Jara or Leparoux
 

Which on of these two wonderful jocks would you want riding your horse?

Can Napravnik be a choice?

Lepar, not a question in my mind.

Leparoux in a heartbeat!

You guys sleep on Rosie.

Rosie had a pretty nice day on Preakness day - she won the turf sprint stakes and atleast one other I believe but I think she'd be in over her head at Toga right now. I'd take Leparoux any day over Jara, but both will be very good riders very soon

Leparoux is a flat out talent but you know what? At teh end of the day Jara is going to be a better rider. Leparoux is older than Jara and jara is already a tremendously strong rider. Watch him down the lane in a race. He rides the hair off of them and he whips hard and switches sticks better than Leparoux. He already has what? 4 grade one wins this year? hes starting to get mounts from better trainers more consistently and hes gonna get better. I say Jara accomplishes more the next 5 years.

Wouldnt disagree at all Oracle. Also have to remeber that Jara is still only 18 years old until December so Leaproux has about 5 years experience on him. Plus Leparoux is getting mounts from Biancone's strong stable. Really have to respect Jara, especially on the closers. Always seems to have em flying late.

I'd have to go with Jara since he's 18 and winning Grade I's.

I think Martin Garcia has the most potential out of the crop of young riders though.

I agree with Lep being wide, but alot of his horses have been Biacones who come over from France who are always dead last in American racing, thus always wide.

i would still take Jara, dude is just unbelievable right now, riding everything in sight SOLIDLY...ORGINAL SPIN for christ sake got 2nd with him, this horse got SMOKED in a Illinois Bred stakes races, albeit off a long layoff but still...I still can't believe how well she ran

Garcia would win at 3% in NY...if that

Jaras strong point is his patience which is also something that gets him in trouble when an opening dosent develope and he gets trapped, When he has the horse he is very agressive when the opening appears. Mos all of the jockey can get outside and win with the best horse but Jara looks for the trip taking the short cut and finding the hole, Thus giving his horse the best shot without spotting the competion a few lengths with a wide trip. The frenchman just seems to always get the most from his mouts no matter the class of the race. I would take either.

Well it's easy to make that statement since the chances of Garcia riding in NY are close to nil.

It's funny because I didn't see Leparoux in the winner's circle at Del Mar yesterday. I guess the inferior jockey colony at Del Mar had a lucky day.

He had three mounts yesterday, and ran 2nd in a Grade 1 race...Garcia was in that race, where did he finish?

Also, Lep has DOMINATED the Kentucky circuit like NO OTHER bug has. Garcia dominated Northern Cal....

You can put a monkey on a horse in Northern Cal and win races. Sunny HO EVEN WINS RACES in Northern Cal.

Leparoux ran second with the even money favorite. A horse who romped last year in the Balerina.
Garcia ran last with the longest shot on the board. A sprinter who was stretching out on dirt for the first time.
Yeah and Pablo Fragoso even wins in NY.

I'm not saying Lep is not a great jock. You're the one saying Garcia would be lucky to win 3% of his mounts in NY. He would arguably be a top 5 jock at Aqueduct's winter meet.

Ithink it's a stretch to say he'd be a top five jock at AQU's winter meet.

He's absolutely dusting Arroyo Jr. at Del Mar right now and Arroyo Jr. finished tied for fifth at the duct winter meet.

Wow. your new to the site so I am going to take it easy, You are comparing Apples to oranges right now. NY winter duct meet is the weakest of their meets. Lep dominated Keeneland and Churchill, two of the most competitive meets in the country. Not sure how he is going at Toga but if he wins that meet, you won't have any argument whatsoever. You also have to realize is that they guy is still winning races when he doesn't have his bug(stakes races). Garcia is not.

You can't tell me you wouldn't prefer Lepar on the turf for sure. You can call dirt a tossup, but Lepar is one of the best young guys on the turf anywhere.

All I've said is that I believe Garcia has the potential to be the best out of the young crop of riders. Many trainers on the west coast are singing this young man's praises and deservedly so.

I agree that Leparoux is outstanding and Jara has been lights out in the big races. But to disregard Garcia as nothing more than a 3% winner if he moves to New York is absolutely absurd considering he finished 1st at Golden Gate defeating Russell Baze, 3rd at the Hollywood meet and is currently in 3rd at the Del Mar meet.

