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

[CSC]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

I completely agree with you that having first dibs for any of the top barns is huge. But practically all of these top trainers have great eyes and they won't use jocks that are making mistakes. 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. We will see if Garcia lasts with Baffert. If you are right and Garcia is not a particularly good jock, he probably won't last long. If I am right and Garcia truly has become a top jock, he will probably be riding for Baffert for a long time.

By the way, the number for the Garcia/Baffert combo in 2009-2010 is 30% wins and an ROI of $2.12. That is from 194 mounts.

Rupert,

Agree about Baffert not hesitating giving a jockey the boot, throughout his training career he has had a love hate relationship with his riders, he's one of the most outspoken trainer's in the game that will not hesitate switching things up at a drop of a hat. He has used Expinoza on and off, Flores, Smith, Solis, Gomez, he even replaced HOF jock Mccarron once, used Antley for a short time so it is inevitable that Martin Garcia's time will come; however as long as they have success together and Garcia continues to develop as a rider, and more importantly do the things that Baffert likes on the track he will continue to get the choice mounts from his stable. I liken it to what happened to Alan Garcia when he broke through when he became Kieran Mclaughlin's go to rider, he got his break with him, his profile grew and he has parlayed that into better mounts with other stables. Regardless here is what Baffert said of Garcia's ride yesterday and in particular losing ground.

"He broke fine and Martin eased him to the outside," Baffert said of the winner. "I knew we’d lose a little bit of ground, but that was the winning move.

“At the three-eighths pole, that’s when you know you’ve got a good horse because they’ll be pulling you. Martin was still sitting, but when he pushed the button, the horse really took off. You can’t make that move on synthetic, but on dirt it was the winning move. That’s really what I like to see -- running fast horses on fast tracks.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Fernando Jara could have been on been LAL yesterday and nothing would change.

[CSC]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Fernando Jara could have been on been LAL yesterday and nothing would change.

That might be a stretch, remember his ride in the Donn when he was stopped cold but Invasor bailed him out BIG TIME.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Jara was a glorified sack of oats .. and not a very good judge of a lot of things - and yeah, Garcia is a little better than him I will admit ... but it doesn't take much to win on Caddy's.

[10 pnt move up]

If your hay is built on being the main rider in Baffert barn my advice would be not to get too comfortable and be very careful about flipping other trainers, what goes around comes around.

[cakes44]

Javier Santiago was running #1 call for Baffert a few years back. How's he doing now?

[MaTH716]

Originally Posted by cakes44

Javier Santiago was running #1 call for Baffert a few years back. How's he doing now?

Was he really first call? I thought the story was that he was a tall kid that Baffert stumbled upon/discovered in Puerto Rico and gave him a few mounts. I remember Santiago riding and winning a few races for him, but I think those were the days that Victor was his go to guy.