Despite a seemingly quiet presence on social media, Sprocket’s Big Stable (run by Geebs, TheHatGuys, and Tonysprocket) has managed to navigate the turbulent waters of paid racing and fiercely competitive tournaments this year behind the scenes. After having recently crossed the 26.5 ETH racing profit mark, we thought it’d be fitting to ask them a few questions to see how it’s done!
When did you start playing ZED?
I got into the game in August 2021 and I met hatguys and tonysprocket through the ZED RUN discord. We would chat often about racing, breeding, evaluating racehorses, etc. We all just love the game and always had a topic to discuss. In Jan 2022 we formed Sprocket's Big Stable and began working together.
You’ve recently hit a staggering 26.5 ETH in racing profits, what would you say has been the key(s) to your success this year?
A lot of factors have contributed to the success. Some of the most important are:
(1) Being active and racing daily
(2) Flexible with our strategy and pivoting as the game changes
(3) Being disciplined and having conviction behind our decisions
What has been your approach to breeding, shopping, and stable growth overall?
Overall, we know how difficult (and expensive) it would be to compete with Arbitrage, Wagmi and other big time C1 stables. We've identified other segments of the game where we can be closer to the top of the food chain and we've leaned into those areas.
When it comes to breeding, we really just look to pair our strongest paid racers with one another, making sure the Base Ability (BA)is adequate and the Distance Preference (DP) aligns. And when the bloodlines of both racehorses all have the same DP, we've seen more consistency in the offspring results.
In terms of shopping, our stable is very conservative. If we are buying a racer, we have to be confident in the racehorse's ability to generate revenue on a long-term basis. If we are buying a racehorse for breeding, it needs to have strong BA and strong DP throughout its ancestry.
Any advice you’d give to new players coming into ZED RUN (if hypothetically you had to start from scratch)?
New players should ingest all of the information they can, from all the sources available. Official ZED RUN comms, ZED RUN Discord, YouTube/twitch/twitter, and utilising third-party sources like Zlead, Zedracer, TheZedge, etc. There are a lot of great people in the ZED RUN community you can learn from, and it's also very important to make friends and collaborate with other stables.
Also, take your time to truly learn the game before you deploy a lot of capital. Everyone makes mistakes early on, so make sure your mistake isn't a very expensive one!
Lastly, as a new stable I think it's really important to set reasonable goals for yourself, and don't expect this game to be easy. There are a lot of great players who spend many hours on ZED RUN daily, it will take time and discipline to move up in the ranks.