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Can anyone tell me what the position is with Sam riding for Paul Nicholls ? Every time I notice him these days he seems to be riding for Venetia Williams.
Just had a quick peek at the recent stats: 3 out of his last 30 rides have been for Nicholls.
Given the amount of dummy-spitting Nicholls has done recently I’m surprised that Thomas gets to ride any of his horses.
I expect a split between Thomas and Nicholls before too long. In my opinion Nicholls’ treatment of Thomas especially his open public criticism has been absolutely appalling. You don’t do that to a member of your "team".
You don’t do that to a member of your "team".
Pretty sure we’ve been here before, but the suggestion that Thomas is part of Nicholls’ "team", or that the trainer should keep his own counsel on Thomas’ effectiveness is wrong imo.
Sam Thomas is a freelancer, and if Nicholls thinks he is no longer up to the job, then he is perfectly entitled to say so.
Nicholls certainly has no duty of care to Thomas, who to all intents and purposes is a self-employed consultant that just happens to be regularly contracted by the yard. His only duty of care is to those he directly employs i.e. yard staff and the like.
You don’t do that to a member of your "team".
Pretty sure we’ve been here before, but the suggestion that Thomas is part of a "team" or that Nicholls should keep his own counsel is wrong on the subject of who rides is horses is wrong, imo.
Thomas is a freelance, and if Nicholls thinks Thomas is no longer up to the job, then he is perfectly entitled to say so. He certainly has no duty of care to Thomas, who to all intents and purposes is a self-employed consultant that just happens to be regularly contracted by the yard. Nicholls only duty of care is to those he directly employs i.e. yard staff and the like.
Thomas is Nicholls’ second jockey (or was) in other words part of team Ditcheat regardless of whether its official or unofficial. If Nicholls has any problem with Thomas he should deal with it inhouse he shouldn’t be bad mouthing Thomas in the press / media every chance he gets.
I’m far from a Nicholls hammerer but in this instance I think he’s totally out of order.
Well, he’s down to ride three of PFN’s at Wincanton tomorrow – I think that’s probably the first time ina while that he has been on all the stable’s horses at a particular meeting. For the last few weeks the rides not taken by Ruby seem to have been divided out.
Paul Nicholls attitude to his jockeys has always been "Its my way or the highway" and history has shown that several have been spotted thumbing a lift from the hard shoulder on the M5. However his mightier than thou
attitude doesn"t wash with Ruby because he knows Ruby is very well connected/respected back in Ireland and any "toys out the pram" nonsense with Mr Walsh and Ruby will just let the brake off and let him
roll down the hill back to "Playschool"! Mr Nicholls knows not to mess
with this Jockey! shame he treats the others differently, Sam in particular!
Denman knows who rode him to win the Gold cup, and so does the owners!Thomas is Nicholls’ second jockey (or was) in other words part of team Ditcheat regardless of whether its official or unofficial. If Nicholls has any problem with Thomas he should deal with it inhouse he shouldn’t be bad mouthing Thomas in the press / media every chance he gets.
I’m far from a Nicholls hammerer but in this instance I think he’s totally out of order.
And who is to say that he isn’t dealing with it in-house, Ian?
Perhaps Nicholls had a fireside chat with Thomas after the BetFair and savaged him for the ride privately, then, when asked about how he felt about it by the press, decided to tell the truth?
Perhaps he has had such chats in private with Sam Thomas after every ride he considers to be ‘poor’? Perhaps he is doing everything in his power to motivate Thomas in private, but feels no compunction to hide his disappointment with certain rides when asked about them in a public forum?
He is entitled to his opinion, is he not?
Been here before but I think Nicholls has been un-professional towards Thomas. And I too had noticed he wasn’t riding much of late for Nicholls. I just assumed Thomas had grown a set and told Nicholls to shove it!
Wouldn’t read to much into it
Looks like it’s just where the runs have been
For instance last week there were only 2 at beautiful Hereford and Ruby was on them both. Then there we no runners for Nicholls until the Cheltenham Saturday and Ruby was there and Thomas was at Doncaster, didn’t ride Big Fella Thanks, but did ride Gullible Gordon and they were the only runners there.
3 at Kempton and Ruby rode them all and 4 at Taunton and Ruby was there again
The week before Sam Thomas rode Mahonia and Opera Mundi at Haydock while Ruby was at Ascot…
PN shouldn’t criticise Sam Thomas. It was him who picked the guy to ride his horses. It’s cowardly to single out the jockey to try and save your own skin. If you have any doubts over someone, then keep it to yourself and let him ride for other people. The guy needs other rides to put food on the table.
Nicholls was at it again last Saturday after Big Bucks had won at Cheletenham, saying that if Ruby Walsh had been on board in the Hennessy then the horse would have won.
I think Sam Thomas did little wrong, and it is far from certain Walsh would have made any difference so why go public again?
If Nicholls doesn’t think he is up to the job and replaces him that is the time to comment, if at all.
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Any trainer is free to criticise someone employed to ride their horses without any obligation of loyalty, but Nicholls has simply made Thomas a scapegoat for a series of unfortunate incidents beyond his control. Walsh may have succeeded in getting a better tune out of Kauto Star at Haydock (though there’s no assurance that he wouldn’t have fallen anyway), but other than that only the Ditcheat ego prevents Sam from absolution.
This is a lot of hand-wringing cobblers, if you ask me.
Nicholls is entitled to say whatever he pleases, as far as I’m concerned. And Sam Thomas is perfectly at liberty to refuse to ride for the trainer if he so chooses.
ST obviously reckons that his career is best served by remaining attached to the Nicholls stable for as long as possible – regardless of what Nicholls might say in public. If ST has no apparent issues with the arrangement, then I fail to see why people have a problem with Nicholls.
As for him being "at it again" on Saturday after the Cleeve, if Nicholls genuinely felt that Thomas had made a balls of it in the Hennessy, he’s entitled to say so as far as I’m concerned, without worrying about whether Sam Thomas’ feelings might be hurt.
I’d rather have trainers speak their mind and call it as they see it (regardless of whether they are right or wrong), than have them turn into the racing equivalent of Ferguson or Wenger who "didn’t see the incident".
Does anyone know what the riding arrangements for the Gold Cup are likely to be?
Is Denman still Sam’s ride, or will Ruby get the choice as he’s stable no. 1?
If Ruby does have the choice, who will he pick? Not a straightforward decision by any means…..
Nicholls was at it again last Saturday after Big Bucks had won at Cheletenham, saying that if Ruby Walsh had been on board in the Hennessy then the horse would have won.
I think Sam Thomas did little wrong, and it is far from certain Walsh would have made any difference so why go public again?
If Nicholls doesn’t think he is up to the job and replaces him that is the time to comment, if at all.
The ‘issue’ with the Hennessy is that people aren’t aware of what Sam’s riding instructions were. Suffice to say, he didn’t stick to them, and that’s what has rankled PN so much. On the surface (the ‘unseating’ business ignored) it seemed a decent enough ride. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere but Big Buck’s is far from a straightforward ride, and my initial thought at the time was also ‘Ruby would have won’. Of course this is just conjecture, but an opinion I hold pretty strongly.
Anyway, the main point I was trying to make was that Sam’s biggest mistake in the Hennessy was not so much the unseating (although that never helps matters much!), but that he took it upon himself to ignore some specific riding instructions.
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