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Originally Posted by brockguy
The Ballinger Ridge race gets so much attention and deservedly so. It looks terrible.. As a racing fan though, I thought he was quite unlucky. With those shocking bad horses, winning by massive distances literally destroys their handicap mark (my point here is that BR won next time out, went up 7pounds for it and never won again!!). You see so many jocks easing up and winning by as little as possible. Fallon made a huge mistake, easing too early on a horse that was tired so it took him much longer than normal to get going again. And after a terrible riding mistake, he only lost on a head bobber - hardly a deliberate loser there..
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I'm not with you here at all.
It was the constant looking over his shoulder in the straight. First time about 7 lengths clear...... which was fine, he then looked and they had closed to about four lengths. Even if you are trying to save a horses handicap mark you at least try and maintain a couple length lead, but no, Fallon eased the horse even more. Another look round and Rye was about a length behind, and it wasn't until Rye had put his head in front that Fallon started to move in the saddle.
I understand what you are saying about handicap marks, but this wasn't a case of that at all. Didn't Willie Muir say he was disgusted by the ride afterwards and also say he should have won eight lengths? suggesting he didn't care how far the horse won.
Fallon had every chance to win that race by just a couple of lengths, but he didn't take that chance.
Match that up with the huge amount of money that Rodgers placed on the horse to get beaten, and you have a very dodgey case on your hands.
Did you read the article from the Racing Post?
This race wasn't just a case of preserving the horses handicap mark. Fallon could have won a very easy two lengths and the handicapper would have treated it like a six length victory anyway. There is a HUGE myth in racing that the winning distance is a big thing for the handicapper. When a horse wins easily (as BR would have done) the winning distance would have made no difference from a handicappers point of view.