Jockey shenanigans mar BC prep races

[jms62]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

The horse who was a path wider than he was won so who is to say that his tactics caused the horse to not win? Or perhaps long shots should just do their best to stay out of the big bad favorite way?

What tactics would you suggest that he should have taken that would have given his mount the best chance to win? The DRF isnt a script. Riders change tactics without notice all the time. Saying that he shouldnt have gone 4 wide in the first turn isnt an implication that he wasnt trying because the horse got beat 20 lengths. He might have gotten beaten 20 lengths regardless of what he did. Do we really want stewards basing decisions based on their preconceived notions of what should happen based on their handicapping of the race?

Every racing day at Parx horses are put into this exact same position by riders looking to get off of a dead rail. Even with less skilled riders and far less talented horses no one is getting put in power chairs.

Someone was complaining about integrity issues on social media concerning this ride and suspension. IMO the integrity problem is when big name horses, 2/5 shots, pretty horse people and bloggers start to affect the decision making process of the stewards which in some jurisdictions is pretty shaky already.

He eased the horse after Shared Belief got past him. Did we hear anything about his horse coming away with any kind of injury to warrant such? If that doesn't scream that his sole purpose was to agitate and try and get Shared Belief beat nothing does. Those in the game that keep defending such nonsense shouldn't be surprised when bettors eventually say WTF already(this is not a stab at you), its hard enough handicapping horses and now I got to handicap whether or not the jockey is going to give me an honest effort. It failed the smell test to me. Now to give full disclosure here my only exposure to this was using the horse in BCQualify to try and make up a 25 buck deficit. Why they would use a race with a 3/5 undefeated horse as the last in the contest is another issue but since I'm whining I might as well mention it even though it is completely off topic.