Happy Snowman: The Happiest Snowman In The SIM

Original article written by Jack Meyer posted 9 years 1 week ago

In the era of SIM horses chasing other SIM horses that have had spotless records, I figured I’d give mine and Nena Olsen’s favorite Happy Snowman center stage as he attempts to end his brilliant racing career with a spotless record of 18 for 18. This little colt is the pride and joy of Nena’s barn, and just from talking to her for the short time I did, I can tell just how much this guy means to her. This article will focus on the story behind Happy Snowman, the road that he traveled to get where he’s going, and the final moments leading up to his final race in the Steward’s Cup.

I decided to try something a little different with this article, I realized after I wrote one on Hallowed Halls just how much I enjoyed going through year by year and race by race talking about the ups and downs I felt that I wanted to give each owner a chance to do the same. I will still give my little tidbits, but I wanted Nena to be able to spill her emotions on what Happy Snowman has meant to her, from his birth until that final call Monday night Week 16 when she hears her little man’s name for the very last time on the track.

For those of you who are Disney fanatics like me, the movie Frozen has its share of unforgettable characters with the happy little snowman being one of my favorites. As I sat thinking of the many things I was going to ask Nena, I wanted to know the origins of Happy Snowman, was his cross well thought out or was it more of lightning in a bottle. Was his future foreseen as far as the match of his sire and dam?

“Sun and Surf is a create a mare who I created for Battlenote, oddly enough. He was getting up there in age (he may have been 14 when she retired) and I wanted to produce a stakes winner from him. She is sired by Synthetic Strength so I wasn't sure if she was going to be an AW miler or an AW router. Since Battlenote could produce both, it didn't matter too much to me. After they produced a terrible colt together, I started sending her to AW miler studs because they hypoed better than the routers. I wish I could say that I carefully plotted out the breeding that produced Happy Snowman, but I did not. I have always been a huge fan of the International Team line, since it gave me Poisoned Apple, and due to the fact that Extraction is out of a Create A Horse offspring (Even In the Snow), I felt that it meant that the International Team would be coming through quite strong in Extraction. He was also a pretty nice racehorse who was pretty precocious. I am impatient so I am not a fan of going to sires that produce older horses when it comes to sprinters/milers. As for a good match.. it was a B+ hypo haha, and that is really all that I cared about. Sun And Surf had been pretty disappointing in her previous foals to Happy Snowman (HTT and a slower AW wings) but since Happy Snowman, she has produced another wow and two wings.”

As far as the name, “His name is from Frozen, and I wish I could say that I KNEW that Happy Snowman was special from the get go but honestly, I was racing Danny Derby and Alysse Peverell in claiming Frozen names. I was just randomly picking wow horses to give the names too and since his mom's name was Sun and Surf, I thought he fit the whole In Summer theme and Happy Snowman was born. So creative, I know!”

This to me is a brilliant way to name horses, race two or three other players who like the same movie for the rights to the best names; I’d say Nena did very well with that happy little snowman.

Being an avid All-Weather SIM player myself I know how rare Wow/Stakes AW Milers are much less Scary/Special AW Milers, I wanted to know if Happy Snowman galloped Scary right away or if he kind of matured in to it as he aged. “He was born a wow and he was a wow when he first was a 2yo as well. I always regallop my yearlings when they turn two. I have no idea at what point he turned scary but when I galloped him as a four year old, he definitely galloped scary. However, in a discussion with the Steward (and by discussion, I really mean me raving about my talented little all-weather star not expecting Em to even know who he was lol) she was surprised that I thought he was just a wow. I couldn't really gallop him though because he was on a two week race schedule. So... yea.. I have NO idea when he decided to magically turn scary!

I had a Wings AW Miler yearling go to Stakes this year, where is that magical snowman lover of a SIM gallop master when ya need them? I think he is playing favorites making special Snowman and not special Bone Crushers or SIM horses that Live In Harmony…hint..hint!