And now I am asking you to please not take it easy on me. I want your brilliance and knowledge of the game to shine through not just post count, but actual opinion. Trying to throw around board status is lame.

I wasn't throwing around board status yo....Fact is that Jara is riding against 10 horse field on a consistent basis and Garcia rides against 5 horses.

It is in my opinion that Garcia would even have problems getting mounts at Saratoga right now. he would be a top 12 jock at the belmont Meet, and would be a top three jock at the Aqueduct Meet. The Aqueduct meet is always dominated by bugs because everyone is at Gulfstream.

Also, if I am not mistaken, he beat Baze because Baze missed four weeks with a broken shoulder blade, and Baze almost came back and beat him.

Garcia had 79 more mounts than Baze and finished 15 wins ahead of him. Baze still had a slightly higher win % but Garcia put him away the last two weeks of the meet.

Regardless beating Baze on his home turf is a big accomplishment. Baze usually sleepwalks to the winner's circle up there.

agree....but the Frenchmen dominated Churchill, and dominated Keeneland, I am surprised at your opinion quite honestly. You sound intelligent so i am guessing you understand that the jockey colony is 10 times harder at KY and NY then in Northern Cal, and Southern Cal for that matter.

Aaron Gryder wins races at Southern Cal.

SUNNY HO...I think I read that he won 1 race in like three years.....almost as bad as Laviolette

I agree that the jockey colony on the NY/Gulfstream circuit is far better than Cali but I disagree with the KY circuit due to the retirement of Pat Day last year. Outside of Bejarano and the Frenchmen this is what you are left with..

Calvin H. Borel - Riding well as of late but if his next wife divorces him look for a drought until he finds another woman. :P

Randall Toups - When this kid loses his bug he'll do well to win races at River Downs. Absolutely horrible from the gate.

Mark Guidry - It's hard to knock a guy who just won the West Virginia Derby but on a daily basis this guy is about as stable as the price of a gallon of gas.

Robby Albarado - I truly believe Neil Howard's winning percentage would jump at least 5% if he found another rider.

Rene R. Douglas - I believe Romans already dropped him.

Shaun Bridgmohan - Even Bridgmohan won races in NY

Compare these guys to Victor, PVal, Nak, Solis, Garcia and even the up and coming Michael Baze and I would take the SoCal boys by a length.

Let me guess, you live in California...MICHAEL BAZE? oh man

Yeah, you're right. I could replace Slogoso with Espinoza and/or Samyn and it still wouldn't equal the horrible Sunny Ho.

Hey it's scary, I know. But the kid is winning races and looks like a completely different rider at Del Mar. He's bringing some decent prices in too. I'd have to pick him over Randall Toups.

Bridgmo is a great rider, Assmussen wouldn't have him first call if he wasn't. he is good with babies and rides the turf as good as anyone.

Albarado is frustrating, the only closers that I will play him on are the ones that can win going 5w, he is playable with speed or raters, as long as he is in the top flight, you have a chance.

This weekend, he rode Fort Prado, best horse in the race by far, like he was riding a 10k claimer, was 4w4w and ended up 3rd beaten 5 lengths

I am not a fan of Toups at all so you can have this one, think he is a rider because he can get to 112, that is about it...

Yeah I saw that race. I can't recall Albarado having a serious injury before but sometimes he rides like he's almost had a near death experience on the track.

I agree with every one of Pillow Pants' posts.

The Kentucky cirquit has never been a hot bed of riders. It is a hot bed of bug boys. Kris Prather, Rafeal Bejarano and now Leparoux. The purses on the Kentucky cirquit just arent there. Now when Keeneland opens then all the great jocks come down. But right now the top colony is NY and then So Cal. No Cal is about on the level of Calder. Garcia is a finee jock but he wouldnt win 5 races at the Saratoga meet of he races 120 times.

Michael Baze has actually been pretty good to me.

I'd go with Julian (to answer the original question).

Speaking of jockeys, did Freddy Fong ever get that 3rd win this year? :D

Don't forget Miguel Mena. He's very solid on the turf. I think he wins the Ellis title over McKee, Borel and Toups.

JARA...no doubt in my mind at all.