8 hidden gem studs you might have missed for Season 16

In PhotoFinish.Live the season 16 breeding window is about to slam shut. Before it does take a look at this list of not so obvious studs to help build out your stable.

Petrocker

6/7/20248 min read

At the time of writing there are three days to go to the end of the breeding window for Season 16 in PFL. The breeding window open for the first week of each season. Much business is done on day one, with stable owners plotting complex bloodlines and family trees in their Excel files or notebooks. However, some stable owners are still weighing up whether it makes sense to spend their hard earned money on stud fees, and for some newer players, the process of identifying the right stud may still be a bit of an enigma.

This post highlights some of the less celebrated studs. If you want what the market perceives to be the very best - just go to the breeding page and sort by cost for your archetype. If you want some different angles, you have come to the right place.

#1 Firewalker

Firewalker is a 6yo A+ RTF stud with outstanding sprinter attributes. He will cost you twice the minimum cover fee at 8k derby, but he brings a pedigree of a 33% win rate, 150k lifetime racing profit (with a maximum win of 13k) and a non 1/1 bloodline from two highly matched slow breed parents of A+ Dirty Harry and A Betty White.

The killer insight with this horse is only 19 horses have run a top 0.1% time for 4F for the respective surface and conditions, and this A+ horse is one of them, rubbing shoulders with Lussi's Wooden Rose, Miss Jackson and Uranus - 3 million derby winning horses. With S- start and S speed, combined with an S- temper, this horse is more than equipped to help generate lower grade foals who can dominate short sprints in restricted stake races.

How does an A+ horse run one of the top 20 4F times ever? Well as we have discussed before, stars matter, and this horse has nine of them.

#2 BellsFlyer

Not much is known of BellsFlyer. He was only raced 5 times, winning twice. In those formative runs he recorded an 83 and 84 FF rating at 4 and 5 furlongs respectively. What could he have achieved on the track if he was run through his 3yo season and beyond?

BellsFlyer is an S+ masquerading as an S. With S+ grades for start, speed and stamina and an SS- for heart, he has the attributes of an S+. If you read the previous post on subgrades you would be telling me this is one of those rare +4 subgrade horses with 4 attribute points (if you convert letters to integers) above the average S horse. You would also know that is 2 points below an S+ in terms of attribute points. But guess what? The vast majority of S+ horses, even great champions, are -2 subgrades themselves below the S+ grade baseline. BellsFlyer has the same number of attribute points as the recently retired Petrichor, who sold for $20,000 and is currently studding for 39,000 derby a pop.

BellsFlyer has 8.5 stars and is available at the time of writing at 6,000 derby.

#3 Nikkos

Nikkos is an older stud with high match non 1/1 parents Trotsky and Nikka (all blue backgrounds). On the surface a run of the mill S- horse with 0 subgrades up or down. He does have 8 preference stars, but otherwise how did run of the mill S- generate 400k in derby earnings? The obvious answer is he won 22 out of 63 starts, a win rate of 35% and a podium rate of 71%. There is a Millennium Falcon vibe going on under the surface here. Nikkos achieved top 3% times from 5F to 10F, but was top 0.2% at that middle of middle distances, 8F (where a flat stat distribution is often very helpful).

Very few horses ever run this kind of time, not least S- grade horses, and not horses without outstanding attributes for their grade. With only two horses in its bloodline, there are 7 out of 10 matches across the two sets of parents for this RTS colt. Nikkos is available at the minimum 4k derby breeding cost and has untold progeny you can research.

#4 Wild Spirit

The much maligned LTF scene is the one everyone wants to break into. With fewer retired horses than any other archetype the options are far more limited. Many stable owners are plotting their entry into the archetype through cross breeding. But if you are already there and are looking for a good option, the LTF record winnings and profit horse Wild Spirit could be an option. With a win percentage of 27% and a podium rate of over 60%, Wild Spirit has had a successful racing career. Some may point out to a lack of real competition, but you can only beat the horses that are in front of you.

Slow breeders may want a horse with more preference stars, but those who want to quickly reach the upper grades of LTF might want to pay the 7142 derby to breed with Wild Spirit.

