JOCKEYS & The Belmont Stakes
 

comment about jockeys HERE-->.
(meaningless passengers or influential handlers)


Kent - Will he set the pace? - I think he would love to sit 2nd and let Da'Tara go like a maniac. What if Da'tara is tardy?

Gomez- Why did Leparoux jump off of Macho Again? Zito over Stewart??
More importantly - Will Gomez allow Macho Again to use his gate speed to establish great position beforet the choke-hold? I don't trust Gomez to do his homework and do this, and it could cost Macho Again (for the 1st time).

JOHNNY V- with the distance and expected slower pace, will Johnny V be able to get Ready's Echo out of the gat just a little better? OR is it an incorrectable fault of the horse.

I think the jockey to focus on besides obvious Desormeaux might be Eibar Coa on Tale of Ekati.

Coa is the most ruthless rider in New York - and if Kent or Alan Garcia are passive early, he might be in much of the same situation with ToE that Gomez was in last year with Hard Spun.

If that happens, it will be interesting to see if he decides to make an easy lead or if his sole focus becomes to race ride Big Brown.

Big Brown is a long striding horse and you want to take him out of his comfort zone just as Gomez did to Curlin by boxing him in behind a crawl last year.

I think the other riders will do a great job if they can box Big Brown in behind a slow pace and get his face a little dirty. BB has never really had dirt kicked in his face before in any of his races.

The worst case for BB is Da Tara makes the lead and Coa covers both of them up with Tale of Ekati. If Da Tara runs out of horse - and you have a rail to your left and Coa to your right - neither one will give you an inch.

I believe the connections of Macho Again went with GG because of his experience at Belmont Park. West Point made the call...

http://tcm.bloodhorse.com/article/45386.htm

Kent has to avoid falling off, the rest is meaningless.

I think this sums it up fairly well.

You know these jocks are going to do what they can to make things difficult for Big Brown. If that means boxing-in, throwing dirt etc., they'll do it.

Plus, if Big Brown makes the lead, one-by-one they'll take their shot. This scenario is what I expected with Casino Drive.

Da Tara is just another horse with speed, which doesn't help, but Tale of Ekati is a horse with some ability to make things difficult for BB, at least for a little bit.

Looking at the field, most of them dont even have enough speed to get a position, let alone bother BB. Plus I think many of the jocks will just be riding for second money anyway.

And, does it follow that he's never been trained in this manner in the morning? Surely, there's at least ONE trainer in the country who puts his horses between and behind other horses in the morning.

Maybe they stopped doing this since I was around the backstretch and that's why it continues to be an issue?:zz:

:cool:

Allen Jerkens once told me just because you do it to them doesnt mean they will like it.

The ultimate trump card.

Why is that? Doesn't mean if a horse doesn't like it that he/she will stop OR that the jock can't just maneuver into a better position ---especially in a 1 1/2 mile race. What's the proportion of horses moving TOO LATE to that of moving too early in the BEL?

I find the discussion overblown. Especially, when it's by people who are so outspoken against POLY.

Didn't like the track
Didn't like the kickback
Didn't like the gate
Didn't like the paddock area
etc.

good stuff