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Originally Posted by dalakhani
You mean the same baffert that once said "There are ten jockeys out there that you would put up in the toughest situations and Kent is one of them" (paraphrasing for "ride of their lives'). Or are you talking about the same Mandella that put Kent on the best horse he ever had in Kotashaan? Or the same Baffert that put Kent up on mounts such as Real Quiet? Same Baffert? Did Kent suddenly forget how to ride? How come Kent could not only compete but WIN riding titles and George woolf awards when the names were McCarron, Stevens, Delahoussaye, Pincay, etc and suddenly he cant compete with the likes of David Cohen, Ochoa, the bazes or Arias? Do you think he suddenly cant ride anymore? Or do you think there might be other factors like the ones being pointed out in those articles?
Mike Smith is a perfect example. Can he still ride? Yes, although he is past his prime for sure. Kent is still in the midst of his.
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You could say the same thing about any rider who is not doing nearly as well as they used to. You could say, "Oh, it must be their attitude. They didn't forget how to ride."
I'm not saying that Kent is a bad rider. He's a decent rider but he's not as good as the top riders. He came out here and got hot for a while but after the trainers got a chance to watch to him for a long period of time, they didn't think he was that good. The same thing happened to Aaron Gryder in New York. He did very well for a while but after trainers got a chance to watch him ride for several years in New York, they decided that they thought a lot of the other jockeys were better.
By the way, I never said that Ochoa is better than Desormeaux. If Desormeaux was at Del Mar right now, I think he would be well ahead of Ochoa in the standings. I think he would be well ahead of Arias too.
Like I said, I will ask Ellis and Mandella. I'm pretty sure I know what their answer will be. By the way, just because a trainer puts a jockey on a really good horse, it does not mean that the trainer thinks that the jockey is a great jockey. Bobby Frankel had Jon Court riding his best horse last year. Court was riding Leroidisanimaux. That doesn't mean that Frankel thinks that Court is as good as Jerry Bailey. By the way, it was Court's decision to take off the horse. He had the mount but there was a weekend where the horse was running in New York but Court had some good mounts here that weekend. He decided to stay here so he lost the mount.