#5 Don Vito

Don Vito has a rather modest track record, with only 5 wins in 49 starts. However Don Vito has delivered a top 0.1% time for 12F and has recorded 86 and 85 FF ratings at that distance, making him a pure 12F specialist. As an S grade horse, other studs have more impressive overall attribute levels (Don Vito is a -3 subgrade S), but only 24 horses have recorded a similar time at the maximum distance.

Don Vito is available at a minimum stud fee of 4k.

#6 Quantum Chaos

If you subscribe to the theory of subgrades, you might be interested in the case for Quantum Chaos. An A+ horse with +4 subgrades above the average A+, making it more like an S- horse. With 3 S- grades and an S for start, the horse also has 8 preference stars. The net result is A+ horse that has achieved top 2 and 3% times at 8 and 9F horses which puts in the top 1% of A+ horses according to the onion chart from this previous post.

If you are looking for a non 1/1 RTF to progress your slow breeding plans, Quantum Chaos might be stud for you. A popular in house breeding option, Quantum Chaos is listed at the minimum 4k fee. For an A+ grade, the horse had an impressive 45% win rate and generated 175k in derby profit through racing alone.

#7 CrownShaun

Another seriously overpowered A+ stud. CrownShaun is a +4 subgrade A+ with one of the fastest times at 7F and the highest benchmark rating of 75 for A+. The start and speed attributes of S are extremely rare in an A+, perfect for a sprinter. Couple that with the 9 star preferences (see the pattern?) and you have an extremely good A+. Whilst Shaun E Bear is in the bloodline, there are no 1/1s.

CrownShaun raced in the LDF archetype with a 25% win rate, was successful at 5-6F and had a profitable racing career.

#8 No Prefs

Have you ever wanted to break into another archetype? Well No Prefs might be your answer. A blank page of a horse with literally no preferences. An expectedly modest track performance given its stars, No Prefs nonetheless has high attributes for fast breeding particularly the desirable middle distance combination of speed and stamina S+. Of course you may want to break into a different archetype, so you can find other horses with similar low stars to plot you cross breeding into new territories with new bloodlines.

No Prefs is available at the minimum breed price of 4k derby.

What to look for in a stud when you are starting out

If you are just beginning with PFL, then it can feel overwhelming during breeding season. There is the ticking clock of the deadline, with stable owners emphasizing the urgency to get to their studs quickly before the 35 breed quota runs out. Stable owners are doing a better and better job each season of marketing their horses for breeding. There are also many different strategies people are trying out, from finding unique bloodlines to introduce to their stables, to just trying to brute force the highest attributes possible. Some take the slow and methodical route, with horses full of high heart stats and 8-9 star preferences. There is no one way to breed in this game.

As seasons have passed, stable owners have seen the floor drop on filly prices on the marketplace, making it less attractive to breed horses purely to sell. At the same time it has become harder to profitably race average high grade horses purely through brute force. These changes on how to play and win the game are dynamic from season to season, and good stable owners will roll with the punches and adapt their strategies. From this above list there are few common threads:

Lower grade horses with record breaking times generally have 8-9 stars. It's impossible for a lower grade horse to post ridiculous times without them
Horses with good track records generally have good combinations of key attributes - start and speed for sprinters, flat distribution for 8F specialists, stamina and finish for long distance horses
Horses with higher +subgrades win more, combine that with high preferences and they win even more frequently
Don't underestimate the character attributes of heart and temper
You pay a premium for chasing single high attributes like SS or SS+. Just make sure that's what you need, and you aren't losing more in a different attribute than you are gaining in the high attribute.
As stables increase in size, so breeding costs increase. With a parallel reduction in horse prices, many stables are looking for in-house studs to cover a number of their mares and plans. You might find that you can find the right stud in cheap claimers rather than the marketplace. Obviously the risk here is you are spending on a horse that has yet to reveal its attributes.
Always engage stable owners before you commit to spending money. You will be surprised how flexible people can be on price and many have great offers for repeat business.
If in doubt ask you mates. I am sure those people you hang out with on Discord would be more than happy to do you a solid if they were just aware of what you actually needed. Like PFE's Action Jackson, you will be surprised how many people have an S+ studs stored away

Join the fun and put these insights into practice at PhotoFinish.Live and if you are considering starting your own stable please consider using my referral code: PADDOCK or just click on this link: https://signup.photofinish.live/?referralCode=PADDOCK

Please remember this is a web3 game where your spend your own money. Nothing I write about should be considered financial or investment advice.