ESPN.. hard-hitting investigative source that they are..

[Kasept]

ESPN to Examine “Track Tragedies” Wednesday & Sunday This week

Outside the Lines (Wednesday, 3 p.m., ESPN; Sunday, 9 a.m., ESPN)

PRESS RELEASE: The Belmont Stakes could produce the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years. But the sport of horse racing has not had much to celebrate of late, particularly at a venerable New York race track just 10 miles from Belmont. A deadly season at Aqueduct Racetrack claimed the lives of more than 20 horses and prompted intense scrutiny of the dangers and the drugs involved in the sport of kings. Jeannine Edwards reports.

[pointman]

I guess this just proves that if you print it and say it often enough, people believe it regardless of the actual facts.

[pmayjr]

I suppose if you don't have coverage of the tc or bc events anymore, you don't have a vested interest in not bringing up the controversial tabloidish stuff anymore either. Sucks that Edwards is the one doing the reporting though. I've always liked her work

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by pmayjr

I suppose if you don't have coverage of the tc or bc events anymore, you don't have a vested interest in not bringing up the controversial tabloidish stuff anymore either. Sucks that Edwards is the one doing the reporting though. I've always liked her work

Agree on both counts.

I took a photo of Jeannine at Derby...

[Left Bank]

Originally Posted by pointman

I guess this just proves that if you print it and say it often enough, people believe it regardless of the actual facts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by Kasept

prompted intense scrutiny of the dangers and the drugs involved in the sport of kings.

If they want to do an Outside the Lines on the drugs -- get private investigators to follow the true move-up artists and get them to connect with the important attachments of these trainers.

As far as the dangers of the sport -- jockeys are the humans who mostly have to face it.

Even with the danger they can face, they are still the most overpaid group of professional athletes known to man. The difference between the best jockey and the 75th best jockey isn't very much.

[alysheba4]

i dont know man, those jocks have huge huevos

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by alysheba4

i dont know man, those jocks have huge huevos

You need to have great nerve, weigh 110lbs, and know how to ride a horse -- and if you're healthy and get a decent agent -- you'll make very good money as a jockey.

I've watched my youngest brother ride a motorcycle about 40 MPH where he is standing straight up on the seat. One slip, and he's dead. He also knows how to ride a horse ... he's just too heavy. Being small is the true payoff.

[Danzig]

they say that bravery and stupidity are not that far apart. i had thought about being a jock when i was a kid...and i'm probably dumb enough, and have enough of the ten feet tall bulletproof mentality to have done it had i not gone the navy route instead. god knows i'm the right height. weight wouldn't have been a problem...
but hey, all my bones remain unbroken, so there's that!!

[NTamm1215]

I don't think they're overpaid at all. The very best jockeys make about as much in purse money in a year as Zach Johnson did for winning the Colonial two weeks ago.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by NTamm1215

I don't think they're overpaid at all. The very best jockeys make about as much in purse money in a year as Zach Johnson did for winning the Colonial two weeks ago.

I hate golf as much as anyone -- but guys like Tiger Woods, Michelson, etc. are guys with exceptional skills.

Chantal Sutherland is a terrible judge of pace and tactics ... and she can pass as a top level rider.

I know you're a sharp guy, NTamm. If you tried to work with an avg mid-level circuit jockey -- you'd want to kill them in less than two weeks.

I remember the first time my rider was on a post-time favorite in a race. The horse was 8-to-5 on the morning line, went off at about 4-to-5, and was lone speed from an outside post in a paceless race at a time when a huge inside-speed bias was in play.

The trainer, Mike Rodgers, told the jockey he wanted to rate the horse -- because he thought the horse ran its best races from off the pace.

I told the jockey that the trainer has no idea what he's talking about. Just make the lead, get to the rail, and you'll crush them. The jockey agreed with the trainer and he told me not to 'worry about telling me how to ride' -- he got the horse off slowly, raced wide throughout from off the pace, and finished 4th by about 5 lengths.

A 15/1 shot who looked hopeless on paper and had no early speed wired them from post #2.

That night, when I met the jock upstairs, I asked him "how many lengths would we have won by if you rode a smart race?" -- he blew up on me and claimed that the horse wouldn't have won no matter what he did.

This was a guy who was a top 10 jock at Del Mar and Hollywood Park when he had his bug. He seriously didn't know anything about anything.