As I stated earlier, I wanted Nena to take us through his race career instead of me. The emotions that I felt watching my favorite horse go through her racing career are surely felt by others with great horses as well. “I won't lie, when he first started his career I had no idea he was this talented. Sure, his works were pretty fast, but I am no stranger to morning glories in my barn and I've had plenty of fast AW workers who are just mediocre on the track.. especially colts. My barn is full of AW stars that are fillies! I have been chomping at the bit for a COLT who could replace Battlenote but felt like that was never coming. I also admit that I thought my first AW star male would come from the Poisoned Apple line. Anyway, his works were fast enough that I thought he could handle Stakes Company first out... so he debuted in a stakes race. He won with a 78 SF which was pretty fast but again, I thought it was just a first race luck type situation. It wasn't until he won his 2nd race that I started to get hopeful. I wasn't even excited really because I, again, had no idea how talented he really was. If you go to the forum, I started his thread with:”

“"I have been looking for a decent colt since Battlenote pensioned and I finally think I got one! Don't get me wrong, I love alllll of my fantastic AW fillies but geesh, I was starting to think I would never get a decent colt (especially since my other wow AW colts have sucked at life). He is an AW Miler :)"

Continuing on his 2YO campaign, “So, as you can see, I was just starting to get hopeful that he was talented. Then he ran an 81 SF in the G3 Dr. Ghazi Stakes and I really started to get excited. Running an 80+ SF in AW is special, no matter how many you get. I will say that when he ran an 86 SF in the SC Synthetic Juvenile, I was floored. AN 86!! That is HUGE and I knew that he was something special at that point. Lee is another big AW mile person, and he was telling me how he didn't see any horse ever beating Happy Snowman. Maybe I was feeling a bit humble but I couldn't believe that. It seemed too good to be true, you know? I've been in AW milers for a long time and it seemed just too surreal that I'd finally get THAT horse and it would be another AW miler, since Battlenote was my first big horse and he was also a AW miler. Anyway, I still get really nervous before every start. Happy Snowman will walk the shedrow a few times before each race because I feel like he needs it. Oddly, he is the only horse I spent that much time with haha.”

I know what everyone is thinking, “it’s a fake horse, how many times do you have to walk a horse in the shedrow to make sure it is fit enough and ready to run, why does it matter?” I dare you to go ask Hallowed Halls and Final Fantasy how many times I made sure they were taken care of whether by bathing them or giving them extra mints.

As a 3YO, “He was really at the peak of his career as a 3yo, I feel. Each race he got stronger and stronger, it seemed. When he ran a 90 SF in the G3 The Right to Dream Stakes, I was angry lol. Yes, angry. He was SO CLOSE to breaking the track record (The record was 1:38.68 and he went 1:38.70) and really, I wanted him to go down as the best AW miler of all time at this point and I felt that if you are going to be the best EVER, you have to break some records. This leads us to the SC Mile where he ran a freaking 97 SF. Your next question asks about that so I will leave my thoughts there but yea, he broke the track record at that point. He ran a mind blowing 1:38.23 which smashed the record of 1:38.68.”

It seems Nena’s horses get close to that track record but then just shatter it next time out. See what I mean about the emotions, angry over a fake horse not breaking that track record, you gotta love the SIM.

We will get back to that astounding run in the Steward’s Cup in a minute; let’s catch up to where Happy Snowman and Nena are this year. “His four year old season hasn't been as fast but he still the closest anybody has been to him was in the G3 The Right to Dream Stakes, where he ran another 78 SF (first below 80 since his debut) with a length back to Bad Endings. That being said, I am pretty darn nervous for his last start... I will probably cry something terrible if he loses lol. Sad, but its true hahaha! You should have seen how upset I was when Battlenote lost his only race, and that wasn't even that long of a record!” See the above comment, I guarantee you have felt anger or sad when your beloved horse did something you didn’t expect.

Okay, back to that historic Steward’s Cup Synthetic Mile run. I can’t fathom having something like that happen to me, so I asked Nena how that one race made her feel both before and after. “Well, he was coming in off of just missing the track record by .02 seconds and I was angry. I wanted him to get the track record SO BAD at this point because he really didn't have anything else to prove and that is NOT something easily broken. I've had numerous nice AW milers but none have come that close to it. I wanted the record SO BAD. I also wanted him to win the SC Synthetic Mile because it would cap the perfect season. I still couldn't believe he was undefeated at this point, really, and just wanted a perfect season. When I saw the results.. my jaw dropped. I could NOT believe it, a 97 SF??! That is just crazy fast and he broke the track record!! I was SO HAPPY, SHOCKED, STUNNED! It takes a really special horse to run like that and it just.. yea. It really made my day, even when my other horses sucked at life during the SC, he made it better!”

