At the time of writing this article there were about 30 Super Breed horses in existence and they were being bred at a rate of about 1 in 1000.
They’re the lotto aspect of Zed Run breeding.
If you land one, they can change the dynamic of your stable instantly.
A couple of months ago we struck it lucky with a Super Breed and this is how it has changed our stable so far.
First a little background on the current format of our stable and how we got to be in the position we’re in.
We’ve been in the game for over 2 years now and have played through many variations and changes as Zed has evolved to be where it is today.
Throughout those evolutions we’ve always tried to maintain a level of diversity so that we could pivot with the direction of the game.
In breeding 1.0 we invested in a premium Z1 breeding pair along with breeding pairs of all genesis horse types.
In breeding 2.0 we doubled down on BA that we used to breed back into bloodlines all the way down to cross and Pacer horses.
Throughout much of the game we had aimed to breed high BA high DP horses with low Variance.
Horses that liked to finish at the front of the pack and could qualify for tournament finals with relative consistency.
With all the Genesis horse types covered and strength and depth in 2 of the 3 main horse traits I figured we were diverse enough to cope with just about anything that came our way.
Then when breeding 3.0 arrived and it was coupled with racing 2.0 Variance became the most coveted trait.
DP still has it’s benefits and I believe BA’s ability to produce C1 foals will become more valuable again in the future but in the current meta Variance is king.
We had some horses with reasonable Variance but unfortunately not really any that would be considered top tier for that trait.
We were still able to breed competitive horses of course but to compete at the top we were going to need that VAR!
In previous years I would have loaded the Metamask with ETH and hit Hawku to buy up VAR horses but at the beginning of 2023, after much investment in the game, a decision was made to run the stable as a self sustaining operation.
Through racing, breeding and horse sales we pay for our purchases and breed costs and have not had to re-invest further funds all year.
We’re quite proud to have been able to run our stable like this but it does make it difficult to move quickly to buy when the balance gets low.
They say patience is a virtue though and we continued to breed and race as normal and when we had winnings to spare that we didn’t need for breed fee’s or race entry we purchased a pony with above average VAR.
These were all non Genesis purchases until we bred “Hi Tech Weapon” and “The Answer Is Yes” who both performed well in their respective Maiden tournaments.
With some Maiden winnings in the bank we spent a week or two bidding on Buterin Genesis horses with high VAR and eventually we landed “Savvy rock” for 0.244 ETH.
Our first monthly breed cycle for Savvy was a little underwhelming and all 3 of his foals under performed.
We put it down to a mixture of bad rolls and bad pairing choices.
The following month it was time to breed again and we decided on 4 breeds for the upcoming Maiden tournament.
Two of those breeds would be sired by Savvy Rock.
Underlined at the top of our list was a match between him and our premium Mare “Alacazam”.
Alacazam is a Z1 Nakamoto, she’s unraced so I couldn’t tell you exactly what her traits are but what I can tell you is that she has excelled as a breeder in every breed algorithm that Zed Run has released.
In 3.0 her ability often seems to be producing foals that are an enhancement of the traits of her breeding partner.
We paired her with our high BA stability Stallion “Ultimate Ears” (Z2 Nak) and the foal arrived as a highly stable DU racer that has so far earnt us 0.2 ethereum.
We paired her with a decent VAR horse with good speed and the foal had slightly improved VAR and slightly faster speed.
That foal went on to be the stallion that earnt us the money to buy Savvy.
So a few days before the Maiden I sat down at my desk to produce our breeds.
As I had done in the past, I checked the Super Breed list on Zlead and read that it had been almost 2,000 breeds since the last one arrived.
I bred our 4 Maiden tournament entries, ran a couple of races and returned to the stable page to see if the new foals had arrived safely.
The page loaded and I couldn’t believe my eyes.
There in front of me were the letters “SB”…..We had landed a Super Breed!
Not only was it a Super Breed, it was a Super Breed made of the best paring we could muster in a 3.0 environment!
To put in perspective how lucky we were; There is a 1000 to 1 chance at a Super Breed and we breed about 5 horses a month.
It would literally take us 16 years to breed 1,000 horses at that rate.
I leapt out of my seat and ran out in to the living room, arms raised like a champion.
I had to tell my wife and kids what had happened.
I yelled “We got a Super Breed”.
They smiled and looked at me quizzically.
I realised they had no idea what a Super Breed was and so I explained what they were and how low the chances of breeding one are.
As with all my exciting Zed Run moments they cheered me on and joined in the excitement.
The next few days we’re a long wait as I counted down to Maiden day and the Super Breeds level reveal.
I’m not as particular with my Zed horse names as I was in our early days, but I have to be honest and tell you I spent some time considering the right name for our Super Breed filly.
It’s not often you get to name a horse that is almost guaranteed to be a champion.
I settled on “Kamikaze Angel” and even decked her out in a gold Budweiser skin ready for her Griff.
