Overrated Jockeys

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I agree they hurt horses far more than they help them. This is true even for the best riders. They have to. It's very hard to really make that much of a difference on the positive side and not that hard to screw it up. Sure, we all lose bets we should have won, Mike Luzzi CLEARLY cost me a score in the finale Friday when I needed the favorite for a good Pick-4 hit when he buried him unnecessarily on the rail behind a bad speed going down the backstretch and ended up getting shuffled back to last before rallying to lose by just over a length, but what I guess I should have said is that riders cost the average horseplayer only a fraction of the beats they blame on them. And, as I did say, you will be the positive beneficiary of other bad rides much more often. That's just a numbers game.

Yeah, this is true....you'll lose some wagers on jocks poor rides when you probably had the best horse, yet every bettor out there has probably also benefitted by a bad ride on a horse in a race that they won....you're right...it is law of numbers, and riders CANNOT move horses up but can hurt their chances...this is one thing that jocks are at a disadvantage about due to the nature of the game, but surprisingly a lot of people don't understand this reality...

[blackthroatedwind]

If you ask riders, while they obviously would love to be on the favorite every race, they will tell you it is easier to ride big priced horses, in that there are usually no big expectations. On a big favorite their job is absolutely not to screw it up. On a price, they can take a chance and hope to get lucky.

[Habersham000]

Kent Desormeaux.....I won't bet horses anymore with him abord...just watch the replay from sundays 6th race at Belmont...had the best horse and loses because he sits wayyyy to far off the pace on a sprint and no horse can catch the winner even though he has much the best horse in the race....also his rides on Sweetnorthersaint in the triple crown were both terrible