Contrasting Jockey performance different tracks

[porchy44]

Starting a thread on Contrasting jockey performance from one track to another.
list any jockeys that are a "must consider" at one track but a virtual toss out or bad bet at another track.

Deshawn Parker -Mountaineer Good - Tampa Bay Downs Bad.

[lamboguy]

he will win plenty of races this year, its tough to break into that place but he has business.

[turninforhome10]

Contrasting jockey perfoemance? Should you not consider the class of the animal the jock is getting on? Are you saying then that Deshawn Parker is a good rider at MNR and a poor rider at Tampa?

[porchy44]

Contrasting jockey perfoemance? Should you not consider the class of the animal the jock is getting on? Are you saying then that Deshawn Parker is a good rider at MNR and a poor rider at Tampa?


NO, its just a mystery to me why there are Jocks that win at high rate at some tracks and cannot find the winners circle with a GPS at another track.
In Parker's case, it's not like he is riding double digit odds horses every race.

[turninforhome10]

Agents and connections.

[Dave Schwartz]

Agents and connections.

:ThmbUp:

TFH,

Boy, you are on a roll in this thread!

I agree with you. Remember when Desormeaux came to SoCal? He was the record-breaking jock from the east coast who just was not good enough to win in the tougher competition. He got lots of wins but mostly because of great connections.

To his credit, he learned to ride and eventually deserved what he got.

[turninforhome10]

I learned from the best. Watching Steve Elzey bring out Bejarano, Kenny Washburn with Terry Thompson (turning Prairie Meadows into Washburn's betting window), Fat Steve with Louis Quinonez. And most of all T-Red Bernis who taught me how to get what you want from the agents.
Agents make Jockeys not vice versa IMHO.
Any jocks out there that want to ride at Parx?
I would not mind giving the agent game a shot.

[Valuist]

I learned from the best. Watching Steve Elzey bring out Bejarano, Kenny Washburn with Terry Thompson (turning Prairie Meadows into Washburn's betting window), Fat Steve with Louis Quinonez. And most of all T-Red Bernis who taught me how to get what you want from the agents.
Agents make Jockeys not vice versa IMHO.
Any jocks out there that want to ride at Parx?
I would not mind giving the agent game a shot.

Dennis Cooper in Chicago is an example of that. Doesn't seem to matter who he books mounts for, they will be at the top of the AP and Haw standings.

[Not4Love]

I agree. The connections no doubt. Everywhere from the barn to the racing office.

[flatstats]

I don't think different tracks affects jockeys' perfomances in the US. Aren't your tracks all mostly the same shape, size, speed?

In the UK there is distinct difference in performance because our tracks are so diverse.

First we have two main surfaces: All Weather and Turf. Within that they are split further:

All Weather
Fibresand (slow) and Polytrack

Turf
The going varies in six grades from Firm to Heavy. There are jockey biases with goings but that is a different thread

UK courses are not uniform. Some were purpose built to conform to a standard shape, some were built in the trough of a valley and run up around the side of a hill!

Courses can be described as:

Triangle
Oval
Pear
Figure of Eight
Flat
Undulating
Uphill
Stiff
Galloping
Tight
Left Handed
Right Handed

Some have straight courses (races of 5f to 8f) some do have not. Some are totally round and have no home straight at all.

When you mix all that up you can see why jockey course biases work here. A jockey may be adept at a specific course but get totally flummoxed at another. Punters rarely understand this even though it is so obvious.

These biases happen because jockeys do not understand the pace for a particular course. They run a horse on a flat, galloping, left handed course, which has a long home straight well. But when they ride that same horse on a right handed, undulating, stiff course with a 3f home straight they finish down the field. This is purely because they do not understand the differences in the track and that the horse has to be ridden differently.

It happens not only with greenhorns but the top jockeys too.

A few months ago top female jockey Hayley Turner had a couple of bad rides on fancied runners at a northern track. Punters were not happy but the bad rides were expected. Her strike rate at the course prior was around 4% and the A/E really low. She just flopped purely because she has no winning experience there.

At other courses she is 3, 4, 5% strike rate whilst at others she is 12, 13, 14%. This is not luck or agent placing. This is pure experience / lack of riding ability under certain conditions.