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Must be the worst ride ever for an experienced jockey on Aphorism tonight. The trainer interviewed said the horse is best from the front so he’s held up last Spencer has ridden the horse before and knows it hangs under pressure. So he went too early after sitting with a double handful and gets caught and passed easily. Vastly overrated O’Brien had him sussed
The problem with the ride for me was how he unnecessarily circumnavigated the field when sitting with a double handful. That possibly had an effect on her finding less than she looked likely to.
Interesting comments from the Cumani camp regarding Spencers ride of Curtain Call in the Derby.
His daughter mentioned in her diary in the Post that she was “surprised” at how early he stopped riding the horse, and therefore didn’t pick up any place prize money.
Interesting comments from the Cumani camp regarding Spencers ride of Curtain Call in the Derby.
His daughter mentioned in her diary in the Post that she was “surprised” at how early he stopped riding the horse, and therefore didn’t pick up any place prize money.
I noticed that too. Jamie Spencer reminds me of Lester Piggott, in that respect – i.e. unless there’s a chance of winning the race, the brakes are invariably applied.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Thought it was an excellent ride on Aphorism’s best ever run and connections would be delighted after her sub-standard run last time. He then went on to win on Formation on the ride of the night. Did you miss that one?
If I had the choice of any jockey in the country to ride one of our horses, I’d choose Jamie Spencer every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
His ability to settle a horse is second to none and that alone is worth its weight in gold. He is also a great judge of pace and also has a fantastic feel for whether a horse is going to ‘get there’ when he makes his move. From an owenr’s point of view, I’m happy to trust his judgment and if he appears to ease up more quickly than some other jockeys it’s because he knows there’s no point knocking seven bells out of a horse for appearances sake when it would be better not to give the horse a hard race and save it for another day.
"Great judge of pace" -would have to disagree with that. Spencer anchors nigh on every ride he has in plumb last regardless of the pace of the race.
There was a decent article in R&F Outlook highlighting this a few weeks ago, not overly critical but highlighting the fact that the top, top jockeys of every generation can win from the front, pinching races when necessary.
Two that spring to mind are Kieron Fallon on Yeats in the Coronation Cup, and (imo) even better Dettori on Sharmadal in the Jockey Club. Would / could Spencer have ridden them to sleep like that?
"Great judge of pace" -would have to disagree with that. Spencer anchors nigh on every ride he has in plumb last regardless of the pace of the race.
There was a decent article in R&F Outlook highlighting this a few weeks ago, not overly critical but highlighting the fact that the top, top jockeys of every generation can win from the front, pinching races when necessary.
Two that spring to mind are Kieron Fallon on Yeats in the Coronation Cup, and (imo) even better Dettori on Sharmadal in the Jockey Club. Would / could Spencer have ridden them to sleep like that?
Simply not true.
Jamie rode twice for us last year. On the first occasion, he made all under a fantastic tactical ride to win without the horse even knowing she’d had a race. On the second occasion he knew as soon as he’d reached the post that something wasn’t quite right and as a result kept her out the back and let her make her own way home without giving her any sort of a hard time. It turned out she was in season. A lesser jockey having won from the front the time before might have bounced her out, given her a hard ride from the front and ruined her for the rest of the season. Instead, Jamie looked after her and she went on to notch up a four-timer at the end of the season.
Spencer is pure class.
If Spencer has rode for you directly, then your opinion is clearly worth more than mine as you are privy to more information / discussion than i am. Congratulations on your successes, must be extremely exciting.
Every jockey has their good and bad days, and as a result different people will hold different opinions based on their own experiences with them. Jamie Spencer, for me, isn’t a great jockey, distinctly lacking both versatility and tactical awareness.
His effort aboard Aphorism yesterday evening was poor, taking the horse four or five wide off the turn whilst cantering and offering little in the way of encouragement in the finish – the only time he did reach for the whip, he drove his mount into the rail (where upon he ceased riding, just as the eventual winner was coming upsides).
