Great Sim Memories Giveaway (contest closed)

Its hard to believe that the SIM has been around for ten years, especially since I’ve been here nine of them! I was 16 when I started, back then that made me one of the youngest players. The game has progressed so much in the nine years I’ve been here, heck there were only 12 tracks when I began! There were more well bred horses to choose from in the starting pool, and there was no breeding, but in April a draw for who would get what computer generated two year olds. And the chat frequently had whiteouts, and you could sneak in without a screen name and read conversations that the others didn’t know you were seeing. I was an active member of the SRF, if I remember correctly I was the “beat reporter” for Pennsylvania, and covered one or more derby/oaks horses each year. Also back in the beginning rather than residencies, we had tipsheets, which I ran for Pennsylvania. Once I graduated high school I scaled back on what I was doing, some of my horses were lucky to run five times in the year while I was in my first two years of college. In my second college, I was bored a lot, the school was too easy, so I returned to the paper, which had been renamed the BTB, and would write several articles a week to earn credits so I could breed horses! Nowadays I write when I can, but still run 18 stables with 114 horses in training.

My first stakes win came from a draw I got from the 2 year old draft, his name was Dakota’s Glory. There was a stake for two year olds in the opening week of two year old racing so I put him in that race, and he won! Never won another race after that, but in all technicalities it was my first stakes win. When breeding was introduced I went for the lesser known sires instead of trying get the Storm Cat that everyone else wanted, I used Storm Creek instead. I named her Sunshine Lady, after my first real horse (not a racehorse). She became a multiple stakes winner, ran against some great fillies, never went graded because I was too chicken, in hindsight she probably could have won, but I rather have had wins than disappointments. When I finally decided to retire her I bred a colt named Sunshine Memorial, he’s a claimer now that nobody wants, at least his dam did well for me on the track. My first graded stakes win was with a filly named Cars In The City, she was in a stable that was given to me in a dispersal, she was a multiple listed stakes winner, even won five in a row at one point. I was convinced she could win a graded stake but there wasn’t much at her distance, seven furlongs on the turf, so I bought a grade 3 named, Back Where I Belong, and she won it. Yes I felt guilty that she won a graded race that I bought for her, but it was an open race, its not like it was restricted to only horses I wanted her to run against. She was also my first Equinics runner back in 2006, she finished 5^th. At the beginning of 2007 I retired her to breed a 3yo Moon Cars which I traded with another player for their Forty Niner filly. Moon Cars just recently broke her maiden, Cars’ second offspring Quarter Century, which was given to a friend for their birthday is a stakes winner, so hopefully she’ll continue to be a good broodmare. In the nine years I’ve been here I’ve only had two graded winners, my second one came just this year with a filly I bred named Forty Rahys. She ran on dirt twice performed miserably, put her on the turf and she won easily. In her next start I put her in a restricted stake for CR Racers and she blew the field away, in her next start she ran poorly and came back hurt. She came back to win her next start at high odds, but once again came back hurt, in her next start after that she won again, also at higher odds. Early this year I decided to try stakes and she managed to win two back to back. In her first graded try she finished fifth, but it was respectable, she came back to win a grade three in her next start. This past weekend she went off as the favorite in a grade 1, but finished a lackluster 4^th. I still think she could give me my first grade 1 victory later on this year. I’m very different from a lot of the players in the game. Many newbies think its not fait if they don’t win a big race right away, I on the other hand feel its more realistic to go through the paces and struggle and won’t quit just because I haven’t gotten that special win yet. Nine years and just 2 grade 3 victories, 2 starts in the Equinics, no entrants in the Oaks, Derby, or Breeders Bowl, but I still love this game, and want to accomplish those goals someday!!

There is room in my stable called 99 for a new horse.