Lukas is quite outspoken on several issues and he is mostly likely the Bobby Knight of horse racing, but I certainly don't see that as a bad thing. Hoss brings up a point that many people seem to forget, many of the great owners he's saddled for have passed away. Sure is he winning at a rate that he once did?
The answer is no. But would I have him train a horse that I owned?
No question about it.

If you are too big and need to flip to make weight than a career change is needed. It is a shame that guys devote themselves to this career at a young age and grow out of it but that is not the fault of the horse racing industry. It is about personal choices. If you choose to do unhealthy things to yourself in order to keep riding then a look in the mirror is needed. The recent HBO show highlighted the death of Chris Herrell. Herrell died from a heart attack from years of flipping. He also was naturally a 150 lbs guy. Do you think raising the weight scale 2 pounds would have done anything for him?

The weight scale has been raised especially at the bottom of the scale. There is not a shortage of jockeys. No one forces anyone to be a jockey. The fact that people have gotten bigger over the years is a moot point.

The fact is that raising the scale a few pounds will not do a thing except make it easier for heavier people to try to ride. Bulemia is a disease and very few jockeys will just stop if the scale was raised a few pounds. The same problems will exist, nothing will change.

There is no handicap division anymore.

When I read the details of the things that Antley did on a daily basis to make weight later in his career, it was quite painful to me. I wish he could have realized it was over for him as a jockey, but that's easy for me to say. It's the only thing he ever wanted to do from the time he was 12 yrs. old. He was quite adept at playing the stock market and could still be around to enjoy his wife and child, if only he could have walked away. I think he was special on a horses back, even though he carried many demons of his own. One of Antleys Doctors said "trainers love him for his ride, but hate his offtrack troubles." Sounds like a horrible spot for a person to be in.

padua yanked a ton of horses from him, im not denyin what the guy did in the past but his better years have been behind him for quite sometime now

Right now a good number of our jockeys have brittle, thin bones (chronic malnutrition), esophageal varicies or bleeding from chronic heaving, permanent heart and kidney damage and electrolyte imbalances (especially calcium, potassium) from extreme dieting and the chronic abuse of diuretics and purgatives, etc.

Maybe only a very few of them should be riding in the afternoons right now anyway? The naturally smaller young apprentices and young journeymen that stay very small - they can ride for a few years, and as they enter their mid-twenties and start accumulating too much weight they should quit?

As you move from the current extreme edge of the bell curve (where only 1-2% of the population is a certain size, and everyone but young apprentices has to abuse their bodies to make weight) towards the middle a few pounds, you'll have a greater population able to hold a certain weight - from above and below that point on the bell curve - without having to physically abusing themselves by bulemia, cocaine, sweatboxes, lasix and other diuretic and purgative abuse, etc.

The population in the US has been getting taller over the past century, so the available population for that extreme side of the bell curve has been getting smaller and smaller. Yet we still want people that fit into that size limitation from a century ago (I think NY has raised their weights a few years back) and now we can rarely find people of that small size in the US, we have to get them from countries that are, health and nutrition-wise, still a century behind us.

"Where will it end" is the most important question, because over the same time period horses have been getting faster, meaning lighter in bone, etc - how much weight can the horses of today be asked to safely carry? Not much more than they are now, I think.

It's very sad to me what many of the Jocks have to put themselves through.
I was just getting into the game when Randy Romero was at his peak. I feel sorry for the guy and what he goes through, but I think what Hossy is saying is accurate. Even if the weights are increased there will always be those who will resort to abusing their bodies in order to make weight. But as Dahoss says, it's the profession they've chosen. They could always try something else.

good post.

thoughtful. nuanced. pretty much everything i never expect to find on an internet board.

Almost as good as the one where you were trying to say that Lukas is a shitty trainer because his former "assitants" haven't done well. Hmmmm....

don't forget the one where i brought up the long whip he used on azeri in training.

btw: quotation marks should contain actual quotes.

Thanks for the tip about the proper grammar. You have been very helpful lately, especially with the sharting problem. :D

Back to the topic, I do not think Antley should be in any HOF. Sorry, had he not messed up so many times and ended up killing himself he may have been around some more years and really proven that he belonged. I just don't see rewarding chronic drug users with honors.

As a grown adult, he had a choice. The choice he made failed him. Too bad, he was a brilliant rider and probably a decent day trader. He should have chosen to leave a better legacy for his kid.

Sometimes it's not just as clear as that. Let's award him for his accomplishments as a jockey not degrade him for his off track troubles.

If not an absolute winner, certainly a deep finalist for " worst first post " in the history of internet message boards.

As you can see, I disagree with you, and ( at least in this case ) I am all for rewarding ( or is it awarding ) chronic drug users with honors.

I know. My dream of being an anorexic runway supermodel died at 15 :(

I'm sorry.