Simmy awards

[J.r. Lewis]

not less biased if it tried? Points used to select the Simmy nominees are the same points used from races. Some races are worth 200 points while compatible purse/grade races in other divisions are worth less than that. Two year old simmy's will automatically favour sprinters over milers and routers due to the fact that they start months earlier. In most cases, a horse can ship in from whoop whop, win an SC and automatically get nominated above a horse that has won multiple times in that region.
As for "was a popularity contest", it still is when it comes to voting.
So ya... It definitely needs an overhaul. In an ideal situation, there would be a points system that doesn't favour any division/age group and wouldn't need voting at the end of the year.

Do I have a better solution at this moment, not at this time, because I am not inclined to waste hours on getting a solution that would be ignored anyway.

What about average points per race? I think that would be a step towards solving the sprinter bias for 2yo horses of the year at least. It wouldn't solve the region issue however.

[Laura Smith]

For those who want the Simmy process overhauled, I ask how exactly?
The human Simmys, sure. Those are weird.
But horse-wise? We used to do nominations by committee, but people cried that it was a popularity contest. Now it's done automatically by points, which couldn't be less biased if it tried, and people still don't like it, so...?
There are those who say "let's just get rid of the Simmys" but I think a lot of us like year-end awards. I personally enjoy the challenge of racing a maybe-not-quite-SC-quality horse on a specific circuit all year in the hopes of getting an award. It's fun. Wouldn't want to see them go away.

not less biased if it tried? Points used to select the Simmy nominees are the same points used from races. Some races are worth 200 points while compatible purse/grade races in other divisions are worth less than that. Two year old simmy's will automatically favour sprinters over milers and routers due to the fact that they start months earlier. In most cases, a horse can ship in from whoop whop, win an SC and automatically get nominated above a horse that has won multiple times in that region.
As for "was a popularity contest", it still is when it comes to voting.
So ya... It definitely needs an overhaul. In an ideal situation, there would be a points system that doesn't favour any division/age group and wouldn't need voting at the end of the year.

Do I have a better solution at this moment, not at this time, because I am not inclined to waste hours on getting a solution that would be ignored anyway.

Flawed, sure, but can't argue that the points system as it is now is biased.
Short of hiring a committee of non-SIM-playing judges who have no knowledge of players or drama but yet have the tenacity to sift through each individual race, the horses in it, their relative quality, etc... not sure there is a solution.
Unless we could come up with some sort of more complicated nomination process which considers not only points but # of starts in the region, relative quality of competition, etc etc... but I feel like there are bigger fish to fry than this issue which does come up once a year, but only once a year.
Biased, lazy or uninformed voting will always be an issue as long as voting exists... just like in real life

[Flizan Hambletonian]

What if we didn't vote? The best performances get the simmys? I truly believe that some ppl get the simmys just because it's them, not because they have the best horse. A bit of a popularity contest...

[Mr. Lord Rich]

Admin should do all the voting haha.

[Nena Olson]

Just take out all the identifying criteria

North American Two Year Old Horse

Candidate #1 - 2 G1 wins, 1 G3
Candidate #2 - 1 G1 win, 1 restricted
Candidate #3 - 2 G2 wins, 1 G3

Of course if a Sprinter has won 5 Graded stakes over a router that has 1 graded stakes, you'd pick the sprinter but maybe the sprinter SHOULD be picked as that is a hard achievement to do usually.

[The Steward]

Just take out all the identifying criteria

North American Two Year Old Horse

Candidate #1 - 2 G1 wins, 1 G3
Candidate #2 - 1 G1 win, 1 restricted
Candidate #3 - 2 G2 wins, 1 G3

Of course if a Sprinter has won 5 Graded stakes over a router that has 1 graded stakes, you'd pick the sprinter but maybe the sprinter SHOULD be picked as that is a hard achievement to do usually.

That's actually a REALLY interesting way to go. I kinda like it. And an asterisk if it's an SC win

[Rochelle Bos]

Just take out all the identifying criteria

North American Two Year Old Horse

Candidate #1 - 2 G1 wins, 1 G3
Candidate #2 - 1 G1 win, 1 restricted
Candidate #3 - 2 G2 wins, 1 G3

Of course if a Sprinter has won 5 Graded stakes over a router that has 1 graded stakes, you'd pick the sprinter but maybe the sprinter SHOULD be picked as that is a hard achievement to do usually.

