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Hi all,
Given all the opinion on some of the other threads regarding the spoty award i think we should focus on just how good AP is at his actual job, riding winners!!
We all know his record is staggering, but do you consider him the best of all current top class jockeys?
Imagine if you ownded the red hot odds on favourite for the gold cup, hypethetically of course, would you want AP on board or some other jockey, assuming whoever you choose would of never sat on the horse before!!
Personally i cant split AP and Ruby, but there are a whole pile of other top class jockeys riding at the moment too.
We all know AP is a living legend but is he the best bar none??
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I’m a huge fan and admirer of AP he deserves to be champion. He’s a very good judge of pace and a powerhouse in a finish. No one but no one puts more effort into his job than he does.
However not always have Champion jockey’s neccessarily the best around, far from it in some cases (not in AP’s I should add)
Ruby Walsh though, for me, is the best I have ever seen including AP. I just think he’s got a better pair of hands and can get horses home better. By that I mean he doesn’t need to kncok ten bells out of them to get them home his hands are so good he’s more akin to kidding them home. Man’s a genius in my opinion and he judges pace to perfection and very very seldom gets it wrong.
i voted ap,he and ruby are miles ahead of the rest.tom scudamore ssshhh hes a terrible jockey i wouldnt back him in a walk over.as for best jockey ever its hard to say but my fav of all time is either j.francome or jj oneil,pat eddery is fav flat jockey.
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The man behind Jonjo in your avatar wasn’t too bad either.
Very difficult to disagree with peoples choices when you mention names like those 3 who were all brilliant and you could add another dozen without too much trouble.
I remember when John Francome was riding; his big rival then was Jonjo. I reckon Francome was one of the best, if not the best at popping horses over a fence, and like Ruby Walsh and Richard Dunwoody, was a brilliant horseman.
AP is more like Jonjo O’Neill; both were power-packed in a finish, with a tremendous will to win.
Over hurdles, I tended to favour Jonjo over Francome. Over fences, Francome was much the tidier, and invariably a better judge of pace.
– likewise Ruby Walsh and Tony McCoy. Both have different attributes.
I would rather have AP on my side over hurdles on horses of comparable abilty and Ruby over the bigger obstacles. In a finish, McCoy is the stronger and more determined – though I think his strength has waned in recent years.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Ruby is without doubt not just the most talented NH rider their has ever been but the most successful. He is juist sublime…a artist on a young novice chaser.
Man is simply a different type of human to the rest
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As I was repoening this thread and saw your name I said to myself I bet Rubyisgodinthesaddle has voted for Ruby Walsh……First thing I’ve got right in a week
Would it be fair to suggest you’re a fan?
Not just a fan…a Number 1 Fan.
The man is just scary….wait till the Festival this year when he steers home Willie’s and Paul Nicholls Horse’s race after race.
I actually think he could win over 10 races this year..I just hope he makes it. These injuries are taking a toll on the man
The poll asks who is the most talented, so I’ve let temptation get the better of me and voted for the brilliant horseman that is Paul Carberry.
For me, at the moment, although I don’t like to admit it, Paul Townend is in a different Parish.
I agree Paul Townend really is going to go straight to the top, its a pitty about Rubys hard luck with injuries but it has given Paul a chance to show just how good he is on the big stage. I somehow dont think Willie Mullins is as concerned as Paul Nicholls over Rubys return to fitness before Cheltenham, I dont think any trainner would mind having Townend on their horse no matter how big the race he looks pure class and still very young, skys the limit id say!!
Another top class jockey from the emerald isle production line!!
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It is truly amazing how many great jockeys come out of Ireland sice the days of Aubrey Brabazon.
Ruby and dad Ted, AP, Jonjo, Conor O’dwyer, Davy Russell,
Mark Dwyer, Stacky, Pat Taffe, Boots Madden, Paddy Broderick, Charlie Swan, Tommy Carmody, Tommy Carberry, Nina and Paul, Bobby Beasley Barry Geharty, Frank Berry, Dessie Hughes, Mouse Morris, Taim and brother Martin Moloney, Barry Brogan, Richard Dunwoody and last but not least the daddy of them all Ron Barry.The great Gordon Richards, a man of vision brought Ron Barry, Jonjo and Frank Levy to Greystoke and what a decison that turned out to be. 2 of them going on to be worthy champions. David Goudling a brilliant jockey was also at Gordons in those days and many people would have been delighted to have him as 1st jockey but Gordon had an eye for true genius and found it not once but twice in Ron and Jonjo.
When Stacky came on the scene it was unreal 3 great jockey’s all from the Emerald Isles had taken UK racing by storm.
What makes them so special? During my time Ruby, Ron Jonjo, Stacky, Richard Dunwoody and now AP have all hit the very top of their game…It’s not the Guiness that’s for sure.
Apart from the fact they have brilliant minds I can imagine because they start so young and are fearless goes along way to explaining it. I never met Richard Dunwoody or AP as such but did meet the other 3 and one thing they all had in commmon was the brilliant crack and the relaxed attitude to it all……I honestly think they carry this with them on to the racecourse and it’s this Irish carefree attutude that sets them above the rest.
John Francome although not Irish had that same carefree attitude about him. Anyone who ever met him would confirm he was as nutty as a fruitcake and seemed to spend more time thinking about ways of taking the p!ss out of his fellow riders than he did worrying about his next mount.
