SIMMY Award Voting

[Chris Everett]

lmao, thats a flame there, a big flame.

[Ara Davies]

That's right, just give it to me

Edit: And I mean ALL Simmys, including ones I don't know exist

[Eric Nalbone]

The only reason I ask is because my intricate simmy voting strategy consists of:

1. Find any horses owned by me (which this year will be zero).
2. Vote for them.
3. Don't vote for anyone else.
4. Click submit.

I know Eric does this too, he gets to cast alot more votes than I do.

My SIMMY award voting strategy isn't QUITE the same as yours. It's:

1. Find any horses owned by me (or people I particularly like)
2. Vote for them
1a. Find any horses owned by people I dislike
2a. Intentionally vote against them
3. Randomly vote for other horses in all categories, with a particular eye towards any votes that I think could be tight and I could help push in controversial ways, or at least not contribute to landslide wins
3a. Intelligently vote for "people awards"
4. Click submit

I learned long ago that SIMMY awards are a popularity contest, and I have no faith in the collective ability of the SIM to evaluate horses in every division. I'm more than capable of making my own evaluations without the validation (or lack thereof) from the rest of the SIM. That said, it is amusing to watch, some people place at least a limited value on SIMMY awards, and I have no objection to allowing the votes to head where they may. I just refuse to participate in any meaningful way in the process except to foster discord and chaos to the small extent that I can contribute to that.

All that said, I voted to continue voting. I enjoy the annual chaos - losing out on a "deserved" SIMMY award is a rite of passage in the SIM ... once you've been there, you'll know you've really made it in the SIM!

[Alysse Peverell]

I recently found myself reminiscing about a Simmy battle of long ago. It got ugly. Ah, the good old days.

[Laura Ferguson]

In reading this thread, I clearly need to vote a different way. Other than a handful of mixer/AW divisions - where I know nothing about any of the candidates (and just leave the ballot blank for those categories), I actually look everything up. I've voted against my own horses, I've voted for horses of people I don't care for, and probably spend over an hour each year trying to be an informed voter. Obviously, it's been a waste of an hour plus each SIM year and I should simply join the masses

Edited to add - most of what is said in this thread isn't a surprise, it's simply the number of posters who vote that way is. I thought it was a narrow majority, rather than the overwhelming majority.

[Abe Froman]

I learned long ago that SIMMY awards are a popularity contest, and I have no faith in the collective ability of the SIM to evaluate horses in every division. I'm more than capable of making my own evaluations without the validation (or lack thereof) from the rest of the SIM.

So very true, at least in my eyes too.

[Marzy Dotes]

I only vote when I have the time to do the research. And only on the categories I'm familiar with or ones that I have time to research. I don't pay any attention to who owns what horse and don't really care. It's really irrelevant, the horse's record is what should count. Having been a judge before in different types of competitions, I'm used to having to back up my selections so I could do that if pressed. Subjectivity is really hard to keep out of judging, the only exception in my experience is like scoring a track meet on a quantitative point system and that's mostly nerve wracking b/c you have so many results coming in at the same time and a limited time frame to score them.

I just try to do my best with it when I have the time to do so and stay out of the disagreements about the results. That's the way it goes...there's always going to be disagreement with any type of judging system no matter what. Human nature.

Records especially graded wins matter a lot but occasionally there's a horse that did something different, blazed a new trail for example and if it's really close that horse might get the edge.

[Carolyn Eaton]

I vote for my own horses, but this tends to be very few divisions/regions so then...

When I have time I sit and go through each division assigning points for G1/2 etc wins - this takes me several hours which is why I had a conniption a few years ago when no weekend day was available before votes were due, and I had to go to option 2.

when I don't have time I limit voting to just a few divisions and areas - still at least looking to make sure the one I "know" is actually the best in that area (raced more than once on that continent/region)

Except in regards to my own critters, I look at the horse and it's accomplishments, not the owner.

I do recognize every individual has their own process and amount of time, it's part of what makes the game interesting.

Have a great day and Happy New Year!

[Nick Gilmore]

I'm with Carolyn and Laura and I try to find that most worthy animal.

What I would like to see is the rules of selection change. I believe a horse should have at least two (maybe three) starts in the area to which they are nominated. Doesn't seem fair for a horse to campaign successfully in South America to get out voted by a horse that ships in and wins the LC. (Ironic that this is how my own Australian won his SIMMY!)

[John Slotmon]

^^^ disagree. Happens in the real world all the time (and rightly so). Just because a horse wins a few races in a given region doesn't mean they're deserving of end-of-year recognition. Just think of who might have won, say, Female Turf Horse of the Year over the last five years if Goldikova or Ouija Board weren't around?

[Nick Gilmore]

I appologize if I didn't state the obvious that the horse should have a solid record, not a solitary win. Even for an Eclipse horses require more than 1 start in the country to be nominated...unless that has changed in the last 10 years or so...

[John Slotmon]

I appologize if I didn't state the obvious that the horse should have a solid record, not a solitary win. Even for an Eclipse horses require more than 1 start in the country to be nominated...unless that has changed in the last 10 years or so...

I don't recall that ever being the case. Daylami won Champion male turf horse in 1999 off one North American start. Banks Hill, Goldiova, Miesque, and Arazi are among the many Eclipse champions who've won off one American start. So it really isn't anything new.

[John Slotmon]

Point being, obviously, that either the crop of American runners really stink (generally the case lately) or an invader is pretty special (definitely the case for Ouija Board, Goldikova, and Miesque).

[Bradley Davis]

Nick, are you perhaps thinking of Canada's Sovereign awards?

[Nick Gilmore]

Quite possibly, Bradley. It's been a while since I was in the game in real life and I admit to becoming feeble minded in my old age, hahahahaha!