Gary Stevens

[TheEdge07]

Since his return to the races he has put on a exhibition of front running victories.
I failed to understand how other jocks let him get away with it?

[TheEdge07]

Hes been doing it forever..great line by Durkins Stevens has committed a felony and we have it on video tape.

1994 Breeders' Cup Distaff - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtAtAMX1qQ)





► 2:16► 2:16 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtAtAMX1qQ)


www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtAtAMX1qQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtAtAMX1qQ)




Oct 12, 2012 - Uploaded by Breeders' Cup World ChampionshipsOne Dreamer wins the 1994 Breeders' Cup Distaff by a head. ... 1993 Breeders' Cup Classic - Arcangues ...

[iceknight]

Since his return to the races he has put on a exhibition of front running victories.
I failed to understand how other jocks let him get away with it? payoffs...jk..
not at big circuits i hope!

[Show Me the Wire]

He out maneuvers them. He understands the track bias and uses it to the best advantage. He beat the field to the golden rail on a horse, No Silent, which was expected to sit behind the pacesetters. Once he secured the inside the race was over. He is putting all of his mounts in position to win and he only loses when the horse isn't good enough.

His ride on Irish Surf, on the turf today was masterful, he caught Leperoux in a switch, which caused the :2: to lose 3 plus lengths when the real running began, while Stevens kept moving forward on the :10:

[dilanesp]

One of my favorites from way back when was one he DIDN'T win. But he had no right to be in this photo finish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZjyPzs0uTM

And of course that same year he won the Kentucky Derby wire to wire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maKjghSxcAI

So the answer to OP's question is "they've been letting him do it for 25 years". The guy's an amazing judge of pace. Old timers tell me Johnny Longden was similar.

[letswastemoney]

Some jockeys are overly obsessed with rating. Stevens knows better and realizes some horses need an aggressive ride.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

He out maneuvers them. He understands the track bias and uses it to the best advantage. He beat the field to the golden rail on a horse, No Silent, which was expected to sit behind the pacesetters. Once he secured the inside the race was over. He is putting all of his mounts in position to win and he only loses when the horse isn't good enough.

His ride on Irish Surf, on the turf today was masterful, he caught Leperoux in a switch, which caused the :2: to lose 3 plus lengths when the real running began, while Stevens kept moving forward on the :10:

A very nice ride, and caught Trevor off-balance, who lost track of the horse while calling the :2: coming wide, and ended up calling the :3: the winner and not the :10: ....

Not that I could be a better announcer..... :)

[Tom]

He turned an otherwise dismal weekend into a winning one for me last week in the turf stake at Del Mar. :ThmbUp:

[chadk66]

The break Gary took made him a better jockey I think. When you sit and analyze races every day you start to look at things differently. Not just from a jocks point of view. I think that was a great thing for him. He's now firing from both barrels so to speak. Pat Day was very much like Gary is now.

[Show Me the Wire]

The break Gary took made him a better jockey I think. When you sit and analyze races every day you start to look at things differently. Not just from a jocks point of view. I think that was a great thing for him. He's now firing from both barrels so to speak. Pat Day was very much like Gary is now.

It probably has a lot more to do with his knees. He was always an excellent tactical and money rider, but you can't ride aggressively with sore knees.

I hope he doesn't over extend himself which may lead to another undesired retirement.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

The break Gary took made him a better jockey I think. When you sit and analyze races every day you start to look at things differently. Not just from a jocks point of view. I think that was a great thing for him. He's now firing from both barrels so to speak. Pat Day was very much like Gary is now.

No need to insult the guy. Personally, I always thought of Pat Day as an excellent finesse rider with an awesome agent. Gary (IMHO) is better rider, and proved it by riding consistently well on the major circuits when they were both riding back in the 1980s and 1990s.

However, I freely admit that my opinion may be clouded by a couple of bad rides that Day gave Easy Goer, as well as making so many races at Oaklawn, Churchill and Arlington unbettable. Seemed he was always on the horse that should have been 5-1, was going off at 6-5, and you just couldn't keep him out of the exacta....

[dilanesp]

However, I freely admit that my opinion may be clouded by a couple of bad rides that Day gave Easy Goer

That's a very clouded opinion, given that Pat Day isn't the reason why Easy Goer lost either of those races.

I am amazed that even 24 years later, Easy Goer's fans can't accept the reality that Easy Goer met his match. Citation wasn't supposed to lose to Noor four times either, but it wasn't Arcaro's fault he did.

[raybo]

I agree. I have a very hard time trying to imagine a sentence that would include Gary and Pat, that states them as being similar, and I certainly can't imagine ever saying that Gary is, or was, a better jockey than Pat. They have both won a lot of races, but that's about as far as I can take it. I hated to see Pat on a card at OP, you couldn't bet on him, or against him, he was excellent at getting the very best out of mediocre horses.

[chadk66]

My reference to Gary and Pat was how well Gary is doing with horses on the lead. Pat was one of the best ever with a horse on the front end.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

That's a very clouded opinion, given that Pat Day isn't the reason why Easy Goer lost either of those races.

