Bug Riders
 

Caught a few nice prices using Dylan Williams at Oaklawn.( 13-3-0-1) I think he's been riding well, but I'm interested in your thoughts on the bug advantage. Does the 5 lbs. allowance make a big difference? Do you give the weight break much credence when handicapping?

dont think 5 lbs makes much of a difference myself, dont know if theres any stats out there that would prove otherwise

i wagered on him a couple times at turfway and i wanted to jump through the tv at him!! he'd break bad and do the old patented rush up and fade in the stretch move.

on the note about bug riders, trainers love getting the weight. i cant tell you how many times when i worked in the race office we'd ask a trainer what rider they wanted and their response was "any of the bug boys open" they didnt even care which bug rider it was.

Many racing secretaries believe that when assigning handicap weight, which of course we never seem to see anymore, that 1 pound is a length distance in a mile race, so based on that assumption you are talking about ~5 lengths in a mile race, or roughly 1 second difference give all other things as close to equal as possible.

The way I see it, when you have Julien Leparoux last year or Talamo this year that the bug weight can make a slight difference, but the apprentice has to show me that he is at a level at least close to his competition as far as a jockey goes...

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Stats:
Talamo w/ Bug vs Talamo after
Jermaine w/ bug vs Jermaine after
J Sanchez....
Matt Garcia....

a hundred others.