Simmys

[Mr. Lord Rich]

Reading some of the recent forum posts on simmys, I was curious as to how many people vote in the sim? What things play the biggest factor in your voting?

Horse categories:
Popularity of owner?
Uniqueness of horse names?
By whoever won the SC?
By earnings leader in the group?
By quality of races said horse competed in?
Other?


Player categories: (trainer and breeder)
Popularity contest - whoever you like the best regardless of their stats?
Most wins?
Most starts?
Win%
OTB%
Stakes wins?
Earnings?
Most SC won that year of the nominees?
Division or type horses that trainer races?


Thoughts?

[Doug Cuomo]

I'd like to think I look at performance only for horses. If it's a regional award I only look at races they ran in that region and the quality of the races. I use SC as a tie breaker between horses I think are pretty close but not as the end all be all.

For trainers and breeders it's usually Win %, Stakes Wins, Average earnings per race. I'm more of a quality over quantity person.

[Carole Hanson]

I personally only vote in divisions that I recognise the horses in, I never look at who their owners are. If I see a few that I recognise in one category I’ll look through that entire category to see who really had the best campaign in that region.

As for trainers/breeders, for me it’s usually about what did they achieve this year that is special and I almost never look at stats. I’m a lazy voter I know but there’s so many categories and so many horses to look through that even if I try to do it properly I give up half way through

[Andrew James]

I normally only vote in the divisions I loosely follow: Dirt and Turf routers and Dirt Milers. TBs only since I dont race the other breeds other than my 2 appys. For those divisions I typically go with best results in the major G1s including the SC. I'm much more likely to pick a Derby winner and SC runner up than I am a horse that has 4 G1 wins in the boonies.

For the Trainer and Breeder awards, I go look up TB stake wins and vote mostly based on that. I'll also look at the percentages.

All this predicated on it being a year I actually bother to vote or pay attention. Some I do, some I dont. Life eh.

[Regina Moore]

For the regional divisions, I only look at the races in that region. The most Grade 1 wins seals it for me. If there's a tie, then who had the most Grade 2, and then the most Grade 3. In rare cases where there's still a tie, I'll look at the fastest speed figure.

I'm not consistent in how I choose people awards.

[Dylan Christensen]

I do it based on everything combined, if I've heard of one horse and none of the others it automatically gets my vote. Same goes for trainers.

[Tim Matthews]

I vote for trainer and breeder every year, almost never vote for horses. I would vote for my own horse (been a while) or sometimes I pick at random lol

[Randell Johnson]

I will choose a selected few to choose on, but I don't just randomly click after awhile. If I don't look at all the horses, I just don't vote, because that is more of a diservice to the horses that deserve it!

[LA Pepper]

I only vote for my own horses and only when I think they should win. therefore I have never voted However I also think there were times one of my horses should have been nominated. And the Simmy is a wonderful honor, but I just don't trust everyone to really put in the time (because I don't) to find the real best horse. There is popularity, there are unbeaten records that involve lesser races than say a competitor campaigned during a season. etc.
I would prefer a computer formula that decides for us somehow. (Gasp - I can hear someone's blood boiling)

[Laura Smith]

For horses, if I'm strapped for time I will skip divisions I know nothing about (Arabs, looking at you.) I think a little knowledge of the circuit in question is needed in order to vote well.
For difficult choices, #of G1 wins/dominance in those wins/winning open races vs. gender or restricted/not ducking competition/winning big races like the SC... those are all important factors.
I don't vote based on owner or "buzz" surrounding the horse. The best part of Simmy voting, imo, is learning about horses I've never heard of!

For the"people" categories, I find it much harder, but big achievements will always trump bare stats for me, particularly in the case that the stats were earned running claimers or whatever. Yes, it's an accomplishment to win a thousand claimers a year, but it's not more worthy of a simmy than someone who did great on a smaller scale at the top level.

[Tammy Stawicki]

So I vote for a very limited number of Simmys. I usually vote for the paint races because if nothing else I like looking at all the Paints nominated (see Laura's comment on learning new horses). In terms of what I'm looking for.. record in big races. So yes I do weight the Steward's Cup heavily but if that was a horses only win and someone else won a bunch of stakes but not the Steward's Cup I'd go with the latter. I may vote for a thoroughbred category if I have a horse nominated or if a turf miler I like is nominated but I also may not. I haven't decided yet if I'm voting for my horse this year, haven't looked at the competition.

People I don't vote that much for these days. But when I do chose to vote for them I like to go for the "underdog" I feel there are certain people that win a lot and that bores me, so I'm looking for the person that had a really nice year but isn't a name that immediately jumps to mind.

[Danny Derby]

It's a giant wall of text with way too many categories to care about or put that much thought in to.

I pretty much ignore it, and will just vote for my horses if I think they deserve it. I spend about 2 minutes on it each year.

I'd like to pay more attention to the human categories, but there isn't really any clear info to research on there so impossible to make a truly informed decision.

Not everyone needs a Simmy. I'd like to see no geography around these awards and have each division just crown an overall worldwide champ. Can anyone with a straight face explain the need for South American and Island awards?

[Lori Hamill]

For horses, I usually go by graded wins, for trainers/breeders I go for those I have seen pop up most often during the Sim year.

[Leigh Ann Anderson]

I'm 100% guilty of voting for my horse if it's close. Otherwise, I don't vote in divisions that don't hold my interest and I tend to disregard sponsored stakes when comparing horses.

My current quandary is who to vote for in the SA horse of the year. I have the distinct honor and privilege to have trained both No Greater Desire (for the Steward) and Take Me Black. No Greater Desire won a listed stakes, 2x G3 and 2x G1 before her poorly thought out trip to the US; Take Me Black won both G1 races he had in SA. I think logic just answered my question, but my heart is hoping for a tie. I'm beyond honored that both won Simmys for their age division.

[Ryan Whitehead]

I normally just vote for horses in the TR division and then the trainer of the year and new player. I look at records in the circuit in which they are nominated and weigh Graded stakes wins heavily. If it is close I will vote for a homebred before a Stewardbred because I believe the homebred winning a Simmy will be more meaningful for that trainer.