{"id":4031,"date":"2007-04-23T01:10:20","date_gmt":"2007-04-23T01:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=4031"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"oldbtb_99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=4031","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Territory: Ten Horses, Ten Pedigrees Never Used In The Sim (Give Or Take)"},"content":{"rendered":"

My 1stsamurai<\/STRONG><\/EM> stable is my test kitchen. My empire is large, but I try when I can not to go too overboard with the credit-buying or the impulse-spending to refill my stables with new entities. But at the same time, when you consider just how unsuccessful that 1stsamurai<\/STRONG><\/EM> has been for me—22.5 % ITM percentage is alright, but a 4.2 % win percentage is pathetic—there’s no point in aiming high with well-bred turkeys or other people’s castoffs.

I tried to do something nice and neat in Spend A Buck, where I tried, with a wildly divergent “success” rate, to get a bad stable good by purchasing ten horses at auction for just $1.\u00a0 There was no way to make the barn financially profitable, but at least the nags I chose over three months or so earned me enough BP so that I could actually breed a nicely-bred horse for BP costs alone.\u00a0 (As for that filly, named Coquette, she’s in my most successful barn at present, but hasn’t learned yet how to win.\u00a0 I guess if you aim for Kitten’s Joy x Theatrical x Kris S., patience is very much a virtue.)\u00a0 With my recently well-publicized stocking of my stables with approximately 100 two-year-olds and no place to place them, I made Spend A Buck end early and the best of the lot scattered to the four corners of my empire…for a price.\u00a0 That “price” increased 1stsamurai<\/STRONG><\/EM>‘s bankroll substantially enough so that I no longer had to scrape and scramble for money.\u00a0 And yet, now that I finally started racing my two-year-olds, the barn is empty again, and comes calling to me again.

So, I thought, what can I do?\u00a0 I’m not going to do Spend A Buck again; it achieved its purpose, in part, but I don’t have the patience to work with others’ castoffs.\u00a0 But what?\u00a0 And then it hit me, on a whim, during a Saturday night of bargain breeding to restock my three-year-olds and retire some dead weight.\u00a0 I stumbled upon the Skidz sires, because I was looking for inexpensive sires to help out with some decent bargain sires.\u00a0 And I found there were a surprising amount of Sim stallions, dam-sires and dam’s dam-sires that had never been used in the game.\u00a0 And I thought to myself, in the way that only I could, how fair is it that everyone wets themselves over a Storm Cat or a FuPeg or Giant or Indy, at the expense of the cheap?\u00a0 Can not presidents come from peasant stock?\u00a0 Didn’t Lincoln emerge from a log cabin only to enjoy the worst night at the theater this side of Carrie: The Musical, as president?\u00a0 And so, I started breeding to one of these untouched gems.

And, after doing some research, I decided that maybe I could do some good out of it.\u00a0 So, I went looking for sires that have never been used in breeding.\u00a0 To fit my criteria, I used the stats section of the breeding compartment.\u00a0 I looked for sires of three-year-olds that had never been used as sires before.\u00a0 I looked for dam-sires and DDS’s that had never been placed as a DS.\u00a0 (Since I could not prove anything with the DDS, I just decided to go on faith, that if no one used them in other spots, chances are they don’t exist today.)\u00a0 I found a decent amount of old and new sires without a representative in the Sim, as far as the stats went.\u00a0 And once I completed digging around for them, and believe me, it wasn’t easy, I started breeding.

All but one horse (which was bred into an open stable slot) cost 25 BP.\u00a0 That’s the absolute minimum to breed a horse, and I don’t think I ever rose higher than 25 as a base cost for a new horse using these guidelines.\u00a0 Was it worth it?\u00a0 I can’t say until they race.\u00a0 But race, they will.\u00a0 I have ten of these “virgin” horses with pedigrees that to the best of my research dating back to the end of March have never been utilized.\u00a0 And I’ve moved them all into 1stsamurai<\/STRONG><\/EM>, because it’s a good place to start truly from scratch.\u00a0

Are any of these of good quality?\u00a0 That’ll be hard to say until they race.\u00a0 I’m not sure any of them will become Secretariat’s clone, but if I place them right, success might not be long in coming.\u00a0 So what did my 25 BP get me?\u00a0 What kind of Sim nutjob would I be if I didn’t show my hand?\u00a0 The names come from my list of good horse names that I keep on the side, and have nothing to do with pedigree, just as a matter of explanation.

