BARGAIN BRED RACING SERIES & BREEDING CORNER

Vicar (12025)

When you think of horses that seem to peak early on the road to the derby and never do anything else in their racing careers Vicar almost seems to be the poster child. He beat some solid horses in Florida on his way to a dismal derby effort. Now he is in the breeding shed competing with a lot of the same horses he ran against. I think his pedigree is overlooked at least here in the sim. 

Real Life- Vicar is by Wild Again. His dam sire is El Gran Senor and his dam’s dam sire is Secretariat. On the road to the Kentucky Derby Vicar had the look of a potential monster. He battled Cat Thief in Florida winning the Fountain of Youth and then winning the Florida Derby. Unfortunately for Vicar the Florida Derby was the pinnacle of his racing career. He would go on to run in the Kentucky Derby but got a rough six to seven wide trip and never menaced finishing eighteenth the year Charismatic stole the show. He never really was the same racehorse after the Florida Derby.

He raced with a pretty solid group of runners when you look back at his career. He faced Successful Appeal, Richter Scale, Lemon Drop Kid, Menifee, Cat Thief, Exploit, Charismatic, and Doneraille Court. He is also competing with the same runners in the breeding shed so may be slightly over looked.

His first real life crop is just now turning three. His first stakes horse, Vicarage, finished third in the grade II Hutcheson recently. So far he has not made a huge splash with his first crop of runners. The sire lines that are being recommended are the Raise a Native, Bold Ruler, and Ribot lines. Inbreeding to Northern Dancer could also produce desirable results. 

Sim Life – Vicar has just twenty-eight sim runners to date with no stakes winners. Although the small amount if runners comes into effect he is probably one of the only sim sires whose progeny’s average speed figures get faster the farther they run. For sprints they average 74.5, from eight furlongs to nine furlongs 82.6, from nine and a half furlongs to ten and a half furlongs 83.1, and over eleven furlongs 89.1.  He has just three runners actually run farther than eleven furlongs and two have run 100+ speed figures.

Some of his better runners used dam sires like Spectacular Bid, Raise a Native, Slew City Slew, and Czaravich. The one horse that ran a decent turf speed figure used Afleet as a dam sire and Storm Bird as dam’s dam sire.

Breeding Suggestions – Bold Ruler really seems to be a solid line to breed to Vicar in the sim with Raise a Native a close second. The right Bold Ruler line sire will even add stamina. Vicar has produced a couple of solid long distance runners already. The Ribot line will add stamina as well but has not been used as much as the other two lines.

From the Bold Ruler line Spectacular Bid has produced Vicar’s top runner. Bold Reasoning would be a good choice and keep in mind Seattle Slew is also a part of the Bold Ruler line. From the Raise a Native line I like Affirmed, Alydar, and Majestic Light. Even Sea-Bird will add stamina from the dam’s dam sire spot. Of course the Mr. Prospector line sires will also blend well.

A specific sire that I think could produce very well with Vicar is Octagonal (NZ). Vicar is really producing much better dirt runners to this point and Octagonal (NZ) has been excellent as a dam sire in producing good dirt runners as well. Could be an interesting pairing.

From the Ribot line Arts and Letters, Graustark, His Majesty, Key to the Mint, and Pleasant Colony. If I were to inbreed to Northern Dancer I would use grandson’s of Northern Dancer in the dam sire spot or a son of Northern Dancer in the dam’s dam sire slot to create 4X4 inbreeding to Northern Dancer. Surprisingly Vicar has produced some very solid route horses so breeding stamina back to him is a good thing.

Vicar (12025) X Seattle Slew (5660) X The Minstrel (6552)

Vicar (12025) X Pleasant Colony (4824) X Bold Ruler (735)

Vicar (12025) X Octagonal (NZ) (4519) X Affirmed (83)

Bargain Bred – Vicar gets down to about 45 BPs at the end of the week now. Getting a quality bargain bred from him should be possible using cheaper Bold Ruler, Ribot, and Raise a Native sire lines.

Vicar (12025) X Dust Commander (1838) X Kentucky Gold (3277)

Vicar (12025) X Gilded Age (2428) X Jeblar (3137)

What to Expect – The jury may still be out on how Vicar’s progeny will develop. In the sim his runners have matured later and run farther than one might expect. IRL his first crop is just now starting to produce some notable runners. I might not expect my Vicar two year old to run lights out. It appears they get better with age and distance. To this point he is producing much better dirt runners than turf runners.