I am amazed that even 24 years later, Easy Goer's fans can't accept the reality that Easy Goer met his match. Citation wasn't supposed to lose to Noor four times either, but it wasn't Arcaro's fault he did.

Clouded? I know it's an old debate, but there's little doubt in my mind the Preakness result would have been reversed if a more physical rider like Cordero would have been aboard Easy Goer. Might have helped to have him start a little better too, and he was totally left flat-footed in the gate in the Breeders Cup. Maybe the horse's fault, but I point at the jockey.

No doubt that in the Derby Sunday Silence rocked & rolled (Easy Goer looked a little dull on the track), and it did look like in the Breeder's Cup Sunday Silence had something left. But Sunday Silence does not have races anything like Easy Goer's Gotham or Belmont in his resume, so that's why many of us will be in the Easy Goer camp until the end of time.

As for Pat Day, he was awesome on the front end, and great at making a horse relax. His rides on Theatrical were flawless, and he certainly presented himself as an excellent role model in a sport where not all jocks do. However, as dominant as he was in the Midwest, he seemed much more ordinary when he ventured out to the major circuits on the coasts. Both he and Stevens have 9 Triple Crown wins, but Stevens gets the edge with three Derbies versus one for Day. Day has more Breeder's Cup wins with 12 versus 8, but the way Stevens is riding right now, that could change come this fall.

Anyway, give me any healthy jockey in the last 30 years to ride my horse in a big race, I come up with, in any order:

1. Jerry Bailey
1A. Pat Valenzuela
1X. Gary Stevens

So there..... :p

[Valuist]

I am amazed that even 24 years later, Easy Goer's fans can't accept the reality that Easy Goer met his match. Citation wasn't supposed to lose to Noor four times either, but it wasn't Arcaro's fault he did.

I agree 100%. What was it, 3 to 1 SS over EG? And Easy Goer's lone win came at the odd distance of 12 furlongs on dirt.

[dilanesp]

there's little doubt in my mind the Preakness result would have been reversed if a more physical rider like Cordero would have been aboard Easy Goer.

Easy Goer had every opportunity to blow by Sunday Silence in the stretch. It isn't as though he didn't try. The problem is that Sunday Silence was just as good as he was (at least that day) and wasn't letting him blow by.

Might have helped to have him start a little better too, and he was totally left flat-footed in the gate in the Breeders Cup. Maybe the horse's fault, but I point at the jockey.

Again, this wasn't a race where Easy Goer lost all chance at the start. He had every chance to win the race. He blew by Blushing John, a very good Paulson horse who won the Hollywood Gold Cup and some other big stakes races that year. His problem was that Sunday Silence still had a lot left in the tank.

At any rate, has it occurred to you that Sunday Silence also got a bad trip in the Preakness? He was pinched back on the turn. The reality is that you had 2 evenly matched horses, and those races weren't decided due to trips. Both horses had every chance to win both times.

But Sunday Silence does not have races anything like Easy Goer's Gotham or Belmont in his resume, so that's why many of us will be in the Easy Goer camp until the end of time.

I agree with this. But that, as they say, is why they run the races. Sunday Silence's best non-EG race was the Santa Anita Derby, and while that was impressive, it wasn't like EG running 1:32 2/5 for a mile or 2:26 flat for 1 1/2 miles. Easy Goer also has the distinction of being the best-LOOKING racehorse I have ever seen in person. He was big and red and beautiful.

But the fact of the matter is, when Sunday Silence ran against Easy Goer, he was clearly as good as Easy Goer was, despite the past performances. It wasn't because Day screwed up. It was because Sunday Silence was incredibly competitive and a very good racehorse, and while he couldn't beat Easy Goer on his absolute best day (i.e., the Belmont), he was right there with Easy Goer on most days. Remember, absent the other horse in the crop, EITHER of them would have won the Triple Crown and the BC Classic, which would have been an amazing accomplishment. Easy Goer fans blame Day because they underrate Sunday Silence.

[Fingal]

Since his return to the races he has put on a exhibition of front running victories.
I failed to understand how other jocks let him get away with it?

Because he understands PACE. Too many jocks think that the speed will come back to the field, but when a horse going long gets that uncontested lead it gets brave.

[chadk66]

Clouded? I know it's an old debate, but there's little doubt in my mind the Preakness result would have been reversed if a more physical rider like Cordero would have been aboard Easy Goer. Might have helped to have him start a little better too, and he was totally left flat-footed in the gate in the Breeders Cup. Maybe the horse's fault, but I point at the jockey.

No doubt that in the Derby Sunday Silence rocked & rolled (Easy Goer looked a little dull on the track), and it did look like in the Breeder's Cup Sunday Silence had something left. But Sunday Silence does not have races anything like Easy Goer's Gotham or Belmont in his resume, so that's why many of us will be in the Easy Goer camp until the end of time.

