PVal Back In Cali

[Patrick333]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

La. Downs does not have top class racing by any stretch. He was out there with the rest of them - riding $5k claimers and trying hard. Does that make him a top class rider? No, but he has to make a living like everyone else.

It's interesting when you call races... you notice two types of riders... the really good ones, and the horrendous ones. I remember a few distinct things about P-Val... if he makes the lead, he knows how to back the horse down. Rarely did he set insanely fast paces while on the lead. He looks very "streamlined" in the saddle relative to his peers here.

The second, and this is inconsequential, but he had a hard time rating really head-strong horses. I think that's just because he had a few instances where the horse went nuts on him, not anything related to his ability, but none the less I noticed.

For what it's worth... what I've noticed at LAD over the past few years... I was lucky to call Joe Talamo's first win (he almost blew it) and he was one who stood out right from the start. Francisco Torres never seemed to be in a bad spot. Anna Roberts knows how to relax a horse on the lead, she just has to finish better, and she's getting better in that regard. Richard Eramia always seems to put horses in the right spots. Finally, Iram Diego is underrated.

Thanks for the information Travis. It's good to know that he seems to still have it.