The Bloodhorse - Final Turn on August 29th shares a great story by Wayne Sweezey. Wayne explains a story about a jockey giving up four strides before the wire. I see this all the time, and it drives me crazy. So many jockeys stop riding when they realize that they are not going to win, or not coming in the top three.
I often wonder why owners don't kick the crap out of a jockey after the race. Many times, the difference between fourth and fifth place is over $1000. To an owner, that means a huge difference. Sometimes you see the fans giving it to the jockeys after the race (especially at Belmont), but rarely do you see a trainer yelling at a jockey after a race. Everyday, at every track you see jockeys giving up early.
As fans of the game (and sometimes bettors) we should hold the jockeys accountable. When at the track, give the jockeys a bunch on stuff after they give up on a race. I hope the trainers hold these guys accountable also. And while I am on this topic.......Pedro Monterey Jr, you owe me a bunch of money!
1 comment:
with all due respec, ur way off base. jocks failing to persevere has more to do with them protecting themselves and their horse. if i'm riding--and i do ride--and the horse obviously tiring, there are two concerns--the first is the obvious one that catastrophic injuries occur much more easily with the tired animal--has to do with collapse of the supensory apperatus. the second is that many times coming down the stretch the horse will be completely winded and literally unable to breathe--his throat mechanism will clamp up--at this point the wise rider backs off. there is a fine line in riding between driving to the finish and recognizing when ur horse is done. truth of the matter, if the training methods were better and the horses in better condition, then you would have a beef. should be obvious from my post why the owners and trainers never criticize based on your post.
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