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Orb's Oracle Season 37 - Volume I
Morning, morning, morning, fellow paddock junkies
This morning's edition focuses on 3 main topics, as follows:
Section 1: Parity between REAL thoroughbred racing and this game
Section 2: Managing the Ups and Downs
Section 3: Making your stable work for you, via passive income
SECTION 1:
Many prospective horse enthusiasts come onto this site, and they find it incredibly complex, while other, more tenured owners occasionally find themselves wanting for more parity between REAL horse racing and this game. Let me be clear - This is a paradox within this domain, and NEVER will it be a PURE replication of real racing, nor will it be a lampoon of the sport. What it is represents the most logical means to emulate the PRIMARY components of horse racing, but with a few elements or components that simply generate revenue, increase entertainment value, are limited by technology, and so on. At the end of the day, learning this game is very difficult.....BUT, it is LIGHT years ahead of the complexity-factor for new members from say, even 7-8 seasons ago. Take ALL of the "Digital Downs 101" courses, watch the videos, ask questions, be active in the forums (and I mean to say READ the forums DAILY), try to get into chat, as I spent LONG hours with very helpful people in my infancy......King G, Cold Dog, Foggy, TNT - many of these guys sharpened my learning curve, even though they were probably ready to scream with all of my questions I asked them LOL (kidding, everyone on the forums is happy to help)...... And MOST IMPORTANT..... NO QUESTION is a dumb question!
Section 2:
I am a changed owner. I still fire off occasional emails PRIVATELY to "better understand" (sorry Freddy, and thank you for putting up with me) the game..... I had a sharp edged tongue my first few seasons....I thought I could win 50% of my races, or else the game was not right.....How ABSURD of me to think that way! Though I am not a perfect man, I learned that what we do NOT say in our lowest moments goes MUCH farther than what we DO say. If I could take back about 20 posts, I would be a better person in the eyes of many. Remember.....here (as in life, and our workplaces, and our families, etc...) we can say 100 GREAT things, but 1 or 2 NASTY, unreasonable, or childish posts will STICK for a long time. "Rehabbing a reputation" is difficult in all aspects of life. We are a SMALL ecosystem......I mentioned it the other day.....but when you are on a BAD run....find other ways to gain entertainment from this site, if you are a committed trainer/owner. Older, more established stables can run just geldings in claimers, or set up some of their breeders for sale, or do what I am doing right now (though I am not in a good or bad streak presently). Good times will come, good times will go (Except the Luckiest guy on the planet TNT (Inside joke that was established before I was even here .... For each individual entertainment dollar we put in, we get a VERY high level of entertainment in return......I doubt ANYONE can argue that point...... More than half of the trainers who leave do so for reasons outside of the actual game...The others (including muyself a few times) set unrealistic expectations, and failed to find the entertainment value in other aspects of this site. Make it fun. This is not a JOB (except for Greeko, who must have 12,000 horses LOL - kidding Greeko my friend - you are one the best things that happened to this site, and that may not square with everyone, but it does with me)....... THE PROOF? Most trainers who are not limited by health, work obligations, etc, come back at one point or another, and many do on multiple occasions. It's OK to walk away for a bit..... Nearly everyone does in SOME capacity...... Some are MUCH more subtle than others. GLL is among the most respected barns in history, and her current owner is among the most respected owners, and she runs the occasional horse, which is GREAT for the site, even to merely SEE the HOF stable name in my individual races against her - it's an honor!!!!!...... I hope this outfit comes back, along with Gary the Aquaman & a few others......but time will tell....... We can only cross our fingers that they do, as their value-add to this system is immeasurable.
Section 3:
Passive Income is something that can come early with the right auction purchases and claims, but primarily comes from cross-seasonal stable management. Even "Semi-Tenured stables like myself (just 7-8 seasons) already learned the value of the 3 components of horse racing on Digital Downs: Last Season, This Season, and NEXT Season!!! Last season is CRUCIAL for preparing horses for an age change, getting horses to an appropriate eligibility to breed, preparing timed workouts to compare to the following season, analyzing horses to determine if they should continue racing or retire to pasture for breeding.