I’m a huge fan of Irish jockeys and they have for me always produced the best there is to offer.
While Ruby is my favourite I think it will be the most unfair decsion in sporting history is AP does not win this award. He’s ridden something like 14,000 horses I believe and been at the top of his sporting tree for 15 very long years.
People are talking about Phil Taylor but darts is a not a sport in my eyes it is a a game of skill that entertains people but there is no real physical effort required like there is in Golf Tennis Boxing Racing foorball etc etc. Sport to me means agme you have to be fit as a fiddle to play and the fittest or strongerst man wins….not tossing a few pints down your neck and chuck a dart 9ft at a dart board. That is a recreational game or pastime not a friggin sport. But there’s money in it for the TV companies and promoters so they say stuff it it’s a sport now. Some could argue that if that’s the case snooker isn’t a sport either so it is a dodgy subject and it is more down to ones personal view.
When dart was made a sport offfically in 2005 iy was because of the revenue it brings not because it’s an actual sport. Jockey Wilson sportman of the year? Hermes would have struck the BBC down with a bolt of lightning had that ever happened.
A game more dependant on skill granted but a sport??? mA professional poker player will be quick to tell you it’s a game based more on skill than chance also.
It’s certainly not what they had in mind when the Olympic Games first came about and with all respect to Phil Taylors undoubted skill I wouldn’t allow it to be entered as a sport
This award should go to AP hands down no one ever deserved it more.
People are talking about Phil Taylor but darts is a not a sport in my eyes it is a a game of skill that entertains people but there is no real physical effort required like there is in Golf Tennis Boxing Racing foorball etc etc. Sport to me means agme you have to be fit as a fiddle to play and the fittest or strongerst man wins….not tossing a few pints down your neck and chuck a dart 9ft at a dart board. That is a recreational game not a friggin sport. But there’s money in it for the TV companies and promoters so they say stuff it it’s a sport now.
My criteria is that if you can drink a beer while playing it, it isn’t a sport. Chess? Not a sport. Poker? Not a sport. Darts? Not a sport, but archery is. Golf is a sport because you still need two free hands to swing a club.
I think based on pure talent Ruby is slightly above AP, but AP has edged him in the actual rankings.
AP McCoy and Ruby Walsh are in my opinion the best two jockeys there has ever been.
Ruby Walsh rides for the best trainer in Britain (Nicholls) and Ireland (Mullins), so he has a big advantage over AP in the big races. Therefore has a far better chance of winning the big races.
I believe AP is not quite as good as he was. Move to ride JP’s horses has not helped. Owner likes his horses to be held up and AP particularly brilliant from the front. JP somehow does not have many top quality animals needed for top races. Gets what is in effect the second choice of Henderson rides.
Gerraghty himself is to my mind, only just behind the other two. Right up with them over fences.
Recently we’ve seen Ruby injured and Nicholls and Mullins both in good form. Fehily and Townend winning plenty of races and getting the plaudits. Had Ruby been on them all, am sure we’d be hearing how great he is. It is strange how a winning run influences people. I believe Fehily has been a top jockey for some time. Few years ago I remember him getting many placed horses at massive prices. Equally good rides as winners, the horses just not of the ability of the winners.
Townend is good, but I think he’s over-rated at the moment, purely because he’s riding good horses.
At the moment I think it is close between the three as to who is best. But I’d still give it to AP.
We are truly fortunate to be living in the era of AP, RW and BG; with some others who would be champion in any other time.
Value Is EverythingAgree with the Ginge that we are living in a golden era with two of the all time greats. Rather like when I was a piddling, vomiting bairn (ie up until age 14) when we had Johnny Francombe and my hero Jonjo.
For me Ruby and AP are so different. Agree that Ruby is an artist whereas AP is about strength in the saddle.
I would ask one question though. Has there ever been a jockey that has one more races from impossible positions on horses that had no right winning? That is what I will always remember about AP and why for me he just edges it.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
I don’t think McCoy is the most naturally talented horseman but he’s an amazing jockey. He very rarely gets it wrong tactically and he’s without doubt the most driven and determined jockey riding.
Walsh is the complete package though. He simply has it all. The reason he rides the best horses both sides of the Irish Sea is because he’s the best in the business. Fantastic judge of pace, great presentation of a horse at an obstacle, without peer tactically and strong in a finish.
Geraghty stagnated a few years back and a lot of people (myself included I must admit) thought he was past his best. The move to Henderson has transformed him though and he’s got his hunger back. He’s not as stylish in the saddle as Walsh but there’s few cooler in the big races. I can’t think of a top race that he hasn’t won at some stage of his career.
Those three are out on their own but I’d have no qualms about backing a horse ridden by any of the top lads. Russell, Carberry (the best horseman out there), Johnson, Lee, Maguire, McNamara, Fehily, Murphy, Brennan etc would all boot home 90% of the winners that McCoy, Walsh and Geraghty do if they had the rides.
Of the up and coming generation Townend is out on his own. It’s scary to think he’s barely out of his teens when you consider the number of Grade 1 winners and horses he’s already ridden. He is still far from the finished article but if he keeps his head right he’ll go right to the top of the ladder. Of the rest I think Adrian Heskin could be something special. Michael Hourigan has said he thinks he’s the most naturally talented young jockey he’s ever had in his yard. That’s high praise from a man who has had both Adrian Maguire and Timmy Murphy in his yard at a similar age.
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