Why Do Top Jockeys Make All The Difference In The World During A Race? Does The Best Jockey Always

By Author: Lee Lane-Edgar
Total Articles: 365
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What separates a good jockey from a great jockey? Jockeys, like trainers, are sometimes overlooked in favor of the credentials of the horse on whose back he sits, and are relegated to a secondary factor in handicapping a race.

While it is true that the greatest jockey in the world cannot win if he is aboard a mount who is simply overmatched, the best ones can make as much as a two or even three length difference. Given that most races are decided by less than a few lengths, the significance of the jockey should not be overlooked.

Jockey’s often become most important when the fields are small. Sometimes small four horse fields for example, are referred to as jockey’s races because each rider is more conscious of the others riders movements.

It is also important to know what are the jockey’s strengths and weaknesses. Some seem to have more success on the dirt than on the turf, and some jockey’s abilities come through better at longer distance races. Corey Nakatani, for example, seems to do better in route races whereas Rafael Bejarano seems to be equally talented across all distances, from sprints ...
... to routes.

The really great jockey’s are always sensible of the pace. In the 2002 Kentucky Derby, War Emblem set a rather moderate pace before going on to win the race. The third place finisher was Perfect Drift and was ridden by hall of fame legend Eddie Delahoussaye. It was Delahoussaye’s tendency to drop back and come from behind, but on this day, he was very sensible of the slow pace and moved Perfect Drift within two lengths of War Emblem, never letting him get too far away from him. Moreover, it was not Perfect Drifts style to be up that close to the pace, but Eddie knew that he could not afford to race him from mid pack to far behind as usual given the dawdling pace. As it turns out, the frontrunner just had too much left in the tank and was probably just much the best that day, but Delahoussaye managed to keep Perfect Drift in the race and just got outrun for second and finished a good third.

In this year’s Kentucky Derby, Julian Leparoux, the jockey of favorite Dialed In dropped him back to dead last, some 18 lengths off what was one of the slowest early paces in over 50 years. Had Leparoux been more aware of the early pace, he would surely have kept him much closer, but probably dropped him back either out of habit because it was the plan to do so. That sort of rigid thinking prevents one from adapting to varied circumstances, something the great ones can always do. For this reason Leparoux, who is one of the most well known jockey’s in the nation is a very good jockey, but not yet a great one.

One other distinguishing trait of the great ones such as Garret Gomez, John Velasquez, Rafael Bejarano, and Ramon Dominguez is that they always manage to stay out of traffic trouble. It seems that even when they are stuck down at the rail in tight behind horses, they always manage to keep the horse steady so that it doesn’t steady in behind the horse in front of him, and are always able to find a way through horses to make their run. Very rarely do you see these jockeys steady hard in behind horses.

When a really great jockey and a good or average jockey are battling head to head in the stretch, and it seems the two horses are evenly matched, it is almost a certainty that the great jockey will get to the wire first. They just have a knack for getting a little more out of their horse than the less experienced or less talented rider, and with so many races decided by such small margins, it is no wonder that the greats are the ones trusted in the most important races as the “big money riders”.

If you always wanted to be a jockey but are afraid of horses or just too big, now you can get your chance playing one of the most exciting horse race online games around. Virtual racing can be real exciting, especially when you have the opportunity to simulate the actions of a real, live jockey. Amazing 3D graphics and realistic game intelligence with the fact that it’s free, makes this fantasy game the most exciting horse racing game around.