Malibu Express<\/STRONG> [Nosetothe x Bee Man’s Bid x Endured] has a pedigree that with other sire lines would be a horse to consider.\u00a0 Nosetothe is a California-based sire by Grindstone, out of a good stakes mare, Gene’s Lady, who was a good sprinter on the New York circuit when I first started getting into the sport.\u00a0 I didn’t know that ahead of time, but was definitely pleased to find out after the fact.\u00a0 Bee Man’s Bid is a ten-year-old son of Spectacular Bid who stands in Pennsylvania at present.\u00a0 As for Endured, he was a son of Exclusive Native who at least sired seven horses, according to Pedigree Query, but not much else is known by me, even through Googling.\u00a0 My first instinct is to think routes with him, but at his core, I bet he’s some kind of sprinter.

Under Suspicion<\/STRONG> [Five Schillings x Bel Byou x Knight Of Medina] is one of the rare ones, an Arizona-bred.\u00a0 There are Arizona sires in the game, but not a whole lot actually get bred, and this is the first for the sire, Five Schillings.\u00a0 He’s a son of His Majesty, born in 1996, who won four times between 3 and 6 and earned over $141,000 in his career.\u00a0 Bel Byou won at Ascot and Epsom, and raced throughout Europe in the late-1980s, specializing from 1200 to 1400 meters.\u00a0 I haven’t done the\u00a0metric system since Reagan was in office, but I believe that’s sprinter’s territory.\u00a0 And Knight Of Medina was a son of Sir Ivor who sired the winners of\u00a0both the 1981 Galconda Oaks and the 1981 Galconda Derby, but that was a reach.\u00a0 Anyway, I think this one might have some turf ability, but we’ll see.

Minnelli<\/STRONG> [Elusive Chris x Theran x Russian Rover] has a pedigree that’s actually rather contemporary, all things considered.\u00a0 Elusive Chris is a Puerto Rican sire that proves that there’s more to Elusive Quality at stud than Smarty Jones; this one won the James C. Ellis Juvenile at 2.\u00a0 Theran is a son of Mari’s Book, and sired at least two horses.\u00a0 Russian Rover is a half-brother, by Nijinsky II,\u00a0to some popular names like Love Sign and Fatih, and he also is a distant relation to current three-year-old phenom Great Hunter, as it happens.\u00a0 If you hunt and hunt and not wait in line for top-shelf stallions, you tend to find some potential for a fraction of the cost, is my theory; I’m thinking grass might not be bad for this one, but I’ll settle for a sprinter.

Design For Living<\/STRONG> [Sequoia Grove x John’s Island x Lansdowne] might “just” be a Texas-bred, but I have actually very high hopes for this one, because of the pedigree, one with a lot of potential ability coming from the female side.\u00a0 Sequoia Grove was a winner at 2, and is a full brother to America’s Storm (a California sire) out of the graded-stakes winner sprinter\u00a0Lilly Capote.\u00a0 John’s Island is a son of Pleasant Colony out of Foresta, who is a multiple graded winner on the grass of such races as the Diana and the Jenny Wiley; John’s Island himself at least broke his maiden.\u00a0 Lansdown I found out has been used as a DDS before, but still hasn’t been claimed as someone’s DS, so I’ll gladly take this son of Lyphard out of a mare who’s a half-sister to Halo.\u00a0 In addition to thinking that finding a “skidz” bargain sire that’s a son of Storm Cat is pretty good, as well as pairing it with some stallions with strong female families, I think this one could be a pretty decent one, as long as I can figure out what to do with it.

Protocol<\/STRONG> [Wild View x Risen Roman x Santa Tecla(GB)] is theoretically bred for shorter distances, but we all know that when you make plans in the Sim, the Sim deities often say, “Ha!”\u00a0 Still, I like the fact that this pedigree doesn’t contain any Mr. Prospector bloodlines,\u00a0and no Northern Dancer ones either.\u00a0 Wild View, from what I could gather, was a fixture on the Illinois circuit in the early-2000’s..\u00a0\u00a0Risen Roman\u00a0won three times, earned over $75,000, and is a half-brother to Is It True.\u00a0 Santa Tecla, however, was Group 2-placed in Europe, and an eight-time winner in the U.S., so there is a certain degree of blacktype ability in the bloodlines, ideally.\u00a0 I hope that it translates into some kind of ability, somewhere, here; I hate having a good name go to waste.

Arizona Sky<\/STRONG> [Calkins Road x Cordova x Huguenot] has an ever-so-slightly higher touch of stakes ability (than Protocol, anyway) in looking at the pedigree, but maybe not by much.\u00a0 Sire Calkins Road is a California-bred champion…of California…who happens to be graded-placed against open company in California; of note to the westerners in the Sim is a win in the Cal Cup Classic as his arguably biggest win.\u00a0 Cordova, the DS, is a son of Crafty Prospector who won at 2, and is a sire in Arizona.\u00a0 Huguenot was a three-time winner at 2, including a pair of\u00a0group races in France and Ireland.\u00a0 If you look, you can find contemporary connections in most any bargain horse; here, it’s including both Storm Cat and Mr. Prospector in the pedigree, as well as champion Late Bloomer, who appears at the dam of her DS’s DS, Fred Astaire.