SIM community, I want you to grasp that last sentence, “It really made my day, even when my other horses sucked at life during the SC, he made it better!” Yes he is a fake horse, but not many of us get to be this close to a champion who does the things he has done in our lifetimes, especially those who love horse racing which I assume most people here do.

I told Nena the obvious; I know he’s going to be highly sought after when he retires at the end of the year. I also asked her if she thought he could be duplicated and what it has been like to own such a magnificent animal. “Well, to be honest, I feel like he has been sort of hiding in the shadow of All Weather/Sidney so people really have no idea who Happy Snowman is. I have been updating his forum thread in hopes that people sort of get excited about him but this will be his very first article! All weather is sort of the red headed stepchild of the SIM, in my mind, so people don't really give it as much attention when there is a horse of his caliber on it. I am super proud of Happy Snowman because he is a homebred and AW miling has always had a special spot in my barn. I have some very nice mares in that division and I am pretty selective when it comes to leasing them out to people lol. Stingy I guess haha. Happy Snowman is everything I ever wanted to produce in this division and more!”

“I really hope people take him seriously as a stallion. If you followed the forum, you will know that there was a "hypothetical" match race between him and Sidney going 6f on the dirt and Happy Snowman, to my surprise, was the favorite to win and he actually WINS the race!! If you pay closer attention to the thread, you will notice that Steward says he would win ALL the dirt races they faced off against. I believe it was also hinted in that thread that Happy Snowman can sire more than just AW milers so I hope people send him a few AW sprinters/routers and try him with some dirt sprinters/milers :) I am very curious to see if The Steward uses him and WHAT she sends to him since her only AW miler broodmare is sired by Extraction (don't know if she realizes that haha).”

“To make a long story short, I am very excited to see him at stud! I think he will be a very special stud even though he has a very bland pedigree when it comes to diversity but hey, it has been hinted that Em is wanting more people to try different things: "Plus when lines started to get scary stagnant, I'm making a much bigger deal about pointing it out. People don't want to "risk" poking around on their own, which I understand since it's real money to hypo and a mare only gets one foal a year, but I keep hoping that trying it will become a bigger, more common movement and eventually it won't take my prodding to make it happen." is her exact comment in the hypothetical match race. Anyway.. Happy Snowman babies are going to be everywhere! Dirt sprints/miles, Aw sprints/miles/routes and QH racing? I can see it happening! ;)

Nena is right, AW is pushed aside from the rest of the TB divisions, but the avid lovers of the division love their AW horses very much, and I challenge any division to have such a strong following as AW any time. On the other big news in Nena’s thoughts, Happy Snowman would beat Sidney in any dirt race, and that his babies will be everywhere spanning many divisions, how can that not make the SIM universe happy, as happy as a snowman…?

I just had one more thing to ask Nena. I had already assumed this would be his last race, but I wanted to make sure by hearing it straight from his owners mouth, or fingertips, or whatever. I also wanted to know who would be able to fill that void, if anyone. “This is his last race and it makes me so sad! However, I have Jasmine in my barn and she is pretty special so far! 4 for 4 lol with three starts over 80 SF. Wouldn't it be crazy if Jasmine could go for as long of a streak as Happy Snowman did and then they had a baby?! That is my hope of reproducing him ;) I don't get many superstars in my barn but if he can carry on his greatness as a stallion, I will be just as happy!”

Some closing thoughts, Happy Snowman owns 7 Grade 1 wins and even though he did it in AW division that is still a tough task to do, he may not be Sidney or Solstice, but he is very special in my opinion and many others. As with Nena, many of us have very few stars that ever make their way into our barns, so when we get a Happy Snowman that does what he has done, we hold on to them as long as we can. I know that the stars come few and far between, but those stars that d come shine the brightest of all, even if it is just in the owners eyes that own them. One last thing, for those who haven’t checked out Happy Snowman’s headshot, you really have to give it a glance, it is truly one of a kind and one of my favorites in the SIM….Good Luck on Monday Nena Olsen and Happy Snowman!

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