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Last week we saw him making all on Village Vic at a strong pace, judging it perfectly.
This week he makes just about all in the big handicap chase at (it appeared to everyone else) too strong a pace.Richard Johnson is exceptional at judging a strong pace and getting horses jumping well in front. Reminds me of AP – the Pipe years.
Value Is EverythingReve De Sivola?
What did he do wrong there Stilvi? Horse ran to form as far as I could see
Value Is EverythingI’m sure he would have liked to lead with Fingal Bay but a combination of being taken on and a few iffy jumps saw him fall back but instead of panicking Johnson let Fingal Bay travel at his own pace and despite a bad mistake down the back got the horse still within a chance come the last.
Like you say ginge he is a very good judge of pace.Blackbeard to conquer the World
Reve De Sivola?
What did he do wrong there Stilvi? Horse ran to form as far as I could see
I was replying to the ‘gets horses jumping well in front’. Reve De Sivola made a complete hash of 3 or 4. Yes, he was beaten on merit but those blunders didn’t help his cause.
In general there are few more positive riders and I am surprised he gets so much criticism.
He’s riding better than ever. I’m wondering if he is riding more from the front this season, or I’m just noticing it because he’s riding winners. I think he throws his rivals sometimes by haring off at what looks a crazy pace, but he then takes breathers at spots where breathers are not normally taken, further confounding the opposition.
The only time I’ve seen him get the tactic badly wrong was on Wishfull Thinking in the Peterboro Chase.
I was replying to the ‘gets horses jumping well in front’. Reve De Sivola made a complete hash of 3 or 4. Yes, he was beaten on merit but those blunders didn’t help his cause.
In general there are few more positive riders and I am surprised he gets so much criticism.
Fair enough Stilvi, although he can’t perform miracles. Reve De Sivola often jumps worse than he did today.
Value Is EverythingI think he throws his rivals sometimes by haring off at what looks a crazy pace, but he then takes breathers at spots where breathers are not normally taken, further confounding the opposition.
First jockey I remember doing that was Peter Scudamore, may be it was a Pipe thing,.
I’ve noticed Johnson making the running a lot more too Joe, or racing prominently; especially on tracks that favour such tactics.
Value Is EverythingMcCoy was dangerous to a horse when it came down to a close finish at the last two fences. He threw horses at fences and fell or made a blunder quite often. Johnson rarely does, he always gives the horse the best chance of winning in a safe way. It’s all about the horse, and the jockeys reputation. I don’t believe McCoy was any better than other top jockeys, I just believe he had better contacts and thus better horses to ride
He’s known as ‘Bottler Johnson’ though isn’t he? Johnson has a terrible reputation for bringing horses down or making mistakes at the last.
Who is Susan Johnson who he sometimes rides for? Only noticed it today when I was looking at tomorrows card. I’m assuming it’s his mother??
Have to say I am not a big fan of him – I think he is a much better jockey over hurdles than fences as his penchant for continually throwing his mounts at the obstacles works better over hurdles than fences where I have noticed that his mounts do tend to clout more than their fair share of fences.
That being said, there will be no more deserving man to claim the jockey’s title this year and the fact that to date he has had 250 rides more than any other jockey speaks volumes for his work ethic. It helps that he is picking up a lot of the rides that AP would have been on and that the Hobbs team are currently on a 24% strike rate as well. Injuries aside, he should be lifting the title for the next 3-4 years until the next wave of jockeys find their niche.
Pipe revolutionised the way horse were being trained – I believe he was the first to bring in interval training with horses and also blood testing to ensure that they were ready to run for their life on their seasonal debuts and that enabled them to go off at a fast pace because they were fit enough to just keep going – other trainers were still leaving something to work on first time out and consequently were nowhere near fit enough to reel the Pipe horses back.
It caused trainers to re-think the old tried and tested methods to the extent that now days you regularly see horses winning first time out off a very long break, which would have been unheard of back in the day.
Who is Susan Johnson who he sometimes rides for? Only noticed it today when I was looking at tomorrows card. I’m assuming it’s his mother??
Yep. Early Rules wins in hunter chases around 1994-5 were gained for Richard’s mum Susan, father Keith and grandfather Ivor on family horses such as Rusty Bridge. Susan still holds the permit.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
He’s known as ‘Bottler Johnson’ though isn’t he? Johnson has a terrible reputation for bringing horses down or making mistakes at the last.
Has or had, that is the question. There was a period during the mid- to late-2000s in particular in which I’d be reluctant to start counting the actual or metaphorical fivers until a Dickie Johnson-ridden animal had been guided over the final obstacle successfully, for the very reason you mentioned.
However, I think whatever confidence or technical issue was causing him to get the last wrong so often does seem to have been exorcised to a greater or lesser extent since then, albeit I expect there are a couple or three occasions per season where it still raises its head.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Do think there was a time Johnson overdid the last when in a good position to win but – as you say Jeremy – not anymore. To me – Johnson nowadays goes for a big one only when second or third best at the last. Good jump can gain lengths. Obviously, sometimes it ends badly, but I’d rather a jockey goes for it in that situation than settling for runner-up spot.
Value Is EverythingI like Johnson, always have done, but while people are praising his front running riding lets not forget arguably one of the worst front running rides of the season on Wishful Thinking in the Peterborough Chase!
Went off at an absolutely ridiculous pace and well and truly lost the position he really ought to have finished (2nd) if not for the poor judge of pace….it was clear to anyone watching the race he was never going to get home going that quick. For me, that is every bit as bad as a ride that gets a suspension when held up out the back and never put into a challenging position…i.e….not attaining the horses best possible position….Dickie definitely didn’t achieve the best possible finishing position that day through an awful ride…
Now I’m sure people could pick on bad rides from the jockey I’m going to mention now as they all make errors from time to time, they’re only human after all….but for me Gavin Sheehan is right up there with the very best already from the front, giving absolutely outstanding rides time after time…the best prospect riding at the minute for me and in the next five years will do major, major things….I called him about 18 months ago and am even more convinced now he will go right to the very top, and soon….
Sheehan is very good and ultra confident. That Peterboro Chase ride was almost too bad to be true, and I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that WT underperformed. Johnson has got so many of these rides spot-on, it’s difficult to believe he could be out in his timing quite so badly as it looked.
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