The 2005 Sim Eclipse for   Horse Of the Year
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HORSESHOE BAY

Three year old colt - RED RANSOM x WOODMAN x RAISE A NATIVE

OWNER/TRAINER - texasace (Fatattack)

RECORD: 2005: 13 / 9-2-0
CAREER EARNINGS: $3,809,695

2005 Stakes:

    WON: Breeders Bowl Turf(G1), Derby De English(G1), Adelaide Derby(G1), Sydney Derby(G1), Sim Sports Irish Derby(G1), Owner's Stakes(G1), Prix du Jockey Club(G1)

    2nd: Pine Ransom Stakes

By- Snowchief

Texasace's Silks

The Sim sleepwalks from week-to-week.  Let's face it:  we love this familiar routine of updates, entries, claims, and then even more updates.   Raceday-to-raceday, always in the present and maybe a little in the near future.  Call it a self-scheduled grind -- the average player doesn't need much more for their own infectious gameplay.
 
Thankfully, the Sim community rescues us.   Even the most anonymous player cannot avoid some small element of the game's community -- residencies, the BTB, utilities, contests, and even the message board push players to dive deeper into the Sim experience.   They encourage us to interact, waking us up from the weekly grind, and making us dream just a little more. 
Horseshoe Bay.  The name wasn’t on anyone’s “watch-list” when January 1st rolled around, and only a handful of astute horseplayers knew anything about the stocky, compact Red Ransom colt.  Fast forward 12 months, and everybody knows his name.
2005 saw another element added to this mix of community and "scheduled" Sim.  For the first time ever, we reached back into the Sim's past and felt the pull of Sim history.   "Pull" as in a need.   August of 2005 began the game's 8th year, and we felt the need to reach back into those previous years and grab context and characterization.   Something triggered this and it was the most fitting element of all. 
At 11-1, Horseshoe Bay ran off and hid from the good colt Jupiter’s Moons in the G1 Sydney Derby, winning for fun. His final margin was 4 lengths, and he did himself one better when winning the Adelaide Derby by 4 ¼ . . . Then it was back to the northern hemisphere for the most prestigious grass race for three year old colts in the world, the G1 Derby de English..... [where] he led Jupiter’s Moons home by 3 ¼ lengths.
We saw Horseshoe Bay before.  He went by the name of Sunnybank Memorial the previous year.  Their careers were so similar -- both dominated their classic turf divisions as sophomores.   The pair equally blazed through remarkable win streaks.   And both overcame adversity, losing their final prep race prior to ultimate redemption on Breeders Bowl day. 
 
But it's in their near mirroring campaigns that we see something so special that came to characterize 2005.  To appreciate Horseshoe Bay, we looked back at Sunnybank Memorial.  We reached back into the Sim's relatively recent past and found further context and excitement when texasace's Bay Bay broke 'Memo's consecutive Grade 1 Win Streak in August, setting the new benchmark at 7-in-a-row. 
Fast forward 12 months, and everybody knows his name.
In other words, Horseshoe Bay became even more larger than Sim life because of what Sunnybank Memorial did in 2004.  And we used the Sim's past to bring further context to many, many horses this past year too: 
  • Chilcoat's champion older mare and turf mare Elsinore broke Sunnybank Memorial's consecutive Graded Win Streak.
  • Sunnybank Memorial himself broke Joe Cayenne's all-time Grade 1 Winners Record, duking it out with rival Allied Assault.  The pair's rivalry harkened back to the Sim's early days when Enough Knock played foil to Huge Tale.
  • General's Chariot, unbeaten around one-turn before finally losing in his 14th sprint start, drew comparisons to Lever Sparky as one of the game's rare sprinter stars.
  • We likened Turning Japanese's second-straight Breeders Bowl Turf Distaff to Storm Dog's consecutive BB Miles.
  • La Pata Daisy's early season domination of the sophomore turf filly classics brought to mind legendary Cecil Roo who did the same in 2000.
  • Call of the Wild II and Swift Kick put together campaigns to rival the very best in their historical divisions. 
The list goes on.  The horse dramas in 2005 not only ruled the game's interest, but were also that much richer because they had all of these previous examples to support and enhance their storylines.  Perhaps, after the Sim's long 8-year march, we're slowly beginning to recognize the full rich history of the game as an untapped source.   In the search for the "next big thing," we will look to our roots to find a wider and undiscovered range of great stories that plain wake us up and make us dream that much more. 
Turf Titan 3.0 . . . Certainly, the racing world is looking forward to seeing what Horseshoe Bay can do for an encore in 2006!
And the Sim's still a lovely daydream.  Whether we enjoy great residency racedays or admire Billgulch's continuing development of the game.   We might say goodbye to the SimRacing Form, Terrapin Jockey Club, or Coker's Speed Stats, but, still, there's always hello to the Black Type Bugler, Pedigreereport.com, or other new websites like the upcoming Sim Hall Of Fame and features.   And, of course, there's always the most endearing dream of all:   the culmination of our annual sleepwalk (Sim community and racehorse stars, wake us up!) through the year's racedays ..... crowning the champion of all champions in 2005.
 
