I managed to catch up with Whitewater Stables, one of the oldest veterans in the game. It helped he has a bad leg.Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to chat with you. With that beard you look every part the veteran 😊 Ok firstly what is your name please, tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Bill, and I am from Seattle Washington. Joined HRP way back in June 2003. I work as a teacher with all kinds of kids but primarily children with special needs. I ran the old HRP chat room for over a decade.

That’s cool Bill and always interesting to learn what people do. Being around since 2003 you must have seen a lot of changes to the game! Can you share with me a few key ones please?
You are right. Some aspects of the game have not changed like we still have horses, condition meters/stamina they have remained the exact same. However back in the day there were no farms for example. This is in the early part of HRP. You picked what track you wanted your horses to be at and trained them every couple of days to try and keep them fit. Another example is Jockeys. Back in the day to get a jockey to ride your horse you had to pay the jockey $3 up front.

(Scratching head) it all sounds rather complicated, to clarify that’s an upfront fee Bill?
Yep and the best jockeys came with a 15 % price tag. To clarify that’s on top of the $3. Also breeding has changed massively. Everything was autogene to autogene. Heap of players migrated from Digiturf and the standard practise was to geld and race as much as possible. We had no visibility to confirmation on HRP Bloodlines.

Sounds more like the dark ages?
It was more the beginning. They came up with the breeding lines around 2007/2008 I think and suddenly we could see bloodlines. It was a shock seeing how much crap we bred to crap. It muddied the lines.

I totally agree. Would you say Bill that this has created an unsound foundation in our game? As if they (Support) were the architect of our disaster with the backend of our horses being pretty screwed and countless quality bloodlines seemingly lost /diluted down?
I don’t think it’s so much a disaster, I just think it lacks foresight. You know breeding right now is not horrible. We are now at a point where we start to see trends. Problem with trends is monkey see as monkey do. I.e. everyone jumps on the same bandwagon. It could certainly be better though. Personally, I am not a big fan of the 25 covers per sire per quarter.

Given that we had no idea what we were breeding in the past and the clear gap between Autogenes and Home breeds right now, don’t you think HRP should maybe consider reducing cost of autogenes by say 50 %? I think it would help create new lines, strengthen existing and encourage more experimentation. What are your thoughts please Bill?
Here is what I would like to see. It would be great if we could pick the lines. So, I match say HRP Flirting to HRP War Admiral. I pay my breeding fee and get the horse, that simple. This would lead to lots more lines being created.

I would also like to see more additional bloodlines added to the game. HRP have hinted a few times in the past they were considering this.  

I love the idea, Bill. In 2007 you had a cracking year with over $11 K in earnings. Since then, you seem up against it. What went wrong Bill?
Well first of all I lost some interest in the game. For guys to lose interest in their horses/barn it can only be one thing… you guessed it, a woman. Been back and forth a bit but know I am focused on building my stable and trying to compete more.

Being around so long Bill you have seen many come and go. You must have meet the good the bad and the ugly. Whom would you do a shout out to past or present player.
All day long Sanny would be my choice. If you look back from 2010 to probably until his passing in 2018 you would see he was one of the best owners. Top 5 owner all day long, widely respected. You could even go to Dan (MB Stables) and Dan would say he was one of his biggest competitors. He had a real knack for finding great horses. He was probably one of the first to buy and race premium horses solely. Yes, we had people come in and buy loads but they didn’t buy the best. He was a great guy on and off the track and much missed.

Present player off the radar: great guy and personal friend is Larry from Spinetingling stables. He is a class guy in person and a great trainer. He is the king at the free tracks.

Sorry I could not interview you without a little bit of controversy Bill. You had a race years ago, 4 horses in the race and all owned by you. You even wrote about the race whilst employed with the SRF. Did you win it?
I did. It was a horse called Oliver Twist that one. Those where the days. I even got a BC bonus for good measure.

Nearly there sorry, we will move on. Advice to new players.
My advice would be ask ask ask. The dumb questions are the ones you don’t ask. Use the forums, the great guide wrote by Paradise stables years ago still very relevant and La Canadas guide. Practise training and shipping your horses and working at getting the metres right.

Look to experienced older players and don’t be afraid to reach out. I am sure every one of them will be happy to help you. Also use the statistics. There is a lot of data there to help you understand your horses. Take your time and hard work will pay off. 

HRP may have issues with what they do but the calendar should not be one of them. If you need help writing a race reach out to me. 

Who is your favorite horse, Bill?
I got some shares in Authentic the 2020 Kentucky Derby winner and the 2020 Breeders Classic making me a winning owner. Very exciting and fun.

My favorite HRP horse would be Ljosalfar. That horse won about $8/$9K in sprint races, it was a monster.

Very nice sounds exciting. Anything you would say to the community Bill?
I see HRP just like a family. We have our ups and downs and sometimes it’s not easy though it works!

Short and sweet Bill, I like it. Really appreciate you speaking with me you are a genuinely nice guy Bill and I would like to wish you every success growing your barn. Also, I hope your leg continues to heal. 

My thoughts… I am glad the game continues to develop as the old rules sounded like hard work. Vive la difference!

As always thanks for reading and keep your eyes out for the next SRF Interview coming soon. 

Stay Tuned 

Kevo/El Primero Rodeo 

Categories: FEATURED STORIES, SRF Interviews