8/1 (MTH): Haskell (G1), Oceanport & Matchmaker (G3's)

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

The only reason Baffert starting givng Garcia first dibs was because Garcia was riding great for him.

Even if a jock is lucky enough to get in with a big barn, they will be out very quick if they are giving bad rides. Baffert won't hesitate to give a guy the boot if the guy isn't riding well.

Baffert called Garcia something like "the best jockey out there at working horses in the morning" or something like that .. and I would assume having an agent named Pegram wouldn't hurt your cause with getting the benefit of the doubt from that specific barn.

The problem with a lot of Garcia's bad rides is that they don't pass for bad rides because they're not bad rides visually so much as they're bad rides analytically.

Gomez's ride on Lookin at Lucky in the SA Derby was only a bad one because Espinoza went above and beyond the call of duty of race riding. You think if Gomez had LAL widest on both turns he would have ran down Sidney's Candy that day?

There are going to be a lot of times where Garcia is going to come up a half length short with a clear trip - where someone like a Gomez would have won by a length on the same horse with one of his ground saving well timed good rides.