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Yes although Norman won a couple of British Opens his talent suggested he should have had more. In 1986 he actually led all 4 majors going into the final day winning only one.
It could be argued that Jean Van De Velde was horrendously unlucky.
OK, given he was three shots clear, he was unwise to hit driver from the tee. He also didn’t need to go for the green with his second shot. But he was unlucky that his ball hit the stand and bounced back the other side of the burn.
If his ball had gone into the stands (which 9 times out of 10 it would have done), he would have had a free drop in the drop zone, an easy chip onto the green and then he would have had three putts to win the Open. Given the way he holed the putt to get into the play off, it would have been a formality.
As for Greg Norman, he was simply one of the very best I have ever seen when he was on song. Unfortunately he was fragile and particularly so when faced by Nick Faldo.
They were paired together in the third round of the Open in 1990. It was billed as a big showdown but Faldo shot something like 65 to Norman’s 75. I think Norman still had the scar tissue in 1996.
Perhaps it is significant that when Norman won his second Open so brilliantly in 1993, Faldo was in the chasing group but not in the same pairing. It might have been a different story if they had been paired together.
Norman undoubtedly blew it in one or two Majors but he had some bad luck as well, or rather some players had some outrageous good luck against him. Bob Tway holing a bunker shot in the PGA and Larry Mize holing the chip on the 11th at Augusta. That ball was heading for the water if it hadn’t hit the pin.
Among what is a very, very average crop of pros at the moment, in my opinion, Paul sets a high standard. Great rider, and seemingly great bloke too.
I think the overall standard level of jockeyship is probably better than it has ever been (in relation to the gap between the best and the worst) but at the very top of the tree I don’t think you have as quite as many outstanding (go to) jockeys.
Name a few LD. If you have no horses with Closutton you won’t get Paul. No chance to get Kenneddy if Gigs says no, JJ Slevin rides the green silks and also for Joseph. Same with Mark Walsh…..
Keith Donoghue, Darragh O’Keeffe, Danny Mullins, Brian Hayes they All seem somehow attached. I couldn’t name you an Irish go to jockey available for outside rides.I probably didn’t explain myself clearly but I meant that there isn’t as many go to jockeys (in general, not just Irish) now as there were in the past.
There are a very good level of jockeys around now for sure but as you point out, many are already attached to stables and/or owners and as such are not readily available if there is a rare case of an outside ride becoming available.
I guess Sean Bowen might potentially be more available if you had a top class horse needing a rider but (in my mind) he hasn’t had enough opportunities in the G1 races to be an actual go to jockey…..I view him more in an AP mould where you would always look to him to ride the day in day out rides on a wet Wednesday where you need someone to get down and dirty with a never say die attitude……obviously AP could (and did) ride the big races but I always viewed Ruby more in that light as the big time G1 go to jockey for those type of races.
I guess I got that same vibe with John Francome/Peter Scudamore and Richard Dunwoody/Adrian Maguire, in that each could do both jobs but Francome/Dunwoody were the big time riders and Scudamore/Maguire the grafter rides.
That point of view is probably being a little unfair to those grafter riders but then they tended to ride bucketload of the lower grade winners (mainly for Pipe who didn’t always have a load of top class horse), which was likely where I got that impression from.
I probably didn’t explain myself clearly but I meant that there isn’t as many go to jockeys (in general, not just Irish) now as there were in the past.There are a very good level of jockeys around now for sure but as you point out, many are already attached to stables and/or owners and as such are not readily available if there is a rare case of an outside ride becoming available.
I fully understand you LD. Just in case I had those hypotetical 10 potential NH super stars, I wouldn’t know what trainer to pick. And if I had him or her I’d struggle to find my go to jockey. I wouldn’t want Sheehan and STD might not be too easy available.
Yeah it would be hard plus the run style of your 10 horses might also dictate what route you would go with jockey wise.
In the here and now, I think someone like Brian Hughes (3x Champion Jockey and regular 100+ winners a season rider) is underrated due to the stigma of being an ‘up north’ jockey and Ben Jones is impressing me too and there is always James Bowen who for obvious reason lives in the shadow of his brother but is well capable when giving the chance (a statement that probably applies to a fair few).
Future wise I think conditional jockey Freddie Gingell in a couple of years could be very good especially being that he is riding a lot for both Nicholls and Tizzard, which you couldn’t ask for much better grounding wise.
Agree about Ben Jones. A very solid overall jockey with a decent and consistent strike-rate not only during the week, but also on a Saturday. Has been outstanding over fences in the past five years which also explains the type of races his trainer likes to target.
Danny McMenamin has similar figures over the past years though with a slightly lower strike-rate. He doesn’t get the quality horses Ben Jones gets, but he is reliable.
Also Charlie Deutsch is worth a mention thanks to his results in chases.RTF figures are published for trainers are they available for jockeys ? Surely however good/bad a jockey is the quality of the ride must be considered
Brilliant ride on Kargese, eh? Oh, wait a minute, that was Danny Mullins. Had Townend been aboard that one, the plaudits would still be settling on his shoulders.
Good horses make good jockeys.
And, by the way, had he pulled Final Demand up at Leopardstown as he should have done, it’s highly likely he’d have won the Brown Advisory.
And, by the way, had he pulled Final Demand up at Leopardstown as he should have done, it’s highly likely he’d have won the Brown Advisory.
what a load of bollocks 😂😂😂, on what basis would him pulling up then have made him find the extra he needed the last 100 yards 6-7weeks later, havent a clue do you?
Final Demand might be a difficult horse to keep fit , if they can I reckon he will be the next GC horse
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
I can’t see it. To my mind everything went smoothly for Final Demand last week but he didn’t win. It didn’t look like he was crying out for a step up in distance either.
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