Local breeding is beginning to take hold in the sim and Mike has hinted at more to come in the near future. Perhaps a more extended local bred race program or local bred stakes races are on the horizon. Readers of my local bred race previews will know that many South African races still come up with very short fields and there’s an opportunity there for players to grab some easy wins and breeding points.

The first factor to consider is real life stud fees. We can only guess, but I would expect these fees to be an important guideline for Mike when he sets stallion levels. The list below will include fees in South African Rands (divide by 7 to get US$) and the breeding point cost as at 7 am on Sunday morning. All these stallions were available to breed at least one 2 year old at that time, except for A. P. Arrow.

R150 000 Jet Master (99), Fort Wood (80)   

R125 000 Western Winter (114)

R100 000 Tiger Ridge (54), Trippi (48)

R80 000 National Emblem (31)

R60 000 Black Minnaloushe (63), Silvano (54), Var (29)

R50 000 Kahal (36)

That’s the 10 most expensive sires in South Africa for last season. There are clearly some bargains to be had amongst that lot, especially the likes of National Emblem and Var. Even the big three do not cost a lot in sim terms when you consider that they are proven stallions in real life, each with stakes winners to runners in the 10% bracket, and each capable of producing world class runners.

Now let’s look at the 10 most expensive SAf-based sires of juveniles in terms of breeding points.

157 A. P. Arrow (R25 000)

114 Western Winter (R125 000)

99 Jet Master (R150 000)

85 King Of Kings (R30 000)

80 Fort Wood (R150 000)

63 Black Minnaloushe (R60 000)

54 Silvano (R60 000), Tiger Ridge (R100 000)

51 Count Dubois (R45 000)

50 Manshood (R6 000)

What immediately jumps out from this list, is that a couple of stallions are hugely overrated by simsters. Top of that list is A. P. Arrow. His popularity stems from his useful racing career in the US but it makes no sense to pay so much more in breeding points for his services than our big three, when he stands for only R25 000 and won’t have any runners on the track until the latter part of 2012. King Of Kings is another that is overpriced, as is Manshood. The latter produced the fantastic Ipi Tombe but nothing else anywhere near that level, hence his R6 000 price tag.

Next, I’m going to list all the stallions still available for 2 year old breeding that have finished in the top 10 on our stallion log during the last six seasons, plus the current season which is three quarters complete. The year listed is when the season began in August of that year. Mike has all this information (I’ve kept him updated), so it may or may not be relevant.

(114) Western Winter => 1^st (04), 1^st (05), 2^nd (06), 2^nd (07), 4^th (08), 6^th (09), 3^rd (10)

(99) Jet Master => 7^th (05), 1^st (06), 1^st (07), 1^st (08), 1^st (09), 1^st (10)

(80) Fort Wood => 3^rd (04), 2^nd (05), 3^rd (06), 4^th (07), 6^th (08), 4^th (09), 7^th (10)

(43) Silvano => 2^nd (09), 4^th (10)

(36) Kahal => 9^th (06), 10^th (07), 8^th (08), 5^th (09), 5^th (10)

(34) Muhtafal => 9^th (05), 6^th (06), 5^th (07), 10^th (10)

(31) National Emblem => 6^th (04), 5^th (05), 8^th (06), 9^th (07), 5^th (08), 9^th (10)

(29) Var => 8^th (10)

(25) Captain Al => 2^nd (08), 3^rd (09), 2^nd (10)

(20) Parade Leader => 7^th (09)

(19) Casey Tibbs => 7^th (08)

(18) Dynasty => 9^th (09)

(17) Windrush => 8^th (09), 6^th (10)

The bargain on that list must surely be Captain Al. He began his stud duties in the same year as Jet Master and has been living in his shadow but is now making his presence felt on the log. This season he is pushing the champ all the way to the wire with only three months to go.

Now we’ll look at the stallions that have been topping our tables each season as the sires of juveniles.

(114) Western Winter => 6^th (04), 3^rd (05), 1^st (06), 1^st (07)

(99) Jet Master => 1^st (04), 9^th (07), 7^th (08), 10^th (09)

(80) Fort Wood => 6^th (07), 7^th (09)

(63) Black Minnaloushe => 4^th (10)

(54) Tiger Ridge => 2^nd (09), 9^th (10)

(51) Count Dubois => 1^st (05), 5^th (09)

(43) Silvano => 8^th (10)

(36) Kahal => 3^rd (08), 3^rd (09)

(34) Muhtafal => 8^th (05), 5^th (06)

(31) National Emblem => 7^th (04), 4^th (05), 8^th (07)

(29) Var => 2^nd (08), 4^th (09), 2^nd (10)

(27) Miesque’s Approval => 6^th (10)

(25) Captain Al => 2^nd (04), 5^th (05), 10^th (06), 10^th (07), 1^st (08), 1^st (09), 1^st (10)

(22) Toreador => 8^th (08), 8^th (09)

(20) Lecture => 8^th (04), 9^th (05), 3^rd (06), 5^th (08), 6^th (09)

(19) Casey Tibbs => 9^th (04), 9^th (08)

(19) Tara’s Halls => 6^th (05)

(18) Dynasty => 4^th (08)

(17) Windrush => 7^th (06), 7^th (07), 3^rd (10)

(17) Mogok => 3^rd (07), 7^th (10)

Here again, Captain Al shows his quality. He was 2^nd to Jet Master in 2004 when both had their first juvenile crops on the track. More recently, he has been Champion Sire of Juveniles in 2008 and 2009, and he leads the 2010 season with 3 months to go.

Finally, let’s look at how many times some of these stallions have been used in the sim so far (last 5 seasons).

Clearly, these stallions are largely underutilized in the sim. Keep an eye on their costs, consider their real life fees and performances, and then breed something!

For those that want to breed a 3 year old, don’t overlook National Assembly and Jallad this season while they’re still available. Both were top class stallions that would have appeared on the lists above.

Head over to http://www.sportingpost.co.za/category/sirebook for pdf’s detailing the careers and statistics of the stallions standing in South Africa, as well as pedigree information and photos.