THIS season is only 1/3 of the equation - I USED to put ALL of my eggs in the "THIS SEASON BASKET", and it was expensive as SIN. I gelded WAY too many horses. This left me little breeding ability to grow my GOOD ones for the future, in exchange for GAUDY 33-34% win season totals 5-6 seasons ago. If I could do it all over again, I would NOT have gelded so many. Keep in mind, the workout times you see do NOT always translate on the track, and this works in BOTH directions - Lone has been hinting at this! Someone bought a BREED from me earlier this week....and the works were VERY average.....That owner bred my GOOD quality breeder to his EXCELLENT breeder, and those 1:09.08 and 1.50.25 workouts translated to a 98 SR and a MSW win if I recall correctly. Conversely, I have a horse with VERY good breeding running the fastest 1 3/8 times I have ever owned OR SEEN....as a COLT and UNGELDED, in preparation for the Route Qualifier..... He has a 1/12 chance of winning the race (if it fills), period...... He MAY go off as the favorite, or 2nd or 3rd choice.....but those works mean he WORKS well. I now need to go to the next check box and see if he RUNS well!
So, when and IF things like the above do NOT work out for me......the OLD Orb would throw a hissy fit.......Today, I try to channel that energy into something positive......Selling breeds, re-organizing my barns, retiring a few and testing their breed traits, writing on the forums.......
BUT, at the end of the day, PASSIVE income is the BEST elixir for "bad runs of racing luck". Steve over at Royal Oaks ALWAYS has passive income available, and I am SHOCKED that more people do not take advantage of his voluminous breed sales and lease options. Greeko does this with success, as does Metropolitan Stables, and many more. YOU can be that person, if you refrain from gelding everything under the sun! Oh and remember, you can CLAIM a profitable gelding OR a breeder....They can BOTH make money for you! I won maybe $300-$400k with Temple of Sakkara, and Greeko bought the gelding for a GREAT price and turned him into a cash cow......so yes, Geldings can provide income BIG TIME too!
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Good Luck all, and happy racing!
-Orb Farms
Morning, morning, morning, fellow paddock junkies
This morning's edition focuses on 3 main topics, as follows:
Section 1: Parity between REAL thoroughbred racing and this game
Section 2: Managing the Ups and Downs
Section 3: Making your stable work for you, via passive income
SECTION 1:
Many prospective horse enthusiasts come onto this site, and they find it incredibly complex, while other, more tenured owners occasionally find themselves wanting for more parity between REAL horse racing and this game. Let me be clear - This is a paradox within this domain, and NEVER will it be a PURE replication of real racing, nor will it be a lampoon of the sport. What it is represents the most logical means to emulate the PRIMARY components of horse racing, but with a few elements or components that simply generate revenue, increase entertainment value, are limited by technology, and so on. At the end of the day, learning this game is very difficult.....BUT, it is LIGHT years ahead of the complexity-factor for new members from say, even 7-8 seasons ago. Take ALL of the "Digital Downs 101" courses, watch the videos, ask questions, be active in the forums (and I mean to say READ the forums DAILY), try to get into chat, as I spent LONG hours with very helpful people in my infancy......King G, Cold Dog, Foggy, TNT - many of these guys sharpened my learning curve, even though they were probably ready to scream with all of my questions I asked them LOL (kidding, everyone on the forums is happy to help)...... And MOST IMPORTANT..... NO QUESTION is a dumb question!
