In these turf races, your strategy depends on the competition.
If a jock finds out he is on a grinder based on his competition,
he better ride the horse to do what fits that race.

A jock cannot sit back with a bunch of horses that have great kicks
and just let them outkick you because of superior closing speed. These sitters
must be pushed. It happens all the time in running. (without bikes)

Anytime you run against a horse with superior closing speed, the only way
to take the starch out of the kick is to push them throughout. And if they dont push, you got to try to pull a grinding steal. Put enough distance so they cant catch you. If they are just too damn good, then tough luck. But to sit back relaxing with horses that have big kicks when you dont... waiting to lose gives you no chance.

And the fact that races do on occasion get stolen by frontrunners keeps
the talented closers honest. Fatman refers to biking, I say look at this year's
womans marathon. The winner put superior runners away because they thought she would come back to the pack. They took it too easy. She was there to push. And no one challenged. She was not the best runner.

Getting covered up also means a horse might have to run at a pace that is not most efficient given that horses particular stride. It is not a good thing at all in some cases. It can be stressful. Its not like coasting on a bike, you still have to run. And having to change pace because a horse in front of you hits a bit of trouble can be debilitating by the end of the race.

My take from running, not biking.