From Gatling Prospector's best campaign in 1999 to the graded guzzler School Kris(GB) in 2000.   Joe Cayenne's '01 dream season and the '02 near perfection of Storm Dog.  The great achievement of 2003 Triple Crown sweeper I Seek U and the sheer drama of 2004 hero Sunnybank Memorial.  We find all these Horse Of The Year elements plus one in texasace's charismatic son of Red Ransom, 7-time Grade 1 Winner, Derby de English and Breeders Bowl Turf conqueror, champion three year old colt, and champion turf horse.  Plus one: historical record-breaker whose star spearheaded our new need for Sim history.   Now, his story in time will enhance future horse stories too: 
 
Horseshoe Bay:   2005 Sim Horse Of The Year


Horseshoe Bay's 2005 Horse Of the Year Campaign


PP
HORSESHOE BAY ID# 60740   ( - - - - )
texasace 3 Year Old Colt (RED RANSOM x WOODMAN x RAISE A NATIVE)

Divisional Ranking: 10000                    Races Wins Places Shows Earnings
Low Tag/Year: N/A     Total 19 12 2 1 $3,809,695
Non M/C/O/S Wins: 11     Dirt 0 0 0 0 $0
        Turf 19 12 2 1 $3,809,695
        Routes 15 9 2 1 $3,704,095
        Sprints 4 3 0 0 $105,600
Past Performances:

Race ID Trk RST S D Race Time SP# # PP C1 C2 C3 FIN Jockey Odds
2685.5015 JP 3yo+ T 12 Japan Classic -G1-c 2:29 4/5 96 12 2 9 10-3/4 9 16 9 15-1/2 8 14-1/2 texasace K Ledwith 7.90
2657.0414 NY 3yo+ T 12 Breeders Bowl Turf -G1-c 2:29 1/5 110 14 13 12 11-1/2 12 16-1/2 8 10 1 3 texasace F Gossett 13.90
2636.5315 A1 3yo+ T 12 Coalminer Cup -G1-c 2:30 96 11 1 11 11-1/2 11 17 9 15 7 12-1/4 texasace M Redden 5.40
2608.3516 E3 3yo T 12 Prix du Jockey Club -G1-c 2:31 101 9 1 7 8-3/4 5 12-3/4 3 5-1/4 1 3-3/4 texasace B Wu 2.10
2580.2814 OT 3yo T 12 Owner's Stakes -G1-c 2:30 2/5 104 14 7 13 9-1/2 13 13-3/4 6 7 1 2-1/2 texasace B Renfroe 3.30
2552.5916 IR 3yo T 12 SIM Sports Irish Derby -G1-c 2:29 2/5 109 12 2 11 9-1/2 9 13-3/4 5 5-3/4 1 1 texasace Z Kentucky 3.50
2517.3414 E2 3yo T 12 Derby de English -G1-c 2:29 3/5 108 14 7 11 8-1/2 11 12 3 4-3/4 1 3-1/4 texasace R Harzheim 6.80
2482.5313 A1 3yo T 12 Adelaide Derby -G1-c 2:31 1/5 100 14 13 13 11 11 16-1/4 3 10-1/2 1 4-1/4 texasace N Hartel 4.30
2468.5415 A2 3yo T 12 Sydney Derby -G1-c 2:30 1/5 105 14 6 10 7-3/4 10 11-1/4 3 6 1 4 texasace S Beckistan 11.50
2440.5416 A2 3yo T 10 Alw-40500(T) -c 2:02 3/5 98 6 3 6 11-1/4 6 17 3 13-1/2 2 2 texasace L Fontain 1.40
2419.5416 A2 3yo T 9.5 Pine Ransom -Stk-c 1:56 2/5 92 9 2 7 7-1/2 7 11 7 7 2 3-1/4 texasace P Bangs 6.00
2391.0415 NY 3yo T 9 Alw-40500NW2s -c 1:50 4/5 89 7 2 7 6-1/4 5 9-1/4 3 5-1/4 1 4-1/4 texasace N Lawton 1.20
2363.1702 VA 3yo T 9 Alw-10700NW1t -c 1:51 3/5 83 4 2 4 8 4 12 2 8 1 3 texasace O Ridenour .20
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