DerbyDreamer.com - Vinery Fantasy Game
 

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/nat...bred-game.aspx

It's not free, but it's only $12.

Thanks!

If you give us your stable name or user name, I'll gladly give you the referral bonus points.

This is a pretty intriguing game, but there are some weird twists to it that don't make much sense.

The friend referral code doesn't come into affect until March 1, but I'll gladly give it to you. :o

Good luck!

I'm sure DrugS will be starting a thread in a few months proclaiming a grand victory by him. :p

out of the 11 stables signed up right now I bet you can pick it out.

:D

DrugS already spent the winners share

I don't think he'll play. The $12 entry fee is prohibitive.

No more seconds for me in that TVG contest!

He hasn't spent that winners share in his entire life.

Good point

I've already made the post.

It's just a matter of waiting for the official sign to be lit and to come over here and mash the submit button.

I've already requested that you be entered with a heavy handicap on your stable! :p

It looks like once you pick your 18 horses and 5 jockeys, you are stuck with them for the duration of the year (even if they get injured or take a break from racing). I can see some well-crafted stables dominating the competition every month with horses that are healthy and in form throughout 2010. Unless I read the rules wrong, the winner of contests occurring later in the year will have picked their horses in February -- THAT DOES NOT MAKE MUCH SENSE as there is a huge element of luck (rather than skill) involved in picking horses now that will be competing effectively months from now. Most horses that go the Triple Crown route usually will take an extended break after the Derby or Belmont. I would be nervous drafting any good horses headed to Dubai (Gio Ponti), even though they could be earning points later in the year. The best horses to draft would appear to be older horses who would have some predictable form throughout 2010 (Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Quality Road).

The original TVG Fantasy game allowed you to pick new horses at the start of each month -- the latest version of TVG Fantasy gave you so many roster additions to make during the course of the game. I have to say that I like the TVG Fantasy rules better as they allowed you to stay strategically involved in the game by allowing you to make roster additions over the course of the game.

I agree...and although I haven't looked too far into it, I assume the 2010
2-year olds won't be included in the game (even though they'll be dozens of stakes races for them between May and the end of 2010.

I emailed the people running the contest. Read the bottom part first.


Hi David,

thanks for your interest in DerbyDreamer.com!

Yes, the scoring will start March 1st,

and yes, you will need to pick 18 horses and 5 jockeys once you sign up.
The 2 year olds will be added at a later stage. You could focus on Triple
Crown races and races for the older horses now and get a second stable
later in the year, as we will probably have a separate 2 year old
competition.

Regards,

DerbyDreamer.com


> Hello!
> When does scoring for the competition actually start? March 1?
>
> Also, do we need to fill up all roster spots immediately, or can we
> reserve empty spots for new horses later in the year, say for two year old
> racing?
>
> Thank you!
> David

So they will have a separate competition (and prize pool) for 2-year olds later in the year.

For the initial competition (for the 3-year olds and older horses), I imagine that players will have to purchase new entries/stables to be competitive (more money for the sponsors of the game) later in the year as I cannot imagine a stable that is picked in February being competitive in September. New stables can be purchased at any time with each stable having a 12-month duration for the $12 fee. I wonder how much the prize winners each month will have to fork out for their winning stables to make sure they have the horses with the best current form that are actively running in graded stakes races. With the Derby being May 1 -- I can see many new entries at the end of April with Derby horses aiming at the Triple Crown races (which provide extra points).

Interesting premise and set of rules for this game. Many players will have the temptation to purchase new stable entries at the end of each month so they have the best chance of winning in the upcoming months. I would love to be the accountant for the game sponsor to see how much profit this game generates relative to what they were projecting (or if they were projecting prize money paid to exceed revenue received from entries).

I have not watched the How to Play video on the game's web page -- does it go into any of this?

Have not watched the video.

Here is what else I've learned from them.

Dubai won't count.
They are debating on whether or not to people will be able to view other peoples stables.
They may make public groups where members can see each others stables.

I suggested to them that they need a yearly, or final prize, because of people such as myself, you and DrugS will obviously buy a new stable for each month. Obviously a stable bought for March will be hopeless against a stable bought in October, thus anyone with any savvy will do the monthly purchase.

Since they state they want to draw newbies to the game, I am hopeful that by adding a year end prize, this will keep people who purchased stables early into the game with the hopes of cashing in on the long term goal.

Even if they bring in a contest end prize, people like us will buy new stables each month.

TVG has launched their 3 year old contest. Scoring starts March 6th.

http://www.tvgfantasy.com/

I heard they disqualified DrugS

Derby Dreamer Contest Advertised On DRF
 

I just scanned thru this contest and for $1 a month, a chance to win some nice cash and great seats to the Oaks and Derby, and if for no other reason then it looks like a ton of fun, I'm signing up.

Anyone else gettin in this?