Interpretive Dance<\/STRONG> [Dr. Best x Wild Johnny x Master Of Venice] is another one without any Mr. Prospector or Northern Dancer floating around.\u00a0 What you get here, instead, is ability in other directions.\u00a0 Dr. Best was a fixture on the Maryland circuit, winning a stakes at Laurel while placing in a few others, including the Grade III Tesio.\u00a0 Wild Johnny won three times and is a half of graded winners Sulemeif and One Of A Klein, from a family that also includes graded winner\u00a0Withallprobability.\u00a0 And Master Of Venice?\u00a0 After Google-ing and Pedigree Query-ing, I can honestly say that though he may have been something to someone somewhere, no one knows much about him anymore and is willing to share it with the Internet.\u00a0 Nevertheless, it’s sometimes the ones that we expect the least from that end up surprising us.

Lavish Spectacle<\/STRONG> [Silent Picture x Tartas(FR) x Reward Lloyd] has turf on the back end, but a contemporary feel in the sire, one that I hope translates into something going a route of ground.\u00a0 Silent Picture got off to a swift start, winning three times in five starts (stakes-placed once) as the son of Grand Slam, but maybe the key could be that he’s the half-sibling to the stakes winner Dynameaux and the stakes-placed Cloakof Vagueness, both of whom had some turf ability in them.\u00a0 Tartas, like the DDS of Arizona Sky (Huguenot), won the Prix Daphnis a few years back, at least.\u00a0 Reward Lloyd has been used in the game before, but just like above, never as a DS, so for purposes of my little experiment, he qualifies for me.\u00a0 Still, I don’t know much about him.\u00a0 Regardless, I initially am thinking of the grass for him, just to start.

Efficiency Expert<\/STRONG> [Painting Freedom x He’s A Goner x Leinster House]\u00a0is that rarest of Sim critters: an Oregon-bred horse.\u00a0 Even rarer is his background, particularly his sire: Painting Freedom is a thoroughbred who qualifies as both a sire of thoroughbreds as well as “paints”, which are a breed of horses, usually associated with quarter-horses but can be thoroughbreds, known for the colorful coats.\u00a0 (Website apha.com can do a better job of explaining “paints” than I could.)\u00a0 But the sire conceivably say about himself that he “ain’t…just…paint.”\u00a0 He has bits of Northern Dancer, Roberto and Mr. Prospector in him, which adds to the gamble of being a bargain bred since he himself was, apparently, unraced, according to my research.\u00a0 DS He’s A Goner is even more obscure: he was unraced, with a real-life pedigree that is every bit a bargain as anything else here: Large As Life x Stephanos x Tamao, anyone?\u00a0 Leinster House seems like Storm Cat by comparison: he at least won the Phoenix Gold Cup at Turf Paradise in\u00a01980 and was second in the Bing Crosby.\u00a0 It’s going to be particularly challenging to find a niche for a truly obscure pedigree.

Peyton Place<\/STRONG> [Petrus(MEX) x Makula King x Waterway Drive] has a most unique backstory to its origin.\u00a0 He’s sired by a Mexican-bred grandson of Northern Dancer (Petrus)\u00a0who won allowances from Texas to Minnesota, with a DS (Makula King)\u00a0that was\u00a0sired by 27-year-old (at the time) Stop The Music Out of an Afleet mare, and who died as the result of an allergic reaction to a spider bite.\u00a0 Additionally\u00a0the DDS, Waterway Drive, was twice a graded winner on the grass in 1980 and 1981.\u00a0 It’s a motley stew of influences, but one hopefully with a bit of grass fire somewhere inside.

Is this going to be a series?\u00a0 Um, no.\u00a0 So exhale.\u00a0 But I think what I’m trying here ascribes to the best part of the Sim, which is to find new and unique ways to win.\u00a0 Every sire in this game, whether an active sire, an ordinary\u00a0dam-sire, an obscure dam’s dam-sire or whatever, deserves to be utilized.\u00a0 Horses in the Sim can be created for as little as\u00a025 credits or BP, and there are lots of pedigrees that have yet to be deliberately used (created by players, not by computer or at random).\u00a0 I wouldn’t expect any of these to make it to the Breeders Bowl.\u00a0 Even the Bargain Bowl might be a long shot.\u00a0 But every horse should have a representative, and even if I have to save a million weeks for a Storm Cat on my own, I want to see if there’s treasures hidden in the deepest corners of the skidz section.\u00a0 You never know where you’ll find potential, and as long as the high rollers battle amongst themselves for the top-flight stallions, just 25 BP could net big rewards.

Besides, you can’t come up with a Whopper if you don’t have a “test kitchen”.<\/FONT><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For 25 Credits A Horse (More Or Less) Can CVBear Find Yet Another New Way To Win?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}