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Once again a jockey takes it easy, does not ride out a finish and almost gets mullered on the line.
This time it was Mick Fitzgerald on Chomba Womba at Kempton and all credit to 3lb claimer Chris Honour who saw Fitzgerald was easing up and tried hell for leather to get him.
OK some will argue, so what Fitzgerald still won the race. Is that the point though? Had he been beaten he would, quite rightly, have had the book thrown at him and faced a significant ban.
I see he was interviewed by Nick Luck after the race and I’m not sure if it was discussed in the interview, I wasn’t close enough to eavesdrop.
I was chatting to Steve Mellish about it after the race and we were both of the opinion that jockeys should be done for not riding out, whether they are nabbed on the line or not.
What do you all think?
we were both of the opinion that jockeys should be done for not riding out
What constitutes “riding out”? Should a jockey still be using his whip when 10 lengths clear and going away? If not, where do you draw the line? Or is it just a case that a jockey should not clearly ease his mount off even when clear?
I am probably with you in principle, but I think it is an area that requires clear and above all realistic guidelines.
And I don’t fancy your chance of seeing anything implemented any time soon, though I know that’s not the point.
no need to beat a horse up, just ride em out hands and heels, and keep the momentum going until the race is over
another few yards and MF would have looked very stupid. The handicapper will put her up loads anyway so can’t understand his behaviour.
Watching the head-on on RUK tonight I reckon he just doesn’t see the other horse coming- he’s looking right, while Cool Roxy comes on his left.
I agree with EW, they should jst keep riding hands and heels to the line- to be caught once is once too many- if MF had been beat on that today he’d have been lynched!He did win the race, didn’t he? So, in fact, did enough in the saddle? Obviously it’s a fine line, but if his actions haven’t cost him a place then the worst that can be expected is a polite ‘careful Micky ol’ lad’.
Unfortunately the same isn’t true of Mr S Pearce, whose effort aboard Zalkani the other day was laughable…..even for a claimer. The horse hadn’t won over the trip previously, granted, but once he hit the front Pearce looked as though he’d given up. Unsurprisingly, he was done 50 yards from the line.
Disagree regarding Zalkani. Simon Pearce always rides like that. It was an amateurs race after all. Not sure Zalkani is the easiest horse to win with either, as his strike rate for wins compared to places will probably testify. The ride by Miss N (Nicola?) Jefferson on the third was worse. In fact she was terrible on the thing she rode for her Dad in the first division as well.
Agree though that jockeyship was the deciding factor in the Featherstone horse getting up, he looked pretty capable for such a race.
Does anyone know if there were any panic stations on betfair, anyone lay off a load thinking MF was going to blow it?
Most Jockey who have ridden their fare share of winner don’t go battering up the run in at a million miles an hour when there is no need.
They are just looking after their horses.
Occasionally they get caught napping but we can’t have horses getting hammered up the run in everytime, just because Willy Smith lost a few quid, when one got beat that shouldn’t have.
Truth is we punters don’t mean didly **** in comparson to the horses wellfare….it’s all in the game, accept it and move on becuase it’s not going to change
Truth is we punters don’t mean didly **** in comparson to the horses wellfare
Why, then, are whips allowed other than for corrective purposes? Is a horse’s welfare being compromised be being asked to run to the line when there are other horses around it? What is the difference between that and being asked to run to the line when there are no other horses around it?
I don’t think it’s a question of horse welfare in this instance. People seem to be asking that a horse is kept up to its work even when there is no immediate challenge, nothing more.
Disagree regarding Zalkani. Simon Pearce always rides like that. It was an amateurs race after all. Not sure Zalkani is the easiest horse to win with either, as his strike rate for wins compared to places will probably testify. The ride by Miss N (Nicola?) Jefferson on the third was worse. In fact she was terrible on the thing she rode for her Dad in the first division as well.
Agree though that jockeyship was the deciding factor in the Featherstone horse getting up, he looked pretty capable for such a race.
I think that you are losing the point of the thread in criticising Miss Jefferson. I too thought she was pretty inept in comparison to her peers but at the end of the day she was DOING THE BEST SHE CAN. Amatuer riders’ races are there for people to be able to ride their own horses or horses connected with their yard that are almost like pets to them, and above all, to have fun. Would we criticise the standard of people playing Sunday football? We use these events as betting media at our own risk and I don’t think that we really have the right to complain at the difference in abilities afterwards.
Truth is we punters don’t mean didly **** in comparson to the horses wellfare
Why, then, are whips allowed other than for corrective purposes? Is a horse’s welfare being compromised be being asked to run to the line when there are other horses around it? What is the difference between that and being asked to run to the line when there are no other horses around it?
I don’t think it’s a question of horse welfare in this instance. People seem to be asking that a horse is kept up to its work even when there is no immediate challenge, nothing more.
What has a whip got to do a jockey looking after a horse?
"What is the difference between that and being asked to run to the line when there are no other horses around it?" you ask
There is a huge difference. He has a choice.
The Jockey if he is worth a pinch of salt, knows the horse has done enough and he simply eases down and let’s him come home in his own time with as little effort as possible. He’s not trying to look smart or stylish he is doing his job professionally.
That is called looking after the horses welfare, well being or whatever you want to call it.
It is an indiviudal looking after another individual’s long term interest that I am talking about……… not the policy on whips in racing.
The Welsh Wizard
I think it is you that has missed the point. The only reason I brought the Jefferson ride up is because LGR complained about a different ride in the same race. Agree it is a bit of a tangent to the original point of this thread.
I fully agree with your wider point about the levels of jockeyship in such races and that any involvement in them is entirely at the punter’s own risk.
Don’t see how you can punish jockey if he still wins the race, which is apparently what Fitzgerald said. What is achieved though by this kind of riding is a mystery, all that is asked that they ride out hands and heels. As was said in todays Post, jockeys like Fitzgerald should be setting a good example for the younger ones.
I would like to see the penalties increased if they do get it wrong though, would 3 or 6 months be more of a deterrent than 14 or 28 days? Can’t do any harm and 28 days is totally inadequate.Yeats,
Gosh you are a hard man! I would love to be your boss if you are volunteering to take 6 months off unpaid every time you make a mistake at work! I bet I would struggle to get you to take 28 unpaid days off.
They get far more severe penalties in other countries Galejade eg Australia and there are lot less instances of jockeys of easing up, what do you suggest? a caution? and for it to carry on indefinitely and every week? Franny Norton did it the other week and he needs every winner he can get I would have thought.
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