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Does ‘Frank’ hold up too many of his rides or is Spencer getting a rough ride from too many fickle punters?
I myself am a big Jamie Spencer fan, love to know what you think.
It’s easy to stereotype jockeys (Frankie’s good from the front, Spencer holds up too many, McCoy’s strongest but doesn’t suit some horses, Timmy Murphy always holds them up, etc.etc.).
That said, I do think Frank holds up far too many – he rides the same race on 90% of his horses. It looks brilliant when it comes off, but he looks like a tit when he meets traffic problems, or holds one up off a slow pace and gets done for toe.
Not the best jock around by a long chalk, and lucky to get on so many good horses (and lucky to get the ride on his missus as well, I’d say…)
That said, I do think Frank holds up far too many – he rides the same race on 90% of his horses. It looks brilliant when it comes off, but he looks like a tit when he meets traffic problems, or holds one up off a slow pace and gets done for toe.
Absolutely – his ride on Metaphoric at Ascot on Sunday is a classic example – in my report on the race I wrote “there is, for a jockey, a very fine line between glory and making a complete and utter prat of yourself.”
In that race Spencer just managed to get the right side of the line but he was very lucky indeed to get the gap against the rail after getting into all sorts of trouble.
Lee’s comments in running put it quite succinctly “outpaced 3f out, headway and not much room over 2f out, switched right and squeezed through to lead inside final furlong”
Didn’t see the race unfortunately Paul, but from the comments it appears that Frank made his usual attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
He just seems to overcomplicate matters – if you know you’re on the best horse, why not sit handy, maybe a bit wide to stay out of trouble, and then just press the button. Unless a horse specifically needs holding up, why do it?
Notwithstanding all the above, it is very easy to criticise jockeys from the armchair…
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