Bug Riders

[ALostTexan]

Originally Posted by herkhorse

Caught a few nice prices using Dylan Williams at Oaklawn.( 13-3-0-1) I think he's been riding well, but I'm interested in your thoughts on the bug advantage. Does the 5 lbs. allowance make a big difference? Do you give the weight break much credence when handicapping?

Many racing secretaries believe that when assigning handicap weight, which of course we never seem to see anymore, that 1 pound is a length distance in a mile race, so based on that assumption you are talking about ~5 lengths in a mile race, or roughly 1 second difference give all other things as close to equal as possible.

The way I see it, when you have Julien Leparoux last year or Talamo this year that the bug weight can make a slight difference, but the apprentice has to show me that he is at a level at least close to his competition as far as a jockey goes...