable in the beginning but within a year I had a dozen and now I am up to twenty one. Two of those I won in a contest and the rest I started myself. I just opened two more stable a few weeks ago and it looks like I could be opening a couple more soon. I’m not sure about that but you know how it is, I’m always thinking about it. Ha-Ha.
My Stables are fairly well spread out with some at the Minnesota Residency where I was a five time leading trainer back in the day. I think I am a four time winner at Queensland and of course you should know that I have Stables at Great Plains, Paz because you are right behind me in the trainer standings!! LOL
Winning makes things easy in this game! The only times when I seemed to be overwhelmed is when I am losing! I would say that my Sunday nights and Mondays are mostly free so thoset times are when I am going over my stables. That is usually when I also do my entering and such and make my plans for the week …Fabman would think I’m crazy but I have never used one tool while playing all of these years. I just use what is available in the game itself.
I would have to say that I generally spend anywhere form four to seven hours a week on the Sim. I do my entering on Sundays and Mondays , I am usually looking at odds, entries and such on Wednesday night, and then I spend Fridays looking for mares and useful horse’s in the auctionl or claimerson Fridays.
My plan for managing my stables is fairly simple. I look for horse’s that the last owner did not try something new with. Have they had a real chance on turf or do they need more distance and so on. Sometimes I like to just find a good mare for breeding. I mostly get horse’s in the auction. I always pick my own jock’s and train every week. I set this all up on my free Mondays ,, I really do not think that its that hard … you only have a few weeks where you have a whole bunch running and then it can be kind of tough.
> For my breeding strategy, I shoot for the big 3yo race’s. so yes I breed a LOT of 2yos. I mostly breed at the end of the week on Saturday, almost never early in the week. I breed cheap, some timesvery cheap! Iif you look at 2 of my cheapie sires, STAR TRACE and SNAPPY LANDING, I am the ONLY one using them. They are good for picking up points as I run them low and get lucky some times. It seems like I always get fillys so I do have a few good mares with big blood, With breeding on Saturdays I really look at the stats. I am not big on the hot sire, I like the horse’s that are 0-6 with two year olds. I figure that they have to have a winner sooner or later, Ha-Ha. I keep telling myself that and sometimes it works out.
I wish I could view even more than I do on Saturdays but they are generally pretty tough for me. I play semi-pro baseball and play real life horse’s a lot. Most times i see the races very late in the day. I always watch contests and such and of course I always watch the Stakes races that I have horses in. If I have a good 2yo or a horse that’s on a hot steak I’ll watch those as well but most times i just look at the results and see how they ran.
So what are my biggest challenges? I would like a Derby winner most of all. I have a 3rd with a filly named, WOLF OF QUEENSLAND. Thats what I always shoot for. It’s funny but it’s hard to get a good male for me because like I said earlier, it seems like I ALWAYS get fillys!
> To date my biggest thrills have been WOLF OF QUEENSLAND finishing 3rd in theDerby and LAND SLAM winning a Breeders Bowl race
Some of the best horses that I’ve had include A.SMOCK who was my firstreally successful horse. A Graded winner with big speed. LAND SLAM won the 2yo Filly of the Year….. As I mentioned, WOLF OF QUEENSLAND was 3rd in the derby and my new horse SNAPPY HERO has won two Graded race after I ran her in a 2500 and 7500 claiming race. Good thing I held on to her!
For me, this great game is a get away from the day in and day out of life. I love horse racing and this game is the first that hit’s it on the head. I can’t wait for state bred racing 🙂
I don’t know about the rest of you but when I think about favorite horses and successes, I’m sure not thinking about horses in my stables that have won Breeders Bowls, Triple Crowns and Horse of the year honors. That is still way out of my league. I hope you’ve learned something like I did. We still have a few to go. There is even a rumor that the Super Stables are one of the interviews. I guess you will have to wait and see!
Email your comments to pazjazz.btb@gmail.com I love to hear from you!
