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Orb's Oracle Season 36 - The Single-Season-Issue

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  • Orb's Oracle Season 36 - The Single-Season-Issue

    Trainers new and old,

    Morning, morning, morning! Welcome to Orb's Oracle Season 36 - The Single-Season-Issue! An appropriate sub-title for this season would probably be "Balancing Short and Long-Term Goals and Objectives". First, I want to throw out my annual awards for stables who have made an impact on the site, season over season... This season 36 carries a peculiar pattern, relative to my first 3-4 seasons, so some of my award selections are based on sheer gut, as I am not blessed with a work schedule conducive to seeing Chat Room Participation, and that is HUGE for new stables!

    Table of Contents:
    1. Season 36 Awards
    2. Orb's Oracle Article - Thinking Long and Short-Term
    3. Closing Thoughts

    Here we go:

    Season 36 Awards


    1. Trainer of the Year: Norm, Trunoble Lodge - Hitting the ENTIRE Race Card Spectrum is KEY to winning a title, and I think TNT's REMARKABLE run coming to end speaks to just how much time and energy these guys contribute to our favorite entertainment portal! Cheers!

    2. Most Improved Stable - Dragon Tattoo - Easy for me to tell a 15+ season veteran that their outfit is most improved, but over the last 2 seasons, this barn now looms as a perennial Top-5 threat. Chasing Down Orb Farms and Burky, Dragon Tattoo is truly a GREAT weekend away from moving up, and WILL finish anywhere between 4th and 6th place this season. All off this while posting a 4 percent win % increase, and already DOUBLE the wins from season 35. This was a No-Brainer.

    Honorable Mention - Panama Farms - What the What? This stable came from NOWHERE to have a LEGIT shot at TWO HUNDRED WINS for the 2nd straight season..... AMAZING! Well Done Panama, and keep the momentum, as I see your win percentage benefiting from improved race selection, and a more conscious focus on breeding. I looked back at season 33, and literally could not find this stable......This stable is ever trending up.

    3. Ambassador of the Game Award - Greeko, Norm, and TNT - The responsibility is never "asked" of these stables to shell out goody-bags, low cost breeds, sponsored races, and all the things with new stables "behind the scenes", but they all do it, and they all share the credit through my lens this season. I do not look at forum post squabbles as the measuring stick, I see breeding results, I hear of generosity from other newer and smaller stables, etc... Congrats on really pumping the lifeblood into this game!

    4. Rookie of the Season - TBD - More to come on this section.

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    Orb's Oracle Article - Thinking Long and Short-Term

    I personally chose to run my stable in a very unique manner, particularly early on in my career. My goal was simple. Slot horses to WIN, with no regard for long-term perspective. So long as the wins and win % climbed, I remained satisfied. This proved effective in the SHORT term, but it left me wanting for more when I hit a bad streak, or when the season-end page flipped over the next chapter, and I positioned myself as ill-prepared for the new 4-month season. So, temper tantrums, the ones on the forum providing the LEAST impact, and the mass-slaughter of useful horses, as well as the almost-predictable "mid-season fire sale" produced only envy and jealousy within me, as MANY of my horses went on to perform in Quals and Finals, and especially in the breeder's shed.

    So, today, I remain an imperfect human being, yet I have LEARNED from some of my prior mishaps. I will ALWAYS project passion for the game, and that is in my DNA, and in some respects impossible to alter. My forum posts will on occasion push the boundaries of decorum and formality. HOWEVER; my gelding is now RARE and STUDIED. I have more ACTIVE colts today than I probably owned in my first 4 seasons......COMBINED! This is my process of making changes to positively impact my short AND long-term success and satisfaction. Seeing MY former horses succeed in the breeder's shed a few times per season, as a result of claims, deals, etc... is one thing; but throwing a hissy fit and making irrational decisions that negatively impact (OK, CRUSH) my momentum simply cannot happen to me or anyone else.

    Here is what I learned, and WHY I state the above. I am a numbers guy, and I study, study, study...sometimes I learn new stuff, and sometimes I learn nothing. But I now know for a FACT one important attribute of horses, 2-year old horses in particular. These Juveniles can open their careers in a WIDE range of possible scenarios to unfold:
    - Some horses "need a race or two or three" under their belt.
    - Conversely, some horses START with a bang for 1-2 races, then "come back down to earth".....but if they flashed ability, its innate ability comes back in MANY instances.
    - I learned from the resident-equivalent "Gandolph" that some horses may need MANY races to reveal their desired conditions. These could be inside OR outside post draws, shorter OR longer distances than those "confusing" workouts (the works that do not really show a preferred distance, or a preferred equipment or meds directive), etc...
    - Most importantly, it is only a RARE few horses who can run with disregard to all of the above variables, and hit the board every race. Even the VERY best have off days, and sometimes no rhyme or reason materializes. Does this NOT occur with just about everything in life, especially REAL horse racing? Food for thought.
    - I want at ALL costs to avoid gelding, unless I am simply nowhere NEAR competitive workouts, and nowhere NEAR competitive for the debut and first "x" number of real races. This is PARTICULARLY important for horses bred to royal bloodlines on both sides!
    ....So, while I "suffer" a 3% drop in wins percentage, I now have the capacity to put some NICE blood in the shed, at MY time of choosing - particularly for my colts. I PROTECT the ones I want to keep by keeping the claim tag high enough, or staying out of claims with these and running in other races on the card. I want to FINALLY race some of my OWN, home-grown 5 and 6 year old horses......I have NEVER done this before, ever......and this simply HAD to change within my personal strategy.

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    Closing Thoughts

    My closing thoughts on this season are that I considered it to be about what I expected for my own barn......a "Rebuilding and restructuring" season, while TRYING to maintain my personal stable style and success. I will always covet wins and wins %, as this is just my personal style, buy I can do it with MUCH less "reckless abandon. The community is VERY smart and wise now, as there are YOUNG stables who navigated through an expedient learning curve! Balance short and long term thinking, to afford yourself smoother transitions across seasons. Take FULL advantage of deposit bonuses, breeder fee sales from stables, etc..... Make the game work for you, by managing your cashflow with ALL of the perks to work for you!

    GL in the classics and sprints friends!

    Orb Farms
    - Orb Farms

  • #2
    A great read Orb, and nice to see your new balanced approach working to satisfaction. Best of luck to you in your finals and the upcoming season.
    Cheers

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