[GPK]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

IMO, the entire notion of this thread is a perversion of reality. The rides that most horses get are random, and are a waste of time to even attempt to predict, not to mention distracting. You handicap the horses in a race and make your decisions on whether or not to bet, or who to bet, based on the merits of the horses......and not your convaluted ideas of what kind of ride they may get.

Now, when you are handicapping the race you should take into account the trip, which may involve the ride, the horse has gotten recently. You then make your best guess as to what kind of trip it will get in today's race and simply hope for the best. Of course sometimes you will see a horse going from a weaker rider to a better rider, and if this horse has been compromised recently by its rider, then perhaps it is reasonable to assume the horse is slightly more likely to get a better ride today. However, it is the horse that still needs to be good enough to win the race, not the rider on his back.

Bad riders are winning races left and right on the inner track at Aqueduct. Today Rajiv Maragh's utter incompetence eliminated any chance Accredit may have had in today's feature. Yesterday he rode Icabad Crane to victory in the 7th race. He did little right early in the race, saved ground smartly later in the race, benefited from CC Lopez's ineptitude when he needlessly swung He Aint Easy wide on the second turn, and got the win on much the best horse. Was his ride good? Somewhat. Was he helped by the ineptitude of others? Somewhat. But, make no mistake, it was the horse that won the race.

Jockeys lose races....they don't win them.

Would you agree that there are jocks out there, that if they don't feel they have a chance to win coming down the stretch, they don't ride out their mounts to insure the best placing possible?