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Strong reports that Gosden has sacked Jimmy Fortune to be replaced as stable jockey by William Buick.
It is believed Fortune will replace Buick at Balding’s
That surprises me. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Breeders Cup, wasn’t JF left at home?
Buick is very promising but it’ll be a much higher pressure role for him, I hope he does well though.
Baldings Yard?……Jesus he dropped about 3 division there. When has Balding last had a Group Winner other than that Bucallati…..
On the other side Gosden doesn’t trust Fortune with a decent Horse on a Big Occasion which is suprising since Aidan O Brien has faith in him for the big occasion. Can’t say i have noticed Fortune riding poorly but i watch little of British Racing especially Flat so i can’t comment. On the Big days i thought he has done okay. Gosden himself is a bit of a spoofer. He managed to get Ravens Pass beat despite being a horse of Top Class Quality…..he was poor enough with Rainbow View as well tbh. Not a fan of his tbh….he deserves the sack more than Fortune
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Jimmy Fortune is often guilty of being tactically naive, but I don’t know that replacing him with someone as relatively inexperienced as William Buick (as talented as he appears to be) is all that sensible.
Daily Mail on line apparently confirms this in an exclusive:-
EXCLUSIVE: Jimmy Fortune sacked – William Buick lands John Gosden job
By Marcus Townend
Last updated at 11:11 PM on 20th January 2010William Buick was on the verge of being named new stable jockey to John Gosden last night after the Newmarket trainer severed ties with Jimmy Fortune.
Buick, 21, is a former champion apprentice who has long been tipped for the top. But the sport will be shocked that his elevation has come at the expense of the likeable Fortune.
The 38-year-old Irishman has been stable jockey to Gosden for 10 years, a job which
followed his appointment as retained rider to the late owner Robert Sangster in 1998. When Gosden moved from his Newmarket base to Sangster’s Manton Estate in Wiltshire in 1999, he began using Fortune.The partnership continued when Gosden returned to Clarehaven Stables in Newmarket in 2005. The successes the pair enjoyed together included the 2007 St Leger with Lucarno and four Group One wins in 2009, featuring the Yorkshire
Oaks and Pretty Polly Stakes with Dar Re Mi.Can’t see that Buick has even ridden for Gosden before. Very odd.
Nothing wrong with replacing a jockey for a better one!!
Fortune is dire IMHO
Delegator would have at least a Royal Ascot win under his belt
At last is what I’ll say to this. No doubt somewhere on this thread it will be mentioned about Fortune’s strength in a finish. But it normally helps if you put the horse into the race better than he did aboard Raven’s Pass on three separate occasions.
Nothing wrong with replacing a jockey for a better one!!
I couldnt agree more. Buicks statistics are impressive and he deserves his chance.
Can’t see that Buick has even ridden for Gosden before. Very odd.
Your right and that aspect is quite odd. I would have thought it was normal to get to know each other and check the partnership works etc, or am i being silly?
Good work Paul and thanks for posting it up here. TRF at the forefront of breaking news!
Also good to see our 2007 TRF ‘One to Watch’ award winner William Buick proving the judgement of the TRF brigade spot on.
Was Fortune actually sacked or was it by mutual consent?
Fortune must have been seething last year after the Raven’s Pass "Jocking off" incident and yet he still stayed loyal and rode plenty winners (and good winners) for Mr Gosden this past year. His reward was again to be left at home for the Breeders Cup. Perhaps that was when he realsied he was pissing against the wind?
I am sure there is often more to stories like this than ever gets reported!
wondering as well if this was mutual and was sorted out around breeders cup time,good luck to JF, lets hope balding does not mess him around like gosden.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/8471847.stm
Buick to replace Fortune as Gosden’s stable jockey
Jimmy Fortune and John Gosden
Fortune began to regularly team up with Gosden in 2005Jockey Jimmy Fortune has lost his job as stable jockey to Derby-winning trainer John Gosden.
Fortune, 37, rode several high-profile winners for the Newmarket handler, including Lucarno in the 2007 St Leger.
“Mr Gosden phoned me, we had a little chat and it’s been decided that I won’t be riding for him this year,” Fortune told the Guardian newspaper.
Former champion apprentice William Buick, 21, is set to take over from Fortune as Gosden’s first jockey.
Since joining as Gosden’s number one rider, Fortune enjoyed plenty of success.
But after riding Raven’s Pass to victory in the 2008 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, he was replaced by Frankie Dettori at the Breeders’ Cup meeting.
Dettori also rode Gosden’s horses at last year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting, including Juvenile Turf winner Pounced.
“I didn’t have a retainer and there has been no falling out, but John felt that since the situation with the jockeys at the Breeders’ Cup had arisen, there had been a bit of a wedge driven between us,” said Fortune.
“Of course I am extremely disappointed. It has been a good job and we have had five or six very successful years together but I feel as I am leaving on a high.
“Greater jockeys than me have lost their jobs before – Kieren Fallon and Mick Kinane have both experienced the same sort of thing and both of them didn’t look back afterwards.
“I’m only 37 years old, I feel good physically and, as they say, as one door closes another opens.”
Buick and has been based with Andrew Balding at Kingsclere.
He is currently in Dubai but his father Walter, a former multiple champion jockey in Norway, said his son would take the top job.
“I’ve always thought a big job was coming his way but I never thought it would be this year,” said Buick senior.
“It’s fantastic, a huge thing for him. When I was riding abroad he was always with me from early on. He knew the racing game before he was 12 years of age.
“He’s such an ambassador that he made sure Andrew Balding was the first person to know.
“He didn’t want Andrew to read it in any newspaper article because he owes the Baldings an awful lot.
“He’s put that right and Andrew was very pleased on his behalf.
Doesn’t sound like it was mutual but neither does it sound like there is huge animosity for either party. I would suggest Fortune may still ride some for Gosden at some stage next season.
I backed Raven’s Pass on almost all his starts as a three year old. Did criticise Fortune for some of those too. Had he been nearer, there may have been a different outcome to those seconds to Henry. Though do believe RP improved steadily throughout a busy season, where as the diminutive HTN had found his level. We don’t know what the "orders" were either. There’s also the fact Raven’s Pass used to pull quit a bit too, gradually getting an easier ride as the year went. At the start there was a question about him staying a mile. In the end he stayed 1m2f. Always needed some cover early, and front running was never an option.
TBH Have been disappointed in Fortune over the last couple of seasons. No stats to back it up, just a feeling he often left it a bit late.
Been a great fan of Buick since he burst on to the scene. Has he finished growing yet? Andrew’s wife told me she thought William had grown 4 inches over last year’s closed season. (NO jokes please). Am sure JF will do well at Kingsclere, but will need to share the rides there. Andrew Balding uses apprentices far more than Gosden.
Value Is EverythingI know it sounds corny but in the days when I used to bet on the flat I called him Jimmy (cost me a) Fortune for all the times he left it too late to get to the front, or forever getting boxed-in especially on the all-weather at Lingfield.
I also wonder if age has anything to Gosden’s decision? Fortune is 36/37 and Buick is much younger (and stronger?)
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