I think a more competent jockey may have fared better, but that is purely conjecture.
One jockey, outside of the usual group, who has disappointed me this season is Alan Munro. I know he’s had a lot of time off due to his now infamous seizure, but he doesn’t quite seem to be on the ball as yet and has lost races he really should have won (or at least challenged for). It may be my mind playing tricks on me but I thought that he used to be fairly reliable in a finish, and alive to tactical riding, but at the moment he’s just not at the races (well, unfortunately he is, but you get my point).
If Spencer has rode for you directly, then your opinion is clearly worth more than mine as you are privy to more information / discussion than i am. Congratulations on your successes, must be extremely exciting.
I’m not trying to belittle your opinion – it’s just I had direct experience of a ride which contradicted what you said.
I think that one’s opinion of a jockey is inevitably coloured by the context in which you encounter them. If a particular jockey rode the biggest winner you ever had then I would hazard a guess that you would be favourably disposed towards them whereas if the biggest bet of your life went down as a result of a bad ride then equally that jockey isn’t going to be on your Christmas card list.
The one thing that ownership has taught me is that what owners and trainers value in a jockey isn’t necessarily what punters want. I want a jockey who will educate our horses by teaching them to settle; not be too hard on them if they don’t have a winning chance; and after the race provide some worthwhile feedback on the horses strengths, weaknesses and possible tactics in the future. A punter is likely to just want the jockey to win at all costs if they have backed the horse they are riding. It goes without saying that I want the jockey to ride well enough to win if the horse is capable of winning but there are lots of other factors that make a jockey ‘good’ from an owner or trainer’s point of view.
Ok, presumably you dictating discussion is preferable? I can’t see any silly pocket talk personally.
Iv never been a spencer fan i always feel he should win a lot more than he does and i do feel his riding tactics can be appaling at times. But to give the man credit hes won 2 jockeys titles and you dont do that with being an awful jockey. To me though hes never a man to follow in championship races he always seems to get them beat.
Re- Spencer’s Derby ride of Curtain call. It was mentioned in the course commentary that the horse looked to stumble and, shortly after, Spencer was mentioned as ‘looking down as though something was amiss’. Presumably, given the potential for the horse to prove himself later in the year, Spencer didn’t want to risk abusing him to finish fourth.
I think his style is always going to leave him open to criticism on occasions whereas the more ‘busy’ style of some of the other jockeys tend to mask their inadequacies better.
[quote="Tuffers
Simply not true.
Jamie rode twice for us last year. On the first occasion, he made all under a fantastic tactical ride to win without the horse even knowing she’d had a race. On the second occasion he knew as soon as he’d reached the post that something wasn’t quite right and as a result kept her out the back and let her make her own way home without giving her any sort of a hard time. It turned out she was in season. A lesser jockey having won from the front the time before might have bounced her out, given her a hard ride from the front and ruined her for the rest of the season. Instead, Jamie looked after her and she went on to notch up a four-timer at the end of the season.
Spencer is pure class.
Tuffers
If Spencer "knew" something wasn’t quite right then why didn’t he have a word with the starter and withdraw ? Surely by putting her out the back he wasn’t letting the horse run on its merits as I imagine having won from the front before you expected the horse to do similar ? I understand from your point of view the right thing was done but it seems to me you are saying Spencer knew something was wrong and ran regardless of this fact seemingly knowing he wouldn’t figure.
I’m mostly a fan of Jamie’s but think that he sometimes gets outfoxed by such as Dettori who looks for and covers his late moves in big races (eg the Ramonti/Excellent Art duels last season).
Jamie has good balance and "hands" and it’s quite true that if the horse can’t win or nearly win then he would rather ease them down than ride strongly to the line hence there’s plenty left for another day.
I’d had a sneaky couple of quid on him to finish last in The Derby on Curtain Call at 66/1 and was hopeful for a while but he’d have had to stop the horse to a walk to finish behind the wretched Maidstone Mixture
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