More astute players of the game always try to leave a stall or two open for the possible Claim or auction buy that they are constantly on the look-out for; To hopefully find the horse that may turn their stable around or add to an already all-star cast in their stable. What they look for in a horse, aside from assessing whether or not the horse has fulfilled the potential of what it's breeding suggests, but more practically what the horse has or has not been asked to do in it's preferrably short racing career.
Below are a couple of basic things these astute players look for when buying a horse, these can apply to a SIM horse of any age or gender. You as an O/T should ask these things from your horse before dropping them in to claiming races or before entering them into auction, many very talented horses have been lost due to not giving them a chance to perform for you.
Before You Sell;
Have you tested your horse on both of the two major surfaces we have in the SIM; Dirt and Turf?
So many times I find very good and inexpensive horses with very promising bloodlines that have been put in the auction when they have only been asked to perform on one of these surfaces. Sometimes it is more than obvious just by looking at their pedigree chart that they probably have not been racing on the surface they were bred to love, results: Low speed figures and dull performances. Other times it is not so obvious,but when you see that they have only been raced on one surface and not the other it could be very rewarding and profitable to buy him and give the horse a chance on the opposite surface.
A very easy explanation for why a horse may consistantly turn a dull effort and never races better than mid-pack is mainly because the horse has never been asked to race any differently. Jockey Assignments can be the main cause of consistantly dull performances. Before you sell test the horse to race On The Lead atleast once, hopefully this will be the wake-up your horse needs and you will then find improvement in the front running style and early speed. Unless you try to improve the speed of your horse it will be destined to racing at the back-of-the-pack.
Many times I have bought or claimed a dull horse (but with promising blood lines.) and only changed it's Jockey Assignment to; Go For The Lead (1). The horse usually responds and runs the best race of it's carreer, just from changing the running style. Why?
For the only reason that it has not been asked to run before. You have to build speed in a horse before you can work with speed.
These are just a couple of things O/T's look for when buying a horse, aside from the obvious; Pedigree.