Section 2:
I am a changed owner. I still fire off occasional emails PRIVATELY to "better understand" (sorry Freddy, and thank you for putting up with me) the game..... I had a sharp edged tongue my first few seasons....I thought I could win 50% of my races, or else the game was not right.....How ABSURD of me to think that way! Though I am not a perfect man, I learned that what we do NOT say in our lowest moments goes MUCH farther than what we DO say. If I could take back about 20 posts, I would be a better person in the eyes of many. Remember.....here (as in life, and our workplaces, and our families, etc...) we can say 100 GREAT things, but 1 or 2 NASTY, unreasonable, or childish posts will STICK for a long time. "Rehabbing a reputation" is difficult in all aspects of life. We are a SMALL ecosystem......I mentioned it the other day.....but when you are on a BAD run....find other ways to gain entertainment from this site, if you are a committed trainer/owner. Older, more established stables can run just geldings in claimers, or set up some of their breeders for sale, or do what I am doing right now (though I am not in a good or bad streak presently). Good times will come, good times will go (Except the Luckiest guy on the planet TNT (Inside joke that was established before I was even here
.... For each individual entertainment dollar we put in, we get a VERY high level of entertainment in return......I doubt ANYONE can argue that point...... More than half of the trainers who leave do so for reasons outside of the actual game...The others (including muyself a few times) set unrealistic expectations, and failed to find the entertainment value in other aspects of this site. Make it fun. This is not a JOB (except for Greeko, who must have 12,000 horses LOL - kidding Greeko my friend - you are one the best things that happened to this site, and that may not square with everyone, but it does with me)....... THE PROOF? Most trainers who are not limited by health, work obligations, etc, come back at one point or another, and many do on multiple occasions. It's OK to walk away for a bit..... Nearly everyone does in SOME capacity...... Some are MUCH more subtle than others. GLL is among the most respected barns in history, and her current owner is among the most respected owners, and she runs the occasional horse, which is GREAT for the site, even to merely SEE the HOF stable name in my individual races against her - it's an honor!!!!!...... I hope this outfit comes back, along with Gary the Aquaman & a few others......but time will tell....... We can only cross our fingers that they do, as their value-add to this system is immeasurable. Section 3:
Passive Income is something that can come early with the right auction purchases and claims, but primarily comes from cross-seasonal stable management. Even "Semi-Tenured stables like myself (just 7-8 seasons) already learned the value of the 3 components of horse racing on Digital Downs: Last Season, This Season, and NEXT Season!!! Last season is CRUCIAL for preparing horses for an age change, getting horses to an appropriate eligibility to breed, preparing timed workouts to compare to the following season, analyzing horses to determine if they should continue racing or retire to pasture for breeding.
THIS season is only 1/3 of the equation - I USED to put ALL of my eggs in the "THIS SEASON BASKET", and it was expensive as SIN. I gelded WAY too many horses. This left me little breeding ability to grow my GOOD ones for the future, in exchange for GAUDY 33-34% win season totals 5-6 seasons ago. If I could do it all over again, I would NOT have gelded so many. Keep in mind, the workout times you see do NOT always translate on the track, and this works in BOTH directions - Lone has been hinting at this! Someone bought a BREED from me earlier this week....and the works were VERY average.....That owner bred my GOOD quality breeder to his EXCELLENT breeder, and those 1:09.08 and 1.50.25 workouts translated to a 98 SR and a MSW win if I recall correctly. Conversely, I have a horse with VERY good breeding running the fastest 1 3/8 times I have ever owned OR SEEN....as a COLT and UNGELDED, in preparation for the Route Qualifier..... He has a 1/12 chance of winning the race (if it fills), period...... He MAY go off as the favorite, or 2nd or 3rd choice.....but those works mean he WORKS well. I now need to go to the next check box and see if he RUNS well!
So, when and IF things like the above do NOT work out for me......the OLD Orb would throw a hissy fit.......Today, I try to channel that energy into something positive......Selling breeds, re-organizing my barns, retiring a few and testing their breed traits, writing on the forums.......
BUT, at the end of the day, PASSIVE income is the BEST elixir for "bad runs of racing luck". Steve over at Royal Oaks ALWAYS has passive income available, and I am SHOCKED that more people do not take advantage of his voluminous breed sales and lease options. Greeko does this with success, as does Metropolitan Stables, and many more. YOU can be that person, if you refrain from gelding everything under the sun! Oh and remember, you can CLAIM a profitable gelding OR a breeder....They can BOTH make money for you! I won maybe $300-$400k with Temple of Sakkara, and Greeko bought the gelding for a GREAT price and turned him into a cash cow......so yes, Geldings can provide income BIG TIME too!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good Luck all, and happy racing!
-Orb Farms
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