Finally Maiden day rolled around, and the Griffin race didn’t disappoint.
Flames and a first place.
I clicked straight through to the race results page and boom, a level 566, instantly the highest level horse in our stable.
The hype was real.
From the Griffin we moved on to our 3 qualifying tournament races.
1st, 2nd and 1st again, all with flames.
Kamikaze Angel was off to a flying start and when the dust settled, she’d qualified top of the C1 Maiden table.
Unable to wait for the finals to race the horse again, we entered her in to some C1 paid conditional races and the euphoria continued as she picked up 3 wins from her first 4 starts.
What a horse.
The following day the finals rolled around.
I got the wife in to the office and loaded the first final race up on both of the big screen monitors.
It was time for Kamikaze to take home the glory!
I wish I could tell you that it played out exactly as I hoped BUT Variance goes both ways.
Despite flames and a massive level advantage she got a bad roll and ran home in 5th place, exiting the tournament in her first finals race.
I was honestly gutted and a little bit stunned.
Not the finish I had imagined or hoped for at all.
Not to worry though I thought, I’d also entered the horse into the upcoming Zombie/Arb Maiden tournament and she was the odds on favourite to take the title.
So again I lured the wife into the office to see our Super Breed run.
A high Variance horse can beat any horse on the right day and can win any race but the trait also ensures it can lose any race too.
That was why I originally steered clear of Variance though these days I can’t get enough of it.
3 races into the Zombie/Arb Maiden qualifying races and 3 bad Variance rolls later for 5th, 4th and 5th places and I told the wife she might as well go and do something else.
Kamikaze Angel wouldn’t be taking the title, all she could muster was a consolation win to end the day as she bowed out of contention early.
Ahh the highs and lows of Zed Run, it sure can be a roller coaster ride.
We didn’t take the glory come Maiden season but there was no doubt we had a top horse on our hands.
The next move was to race her carefully with the target of getting to level 700 as un-aged as possible.
I have no doubt she’ll be able to compete with the best of the best when fully levelled so that became the ultimate challenge.
After licking her wounds and running a handful of paid races and an XP tournament, Kamikaze turned it on the following month, bringing home some glory and some Ethereum by winning the semi final and final of the under 250 race C1 conditional tournament.
The victory made the earlier Maiden disappointment a little easier to swallow.
Since then Kamikaze has been a regular qualifier in these under 250’s and she should be quite profitable there while she is still eligible to race in them.
With the recent edition of under 500 race conditionals the next step in her career is set and she should be a top performer in those too.
We could have run her to death in paid racing over the past couple of months to stack some Eth and the temptation was real, but running her lightly looks to have been a smart play with the new edition of XP NFT’s to the eco system.
With an XP NFT attached she can add over 1600 XP to her tally with a single win and since they launched she has quickly progressed through the high 500’s.
In fact, she hit level 600 today and she still has 136 races left in tier one aging.
Going forward we’ll be strapping as many XP NFT’s to Kamikaze as the budget (and grind time) allows in order to take full advantage of her potential.
If she manages a good finals run soon, and I’m sure she will, then the mid 600’s won’t be far away.
In the meantime her next major challenge is to qualify for the Legends League.
We’ve really enjoyed watching the top horses compete in that tournament and are excited to be a part of it.
Hopefully she can qualify for the main event and maybe even cause an upset or two if she gets there.
As far as race stats go Kamikaze is currently sitting on a healthy 21.09% win rate of which just about all the races have been paid entry. (19.09% paid win rate.)
Her speeds are very nice and she has been hovering around the top 100 in that department for the 1200m distance.
No doubt that will continue to improve as she levels hard and adds more BA.
Racing our Super Breed has been a hell of a lot of fun but it’s not the only thing she’s brought to the stable.
It also looks as though our Super Breed might be a bit of a super breeder too!
As mentioned we needed a big injection of Variance into our breeding stock and it looks like Kamikaze is able to pass her high level Var down to her offspring well.
She’s the gift that keeps on giving!
In her first breed cycle we were somewhat low on funds and targeting C4 in the corresponding Maiden.
We paired her with a mid variance horse to test her out and the foal was born with the second highest Var of any horse we have in our stable.
The only horse with more VAR was Kamikaze herself.
We named the foal Kamikaze Spirit in her honour and she’s been doing some damage in paid racing and looks like she will be appearing in plenty of under 250 race finals while she’s eligible.
A great start to her bloodline and so you can expect to see plenty of Kamikaze’s offspring on the track in the future.
Anyhow my friends, this was supposed to be a short blog to share our Super Breed experience but it’s turned in to a full blown article.
Such is my passion for the game.
There really is nothing out there like Zed Run!
Good luck on the track guys and good luck in the breed barn too.
I hope you’re lucky enough to land a Super Breed one day, it really is a hell of an experience.