Do jockeys matter?

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

This doesn't have anything much to do with anything but I was looking at this...

http://www.skysports.com/racing/race...415678,00.html

... and it got me to wondering.

What do you all think? Yes, they matter.

When you're capping how much is the jockey taken into consideration? It depends on the circuit and the type of race. The smaller the circuit, the more I take who's riding into consideration.

Obviously we all have our likes and dislikes, our memories that we can't let go of. (One of mine is Kent on Paddy. Buh bye 2nd place finish).

Whether or not they're just? They become our own truths.

I know one person here who is a very good capper who swears he doesn't take the jockey into consideration.

There are people who will not play a horse if a particular rider has the mount.

What about you? At some of the smaller circuits, there are jockeys that couldn't win a two (or three) turn race if they were on Secretariat, so yes, some jockeys are autotosses.

Is the jockey not important at all or the single most underrated part of the big picture or does it depend on x,y and z? Somewhere in the bottom third of the things I am looking at.

What if said jockey is in a slump? Define slump. Yes, I have considered how a jockey is riding on whether to include a horse or not, but that is near the bottom of the factors I look at.

Borel at Churchill is one thing but at Belmont it's a different story (one could argue).

Taking all these different scenerios into consideration what is your very vague answer?

Important? Somewhat? Not at all? It depends. Vague enough?

Feel free to share your insul... I mean thoughts and give examples, both good and bad, if you wish. (Or tell about the best or worst ride evah if you so desire).

The first one to come to mind for me (because I'm still dumbfounded) is Ademar Santos's (45 0 4 3 for the meet) ride on Lewisham in Tampa's 3rd on Saturday.

http://www.equibase.com/static/chart...012911USA3.pdf

http://tampabaydowns.com/DailyReplays.aspx

A perfect example of a low percentage jock on the best horse moving way too soon.

The thing that irked me is that we were discussing before the race why this jock was on this horse with Rosemary Homeister, Leandro Goncalves and others with much better skills, were left in the jocks room. As you can see from the chart (the replay is better) my worst fears came to fruition.

[Thunder Gulch]

It's a secondary factor, but yes, they matter.

[cal828]

Hard to ignore them at times even on the bigger tracks. Anathema(a Stevism!) not to use Rosario at the past Hollywood meet. Bite you in the butt everytime. He could have ridden a blind, 3 legged mule to victory.