Quote:
Originally Posted by brianwspencer
Completely agreed -- just after your last post, I didn't want it to seem like I was an advocate of ALWAYS cutting a horse loose 3/8 from the wire. Some horses don't have that run (Interactif not being one as I think we've seen in the past), but sometimes (and I hate to keep harping on the American Derby, but it was brilliant and a great example) when the only runners near the front are cheap speed you can easily put away and are getting tired and you know all of the real, legit threats are going to be charging hard late, that is ABSOLUTELY the right time to give your horse some more run. If the closers are going to be charging from the moment they straighten in a race like that and no serious contender is around you at the moment, I'd rather the closers have 8 lengths to make up rather then 3.
Again, not always cut and dry, but with horses with tactical speed, a great call.
And now I'm going to stop responding to this for now because the idea of agreeing with you so much on something like this is making me totally rethink whether I even have a legit point.  |
Ramon, Kent D, Jerry Bailey when he was riding all had innate abilities to sense when the precise time to move on horses and more times than not would make this a winning move. It shows versatility in a rider. Guys who are locked into one style of riding on the turf don't seem to get it. One of the best riders in Australia is a rider named Nash Rawiller and he uses the pinch a break method better than any rider out there, it's amazing he gets away with it so often that you have to wonder what the other riders are thinking.