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Originally Posted by philcski
I do gallop horses, not as well as professional jockeys of course, but i'm also 6'1" and 180 lbs vs a jockey who's almost half that size- it's VERY difficult to immediately change direction or speed. At the start, however, i think it has more to do with the horse being overeager than anything else. I don't know if the jocks have any way of not getting them to stumble (like the comically bad start to the Mother Goose)
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I'm not making the claim that a jock can stop a horse from stumbling or ducking out (or things of that sort) ESPECIALLY when shot out of the gate. My claim all along is that jockeys need to better anticipate these things at the break. Anticipate a horse going to its knees; anticipate a horse ducking out or in. Some jocks are better than others at not going down when these things happen. This is a fact. Part of it, I'm sure, is due to their athleticism; part to their anticipation/preparation. It's beyond argument, I would think, that if you're prepared for an occurrence, ANY OCCURRENCE, you have a better chance at handling it.
My assertion that they don't anticipate as well as they should is an inference drawn from their continual repetition of errors in other facets of the trip around the track.