That's actually a REALLY interesting way to go. I kinda like it. And an asterisk if it's an SC win

I like it too! Maybe instead of just an asterisk for the SC have one if they won any race in the SIMuseum

[Danny Derby]

Too many SIMMY categories is a big part of the problem. I'd take the time to seriously vote on 10-12 awards for TB horses, but I sure has heck am not going to waste my time on dozens and dozens of categories. It's not a popular option and would never happen, but kill all the regional SIMMY awards. It's not like this is the real world where geography really comes into play - in the Sim a horse can run in Islands, Europe, South America and the USA in the same year easily, and that's not even all the regions.

Give each division a single award, with performances from everywhere taken into account. Better horses will get nominated, and people will actually be able to digest the nominees.

Also include a hard limit of three nominees per category. There's some divisions that have eight nominees now, that's just absurd.

[Tammy Stawicki]

I always find it interesting how much angst Simmys generate. Don't get me wrong I like winning them (speaking of which I think if you look specifically at South Pacific performance I think you will find a standout in that HOY category with 4 Grade 1 wins) but what do they really get us?? The horse ones not even a trophy in our trophy case

[Nena Olson]

Just take out all the identifying criteria

North American Two Year Old Horse

Candidate #1 - 2 G1 wins, 1 G3
Candidate #2 - 1 G1 win, 1 restricted
Candidate #3 - 2 G2 wins, 1 G3

Of course if a Sprinter has won 5 Graded stakes over a router that has 1 graded stakes, you'd pick the sprinter but maybe the sprinter SHOULD be picked as that is a hard achievement to do usually.

That's actually a REALLY interesting way to go. I kinda like it. And an asterisk if it's an SC win

I like the idea of an asterisk for any of the SIM Museum races since the Arc, Triple Crown, Sprint Champs are just as important imo!

[Danny Derby]

I always find it interesting how much angst Simmys generate. Don't get me wrong I like winning them (speaking of which I think if you look specifically at South Pacific performance I think you will find a standout in that HOY category with 4 Grade 1 wins) but what do they really get us?? The horse ones not even a trophy in our trophy case

Maybe it would be nice for them to actually mean something?

[Ryan Whitehead]

I always find it interesting how much angst Simmys generate. Don't get me wrong I like winning them (speaking of which I think if you look specifically at South Pacific performance I think you will find a standout in that HOY category with 4 Grade 1 wins) but what do they really get us?? The horse ones not even a trophy in our trophy case

Would that be Phenomenal One who won 4 G1 races and a 2nd place in another G1?

[Kaine Saracen]

I always find it interesting how much angst Simmys generate. Don't get me wrong I like winning them (speaking of which I think if you look specifically at South Pacific performance I think you will find a standout in that HOY category with 4 Grade 1 wins) but what do they really get us?? The horse ones not even a trophy in our trophy case

Would that be Phenomenal One who won 4 G1 races and a 2nd place in another G1?

That would be a big fat no! Yeah, your horse had a great year, but ONE race in the South Pacific region is not warranting a region of the year trophy in my opinion.
What I do find amusing is Thunder Horse and Red Balloon winning their respective Simmy's. The former won a Single G1 and 2x G2 where as With Us in Spirit won THREE G1's and a sponsored race. Not sure what the thought processes there were, but I am sure it could not have been the sponsored race since Joey's Red Balloon won his older horse title on what appears to be the strength of TWO sponsored G1's.

[Joseph Depaulo]

I always find it interesting how much angst Simmys generate. Don't get me wrong I like winning them (speaking of which I think if you look specifically at South Pacific performance I think you will find a standout in that HOY category with 4 Grade 1 wins) but what do they really get us?? The horse ones not even a trophy in our trophy case

Would that be Phenomenal One who won 4 G1 races and a 2nd place in another G1?

That would be a big fat no! Yeah, your horse had a great year, but ONE race in the South Pacific region is not warranting a region of the year trophy in my opinion.
What I do find amusing is Thunder Horse and Red Balloon winning their respective Simmy's. The former won a Single G1 and 2x G2 where as With Us in Spirit won THREE G1's and a sponsored race. Not sure what the thought processes there were, but I am sure it could not have been the sponsored race since Joey's Red Balloon won his older horse title on what appears to be the strength of TWO sponsored G1's.

i think you got a little mixed up there good sir i dont own red balloon wish i did though

[Kaine Saracen]

i think you got a little mixed up there good sir i dont own red balloon wish i did though

I very much did... Glenn L is the owner