Just punched in my entry. Frontloading the picks to try and take down the month of March contest. Basically tried to cover every possible G1/G2 in March, some of the possibilities such as the Muniz don't have horses available. Seems like 80% of the entries don't really understand the rules and just take the horses they know. For example, even though she's the best horse in training, why would anyone take Rachel Alexandra in this contest right now? You only get 375 points for an ungraded stake win, which would be her only start in March, whereas you get 500 for a 5th in a G1.
Went with:
Amen Hallelujah (inactive)
Backtalk (inactive)
Battle of Hastings (Kilroe)
Blind Luck (SA Oaks)
Caracortado (San Felipe)
Court Vision (inactive)
D Funnybone (Swale)
Discreetly Mine (La Derby)
Dry Martini (GP Hcp)
General Quarters (NO Hcp)
Lookin at Lucky (San Felipe/Rebel)
Misremembered (SA Hcp)
Rule (FL Derby)
She Be Wild (inactive)
Sidney's Candy (inactive)
St Trinians (inactive)
Super Saver (Rebel/TB Derby)
Zenyatta (Santa Margarita)

You made St. Trinians inactive?

Tough call, but yes. Came down to either her or Lookin at Lucky for the final active spot.

I just set up my account but am gonna take a couple days to set up my stable.

This should be fun:tro: :D :eek:

You aren't really missing out on any opportunities until this weekend anyways, since the jockeys aren't worth much in the game really. Just make sure you have everything in line by then. Definitely an overlay given the distribution of the horses in each stable.

Right now, 360 stables have Gio Ponti, who is the 8th most popular horse selected. Since Dubai races do not count in the game, it will probably be at least June before Gio Ponti would bring in any points. By June, most stables created now will be obsolete in terms of having a chance to win. Also Life is Sweet, another Dubai-bound horse is the 15th most popular pick. Richard's Kid is at number 25 and Courageous Cat is number 33.

I can see picking Rachel Alexandra now and making her inactive for March to give your stable a shot at the April monthly prize. However, I suspect many players will fork out more cash to create a new stable for the April monthly contest.

Can anyone tell me why Illinois residents are ineligible? I find this felonious.

It looks good but I think I'll pass. I,m already in a couple contests. It's hard enough for me to remember to make changes in them.

I hope you do well.

100% my line of thinking as well. Clearly this game is an overlay if played correctly. I'll be happy to fork out another $12 for the next month's game if this month goes reasonably well.

write your representatives.

I would if they were not in enough trouble over racing already:D

Hmmn. I bought my stable around 5:30pm today, activated my horses/jockeys at about 5:45pm. I noticed that I got credit for a John Velazquez 2nd place finish and got dinged for a Rafael Bejarano 4th place finish in races that I think went off before my jockeys were activated.

I hope that stables that are created on Saturday after the Santa Anita Grade 1 races are run do not get any points for these races. Making the stables public would definitely help the integrity of the game. I would think that such testing would have been extensively performed before the game was released to the public.

Now I know why the TVG Fantasy game requires you to pick and activate your horses the day before.

Good thing I waited until the Santa Anita entries were out before I created my stable as I would have selected a couple horses that were not entered on Saturday (The Usual QT and Evening Jewel). There are a number of good horses running in the Santa Anita G1 races on Saturday (Fluke, Proviso, Ever a Friend, Neko Bay) that are not available to be picked. Also, if My Baby Baby or Mushka were going to take on Zenyatta the following week in the Grade 1, they are not available either. I held off on selecting Jeranimo after he got post 14 in the Big Cap -- a horse by Congaree could have trouble at 10 furlongs. I decided to inactivate Lookin at Lucky as he is not a lock running on dirt in the Rebel (against Dublin and Super Saver if Super Saver does not go to Tampa). With so few Grade 1 races in March, I also had to activate both Rule and Eskenderaya for the Florida Derby, even if one of them waits to run in April in the Wood Memorial.

Based on what?

My impression that Congaree was an awesome miler (it was not an authoritative statement). I have another Congaree, Kettle River, in my RTTR stable. In the DerbyDreamer game, I decided to take Misremembered from post 13 instead (I personally prefer the Candy Ride pedigree over Congaree at 10 furlongs and Misremembered has done well from outside posts in the past).

This is a great point- please let them know ASAP

I am just not sure what time it was exactly when my horses were activated. I was assuming the game would leave a time stamp like the RTTR game. I think the Bejarano race went off at 5:35pm but the Velazquez race went off before 5:00pm. I just remember going to watch the 6th feature race at Santa Anita after I activated my stable and the Bejarano race (the 4th) was long over. I don't think my stable reflects Bejarano's performance in the 6th and 7th races yet (there must be a time lag but contestants cannot create winning stables during this time lag). However, I did send them an e-mail about the time lag asking if there is protection built into the game to prevent stables from being created and earning points for races that have already run.

I am only buying one stable for the first month until I have confidence in this game. For $10K and Derby tickets, I would think they would review and reveal the winning stables at the end of the month.

Me too- I would like to be able to see what horses people have in their stable in real time. Someone has 1,456 points already. I'd like to know what horses he chose because that's basically impossible with the scores shown on the horse results page...

Maybe he/she has a bunch of imaginary friends they referred to the contest?

Here is their response. They must be making adjustments on the fly as I noticed I have went from 17 points to 12 points from yesterday to today (not sure where as 1 Velazquez race got me 12 points and 3 Bejarano races got me -5,+15,-5 and the race that Bejarano won was after I activated my jockeys). Maybe they took alway all my Bejarano points from yesterday as he got me 5 total points I highly doubt these small point changes will make or break me in the contest.

Hello,

Great observation. Yes, there is protection. Every result carries a time and new contestants will not get points if they sign up after this time. We experienced a case which made us aware of the scenario you described, but the point standings have been corrected.

Regards,

Finn
DerbyDreamer.com

For what its worth Congarees offspring AWD is 6.9 fur