600 lb gorilla has been sighted....

After the last weekend of racing, Laurie begins the arduous year-end wrap up.

This job is the proverbial 600 lb gorilla for our Administrator, and it takes a good amount of time and effort.

First, every stable submits a year-end report. In this report, you'll confirm who is still racing and who is retiring, as well as directions on stable expansion and which horses you will send to auction.

Second, comes the auction. The actual auction only takes a couple days, but the record-keeping afterwards is very time consuming for Laurie.

After that is all done, Breeding takes place. Everyone who wishes to breed submits pairings and names for the foals. Laurie generates a couple hundred foals, updates dozens of stable rosters, and sends out AR's via email.

I think you can see the amount of work that is involved in this year-end process.

We can all make it easier on Laurie (and speed the process up considerably) if we are prompt in responding to her calls for action. This was mentioned in the forum recently, and I think it is very important to mention it again.

The year end process last season took over two months due primarily to some stables being extremely delinquent on one or more of the steps above.

Let's all be prompt in getting Laurie the information she needs as quickly as possible. Thanks!

Apologizes

This is to all of owners who sent in stud information and did not recieve a post in the Rag. Due to time constraints I have not been able to write up a Spotlight on some of your stallions. If you still wish that something is published e-mail me within the next day or two with a written article and I will be happy to publish it here.

Again I apologize to all,

M. Schwartz
Shahmat_Amal@hotmail.com

For What Its Worth

For some weeks now the new Sales Page has been up and running and for the most part is proving a great success. Sellers are able to choose to show none, some or all of the AR of the horse(s) they are selling, buyers are then able to make a more informed judgement as to whether or not to purchas the horse without the worry of "what's the AR".

The horses on sale range from multi million dollar winning stallions who are surplus to requirements, horses with great potential but who havent shown much on track yet all the way down to unraced yearlings and foals.

Some players will offer the horse for sale wiht either little or no reserve just to get the horse out of their barn. There are other players however who offer stock with a reserve that they believe to be a reflection of the horses true value or potential. It is not necessarily a horse they WANT to sell but perhaps need the stall for their new incoming stock.

Most players are happy with either system but there is a worrying trend starting to appear where a seller is being requested to show both the full AR and disclose the reserve price because the comments "high reserve" is putting off potential bidders.

This I feel is totally unfair on the seller as they are perfectly entitled to not sell a horse they feel has potential for little or no return. Many horses go through the sales in the "real world" with a reserve and this is not disclosed until the end of bidding when the auctioneer annouces "failed to meet reserve".

If the prospective purchaser doesnt think that they will be able to meet the reserve then they shouldnt be bidding, and definately not posting that it is unfair not to have the reserve price disclosed. If they are seriously interested in bidding for the horse then a private email to the seller should be sent and that way the deal can be struck in private or not as the case may be.

The only other alternative is that the seller can post the line "offers in excess of $x" so as to give bidders a chance to decide if they want to post a bid.

So sellers, its up to you - post the AR and if you have a reserve just an ballpark indication of a minimum offer. Buyers, if you have to post to ask how much the horse is you cant afford to buy it!!!

Return of 2 Year Old Champion

FLY SO HIGH the three year old filly bred by Eureka Racing Stables was crowed the Eclipse Champion Two Year Old Filly. Being a Champion 2 year old, this filly has changed hands more than would be expected.

This filly by Trippi and out of Peach Sorbert was put up for sale in a Eureka Mid-Season Auction as a yearling, where she was bought by Farees Ameer Stables. However, just prior to her 2 year old debut, Farees Ameer Stables closed down it's establishment and the filly was sent, for the first time, to Endless Vista.

The young racehorse was alloted to Haras Falcon Racing Stud - where she won the Breeder's Cup Juvenile Fillies and Hollywood Futurity.

At three the star filly raced 6 times early in the year, winning her debut, but placed 9th in the Kentucky Derby. Soon after her Derby start Haras Falcon closed its doors, and Fly So High found herself once again in Endless Vista.

She has since been picked up by Signature Racing Stables, another newly established stable. Her her debut race for her new stable lost in a photo finish to Miss Bust in the G1 Stradbroke Handicap; where she ran .02 seconds off the newly created World Record Time.

We welcome back FLY SO HIGH and give her connections all the best of luck!


Matt's Notable Mention: Good luck Signature Racing Stables on your fine filly. We have watched her progress early on - Hope she turns out good for you!
(Matt of Farees Ameer Stables)

Week One Buy - Week Two Race - Week Three Sell

With the new sales system in full flow, it has been noticed that now it is a lot easier to buy/sell horses, that some stables (both old and new) are almost weekly buyers/sellers.

For example, a very well bred but sadly underperfoming colt was put up for sale by an established stable. The AR was published along with a side note explaining that the horse wouldnt be fully mature until their 4th year. One of the newer stables purchased the colt and duly entered it immediately. The horse did not win or place and has now been put back up for sale. The original sale price was relatively small, and the horse's ability and promise (or lack thereof) was never hidden from the market. So the purchasing stable was well aware of the horses future and I can only imagine what thoughts are going through the original stables mind.

This brings me onto the subject - what can you learn from running a horse once? The sales system is not in place (as far as I am personally aware) to be used instead of claiming races. Most of the longer established stables (lets called them VETS) are wise to the practice of running a horse at least 4 - 6 times over various surfaces and distances to establish the horses potential (or lack of). The new influx of stables seems to see the sales as a place to simply pick up a horse cheaply (after having moaned how poor they are) and then run a horse once and if it doesnt deliver a winning cheque to put it back out in the market at a higher price to try to offset their costs.

VETS will know that this practice simply isnt viable and you will not see many of them delving into the sale market to pick up any horse going - they will research as much as possible, look back at past records of both sire/dam/siblings if data is available and not rely on the AR as the "horses handbook".

NEWBIES this and last season have many many more opportunties open to them than players/stables who joined prior to that. There are past performances to go through (esp when buying horses with past racing records), questions posted on the forum are answered in detail and there are of course the new Starter Allowance and Allowance races.

So perhaps its time for some new rules re sales.

1. Every horse purchased must be kept by that stable for a minimum of one month.
2. No horse can be sold after less than 2 runs for its new stable.
3. If a stable appears to be buying/selling horses with increasing regularity then it will be banned from buying/selling for a period of one month.
4. No horse can be put up for sale WITHOUT the full AR being shown.

I hope that everyone reading this will see this in the spirit it is meant to be read. What can any player new or old learn from racing a horse once? How many players in the past have sold a horse they consider to be bad, only to see another stable turn it around with a bit of patience and understanding (ie varying the horses race either by surface or distance).

Will this post deter the new practice by some stables of buying and selling on a week in week out basis - probably not but then again how long will they last in the game if they buy high and sell low? So new stables - the VETS are still around becuase they have learnt the way to play by using patience and lots of it. NEWBIES dont keep moaning how hard you are having it, you are all damn lucky to get to pick your horses when you start - you should hear some of the horror stories by the earlier stables! And you get a lot more help than appears to be appre0icated by SOME new stables (not all just some and they know who they are) - including free breeds, discounted sales, special offers etc. I am not saying DONT offer new players special deals but perhaps with some conditions attached, ie if they buy a horse at a reduced rate but then turnaround and sell it for an inflated profit, the original vendor would be liable to say 50% of the profit? That might slow down this new buy em cheap sell em dear!