Proof That Sometimes the SIM is just Mean...

[Marzy Dotes]

I don't think the blinkers had anything to do with it. The field was very weak in relation perhaps to the restrictions set on the race. Two of the finishers were middle distance horses which probably helped. The runner up was zero for 14 going in yet probably without the talent that Windrunner possesses.

Congrats Landon...nice one! 8)

[Abe Froman]

You can't really bring the talent level into the argument when this thing beat Windrunner in a slow race

[Marzy Dotes]

That horse though mediocre had faster earlier speed, really got the jump on him and I think that's part of the reason. Maybe he needed to start out in front. That and what someone once said that for every horse there's at least scenario they can win with.

But actually Flex the other horse was quite a bit faster than the horses he faced this time. At any rate, he has his win! Yay!

[Melissa Mae]

Watch him win the rest of his races by open lengths now.

[The Steward]

I'm doing some SIM work right now and I was looking at something from Year 6 versus something from now, and I thought, Quick, brain, who is the most famous active SIM horse right now... UH.... uh.... uh...... Windrunner! Seriously I went to Windrunner. It's now been 2 minutes as I'm typing this and I still can't think of someone more famous than Windrunner.

[Three Crowns Racing]

I know, right, Nena... I put those blinkers on him and thought "he's is going to crash & burn trying to fight the blinkers" ... "but on the flipside he may actually focus and ignore everything."

Weird how the blinkers helped him when he "only needs" hind bandages... I've put wrong equipment on other horses and they totally flopped.

But it's a pretty impressive win. I'm hoping this is a turn around for him.

Now should I keep the blinkers or toss them?? 8)

Toss them, they did what they were intended to do.

Until someone in the know says different, I will continue believing that it is NEVER a good idea to run a horse with the incorrect equipment.

A horse with this much talent, running against this poor of quality, was going to win sooner or later no matter what equipment was selected. Se: regressive fallacy - "People are most likely to take action when variance is at its peak. Then after results become more normal they believe that their action was the cause of the change when in fact it was not causal."

[Marzy Dotes]

Watch him win the rest of his races by open lengths now

yeah it'll be interesting to see what happens. Will his running style change? I think that this was the first time he led by default and maybe just took the ball and ran with it. After all he was closing in his races and coming up just a wee bit short. Not a problem here.

[Josh Lamp I]

All i know is the horse won with blinkers on and it isn't the first time i have seen a horse who couldn't win win with blinkers on. You can try to rationalize why he won all ya want, if it walks like a duck...

[Rob Canterbury]

to larry's point.. look at his 3rd and 4th race... Blinkers were not the equipment he was set up for (as I found out later)

http://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=179054

[Landon Alexander]

Are we calling you Larry or Josh now??! I'm so confused. Either way, thank you for the advice.

Em / Stew -- that's pretty cool! He's a household name. My own lil Seabiscuit, QH-style.

So toss the blinkers now? If he goes back to losing by a nose those blinkers are going right back on. Marzy, I think it was the blinkers not the field.... Why after 16 losses (15 by a stupid nose even when he made the lead down the stretch) would he finally win over a field that was stronger than that crappy claimer Abe pointed out that beat him in a walkover? And by nearly 5 lengths!!? Crazy.

I'm sure people will stay tuned for Windrunner's next antics.

[Josh Lamp I]

Are we calling you Larry or Josh now??! I'm so confused. Either way, thank you for the advice.

Em / Stew -- that's pretty cool! He's a household name. My own lil Seabiscuit, QH-style.

So toss the blinkers now? If he goes back to losing by a nose those blinkers are going right back on. Marzy, I think it was the blinkers not the field.... Why after 16 losses (15 by a stupid nose even when he made the lead down the stretch) would he finally win over a field that was stronger than that crappy claimer Abe pointed out that beat him in a walkover? And by nearly 5 lengths!!? Crazy.

I'm sure people will stay tuned for Windrunner's next antics.

Can call me mud if you want to. My only advice is to put him in a nw2l next out to try to boost the confidence again.

[Melissa Mae]

I don't think I'd toss the blinkers when his only win came with them. They may not be his ideal equipment but he obviously does better with them.

[Laura Ferguson]

I'd toss them for the next start. I'd only go back to them if he promptly goes back to losing by a nose. I agree with Josh, though. I'd probably go N2L next before returning to stakes.

[Paul Heinrich]

FWIW, I tend to agree with Tyler, in principle, in most cases. I don't think this race changes the general "rule" that you should use the equipment the horse "needs", and not look beyond those preferences in the vast majority of cases.

However, I think this extreme case does show that certain pieces of equipment *can* have an effect on race scenarios, apart from the horses set preferences. If anything instructive can be drawn from this whole episode, it may be noting a bright line distinction between 2 separate race factors, which many of us had taken for granted were entwined - race scenario (which factors in things like confidence, experience, etc) and a horses pre-set equipment preferences (which do not).

This FAQ post may hint at this distinction.

[Three Crowns Racing]

FWIW, I tend to agree with Tyler, in principle, in most cases. I don't think this race changes the general "rule" that you should use the equipment the horse "needs", and not look beyond those preferences in the vast majority of cases.

However, I think this extreme case does show that certain pieces of equipment *can* have an effect on race scenarios, apart from the horses set preferences. If anything instructive can be drawn from this whole episode, it may be noting a bright line distinction between 2 separate race factors, which many of us had taken for granted were entwined - race scenario (which factors in things like confidence, experience, etc) and a horses pre-set equipment preferences (which do not).

This FAQ post may hint at this distinction.

It is also the first time in 18 races that he broke first from the gate. IMO, that is why he won, not because he had blinkers. He was out front with nothing to interfere with him running his own race and letting his natural ability show.