Hi all! I bought SO7 a year ago, with no prior knowledge of horse racing, but a love for management games (Spreadsheet Nerd Alert ). Right away i found great mods for the statbars (Thanks SiriusChill!) and to help racing in the USA be more fun (Thanks for Start It Mod mjtags11!)

I have done my best to absorb the plethora of information available on this forum. I very much appreciate the time and effort that so many of you put into helping others on here and sharing what you know. Your posts and replies have been a blessing both in helping me understand horse racing terminology and demystifying the game and making it enjoyable. so a big thanks to all you guys who spend the time to answer all of these questions, and share what you think and what you know!

(Also if someone knows how to do spoilers, like to show/hide the pics and whatnot, please let me know!)

So without further ado, here's what I would love some feedback on:

1.)
I watched a youtube series by ChrisOrmie about setting up breeding, incorporated much of his advice, and am a few years into a save. I cheesed money and in year 1 managed to buy a G1 winning Stallion, Kammamuri. From 8 to 12 furlongs, he COULD NOT LOSE a G1 race at 4yo. (He did lose, but it was me testing out being the jockey...found out I shouldn't do that... ) It was crazy because his stats look good, but nowhere near as good as many of the horses what I have seen posted that some guys are struggling to get wins with. So I am wondering if it is just that it was so early in the save that there weren't very good 4 year olds to beat him or what?

Towards the end of his 4yo season his (actual/realized/dark) ability bar started declining, and he was no longer the unstoppable machine he was, but he could still win some G1s. I have started breeding from him, but whatever magic was in the specific combo of stats he had as a 4yo (if he was actually objectively ever that good) has so far failed to carry over. His progeny has seemed just ok. It may be that I am not being strict enough on which mares I breed him to, but it was hard at the beginning to find quality breeding mares.

Kammamuri:


A few of his kids:



None of the 3yos have won a G1,G2, or G3.

These girls are representative of the mares I was using for generation 1 of breeding (La Fanciula is Bayfirth's mom and Long Run Lady is Storminthegarden's:



I made it a point from the beginning to obtain through the auctions the best mares i could find, but mostly just focused on high Potential ability, was that my mistake? Should I focus first on the Speed and Acceleration from the first page, or maybe more on the mares' secondary attributes and breed with them even if potential is low, hoping that one of the foals from low potential horses with good secondary bars ends up inheriting high potential from the dad?

So should I give up on Kammamuri as a stud? Are the mares and bad luck my issue? Are my expectations to get good horses from Kammamuri unreasonable in the first place because he isn't as good as he seemed to me based on his racing?

2.)
I have another Stallion, Arkose Winds that I bought that has a 100 Absolute Potential, but never became good. He was already 3yo when I bought him and I only managed to get him to "realize" his potential to around 65/100 and win a G3. I have been breeding him as well with a bit more success, but still none of his kids have 100 Absolute Potential like him. (Both of his G1 winning kids were 80-85 Pot at 1yo and 2yo)



Here are his best kids:




But here is what usually happens:


Most of his spawn start with around 40 ability, so realizing their potentials of 80 or 85 seems unlikely by 3yo (someone correct me if I am wrong here, but if they don't max their potential as a 2yo they don't seem to get any Potential increase at becoming 3yo.)

3.)
I have been keeping track of the stats of my horses throughout, but it seems like I am doing something wrong.

All my female horses 4yo and up:


And what I have kept of what they've churned out for 2 years:


So I am asking for some feedback and thoughts from you knowledgeable folks about my horses, which ones to keep trying to breed from, and your thoughts on what I should do from here, in general.