Ok, in the spirit the MMSC started this, I'll say Inez Karlsson.

This year has been amazing for her. Last year, she was a nearly automatic toss when she was up, because she was timid and had little to no sense of timing.

Now she's kinda rock-solid, and easily my favorite rider on the circuit. I love her new found sense of timing and can't count the number of times I've seen her nurse a horse along on the front end and basically get the horse to wire just as it's about to quit. This summer, tons of her wins came that way, where she got passed on the gallop out by several horses in just a few jumps, but she had managed to measure her mount just perfectly to get to the wire.

She's going to keep doing great things...and she was nice the time I got drunk and talked to her after hitting a pick-4, and I hear from the guys upstairs that she's kind of a hardass....so I can't wait to see what she can do with better business next summer.

Stop it.....

Brockguy!!! Breeders Cup 3 yrs ago Churchill when everyone in the hotel thought he was a jock in to fix a race.....Think the license plate of a belt buckle shrank and GBbob messed someone's elbow for life. That's what I remember

actually he's playing for the 49'ers, and yes, that deshawn foster

or parker, either or

-bt-

he hearts Inez:{>:

-bt-

I could understand at the beginning of the Arlington meet when I said she was really good and all the guys laughed at me.

I can't understand it now. Don't be a hater...there's not a single rider in Chicago right now that I'd rather have.

She did have a good Arlington meet, but overall, I'd still take Emigh.

John Burton back in the days of Waterford Park , hands down the best to have ever rode there. I know David Gall rode alot there and won alot of races but Burton was a master and could power one home like Pincay , and his left handed stick would almost gaurantee you a win.

Jocks
 

It always amazes me just how whiny folks can be about jocks. They have a split second to make a decision and I don't care who is riding you can't always be right. When it's a trainer doing the complaining they can have legitimate gripe but often they are just as myopic as the fans.

Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship.

I really miss Bill Shoemaker.

The guy was so cool. His demeanor was so professional. He cashed a nice bet for me with his magnificent ride aboard Ferdinand in the '86 Derby. If you haven't seen the race in awhile check it out on You Tube.

She is getting mounts because of the bug, once that is gone, she will be riding the Prairie Meadows/Indiana circuit.

Tim Thorton is the best damn rider on this circuit, bar none, he just doesn't get the mounts, although he is starting to.

It always amazes me how apologetic naive people can be about jocks. They can do stupid things over and over, almost habitually, and yet still they defend them with remarks about having to make split second decisions.

If NFL quarterbacks made split second decisions in the same way that most jocks do we would end up with wishbone style offenses throughout the NFL.

QB's that make consistently bad decisions typically end up out of football.

As far as not always being right, well, duh. Everyone makes mistakes. It would be nice to see more jocks make more right decisions than wrong decisions.

......pretty sad, sounds like you are really down on jocks.

Are you always this negative?

We couldn't have the sport we love without them.

Oh I know you are a futurist that wants be see a mechanical gizmo on the back of horses. That would be interesting! Who would be to blame then?

Normally, I would have agreed....but after the Arlington meet he had where you can find several horses who he actually kept from winning by being a cocky *******, he's not quite at the top of my list anymore.

I doubt it. That's just my guess. But I'm pretty confident she'll be around if she wants to be around because I think she keeps lots of these mounts. It's not like five pounds is what's making her good...and by and large she's still not "getting mounts," she's riding horses who shouldn't be winning in the first place. It's not like she's picking up Rene Douglas-style mounts thanks to her bug and heading to post at 9-5 all the time...she's riding middle of the road horses and making something of them more than she should be whether it's on 20-1 shots in $4K claimers or 3-1 shots in allowance races, she gives you the same race no matter what.

Lyndie Wade, back from almost death, sure proved to be a gutsy jock on our horse at Ellis. I think we'll be hearing much more about him in the near future.:$:

Wow, someone else remembers the general.

Am I always this negative? Pretty much only when I respond to something simpleminded on Internet message boards, which sadly, is much too often.

As for being a futurist, I'm more of a pastist. What would be the point of having a mechanical gizmo as a jockey? I say let them run without the 110 pound handicap.

As an incentive to finish first in a race, male horses would get to be Golden Missile for a day, and female horses would get to be with a Golden Missile for a day!