As for Pat Day, he was awesome on the front end, and great at making a horse relax. His rides on Theatrical were flawless, and he certainly presented himself as an excellent role model in a sport where not all jocks do. However, as dominant as he was in the Midwest, he seemed much more ordinary when he ventured out to the major circuits on the coasts. Both he and Stevens have 9 Triple Crown wins, but Stevens gets the edge with three Derbies versus one for Day. Day has more Breeder's Cup wins with 12 versus 8, but the way Stevens is riding right now, that could change come this fall.

Anyway, give me any healthy jockey in the last 30 years to ride my horse in a big race, I come up with, in any order:

1. Jerry Bailey
1A. Pat Valenzuela
1X. Gary Stevens

So there..... :pMan when you think of all the top jocks the past twenty or thirty years it's amazing. Romero, Delahousie, Pincay, Cordero, Solis, hell Mike Smith rode for me back in the mid eighties before he was anybody. Sandy Hawley rode for me and that guy was probably the most overlooked rider in history. There's just a ton of them.

[pondman]

Romero, Delahousie, Pincay, Cordero, Solis, hell Mike Smith rode for me back in the mid eighties before he was anybody. .


Stevens deserves to keep company with this group. He deserves A-1 accolades.

But Pincay was a step above all of these jockeys! I don't think there is anyone in the game today that compares with Pincay.

[affirmedny]

I agree 100%. What was it, 3 to 1 SS over EG? And Easy Goer's lone win came at the odd distance of 12 furlongs on dirt.

and at his home track as well.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

I don't see how a loss by a nose can't be attributed to a poorer trip. Easy Goer broke 2 lengths slow, was rushed by Day, was stalking perfectly, then rushed again to the lead, which allowed Sunday Silence to pin him on the rail through the stretch. Sunday Silence had a much smoother trip (ie, better ride) than Easy Goer, in spite of being pinched on the turn.

I don't blame Day for the other two losses, but the Preakness result could easily have gone the other way with a different trip - for either horse.

Sunday Silence was a great horse, and I wouldn't argue he had more heart than Easy Goer. I bet Sunday Silence in the SA Derby, and was cackling when he blew Houston into the weeds. But Easy Goer was such a freak, you knew you were going to see something special whenever he ran, where as Sunday Silence was just another fast horse.

As for the odd distance of 12 furlongs, I don't buy that being the only reason he won the Belmont or that he wasn't awesome at shorter distances. Watch the Gotham. The 1989 Belmont was pretty emotional for those of us Goer fans, as we had to wait 5 weeks for redemption. And it was just a little more satisfying after Whittingham bragged he was going to win the Triple Crown - after a nose win in the Preakness. He should have known better.....

[TheEdge07]

Easy Goer wasnt as atheltic as SS.Watch the 3 of the 4 races EG would lose ground on tight turns...
EG's only victory was the long sweeping turns at Belmont.

CD-Tight turns
Pim-Tight turns
Gul-Tight turns
Bel-

Watch the classic when they hit the far turn EG loses ground around the far turn.
Sunday Silence was the better horse 3-1

[dilanesp]

But Pincay was a step above all of these jockeys! I don't think there is anyone in the game today that compares with Pincay.

Pincay was very good. But it's very hard to say who the best was. The reality is that every generation of jockeys has produced some amazing ones. As I adverted to above, some older folks have told me that Longden was amazing on a frontrunner. Arcaro and Hartack had great records in the Triple Crown races. Baeza was apparently criminally underrated. Shoemaker may have been overrated, but there are a bunch of astoundingly good rides he delivered (1962 San Juan Capistrano, 1977 Swaps Stakes, 1978 Jockey Club Gold Cup, 1986 Kentucky Derby) in big races.

I would probably say Bailey's the best I ever saw. And Pincay, Stevens, and Smith were very, very good. But being out west, I didn't see that much of Cordero, and I know that a good many New York types think he was a great as any of them, especially in a big race when tactics matter.

But who knows, really. There have been a lot of great ones.

Here's a question. Of the YOUNGER riders riding today (let's say under 30), who do people think is destined for greatness?

[nijinski]

Easy Goer wasnt as atheltic as SS.Watch the 3 of the 4 races EG would lose ground on tight turns...
EG's only victory was the long sweeping turns at Belmont.

CD-Tight turns
Pim-Tight turns
Gul-Tight turns
Bel-

Watch the classic when they hit the far turn EG loses ground around the far turn.
Sunday Silence was the better horse 3-1

The connections of EG may have been the reason . He had a very tough campaign coming into the BC . Compare Easy Goers last race before the Classic and Sunday Silence . I've said this before . Whittingham felt confident . He new he had the fresher horse . He chose a softer spot
prior to the BC and I doubt he even expected EG to run as well as he did ,
Easy Goer's owners felt they had to do the right thing and run him in
NY no matter what the distance was , they felt committed .
IMO both were great horses . They were a giant match up .

[dilanesp]

The connections of EG may have been the reason . He had a very tough campaign coming into the BC . Compare Easy Goers last race before the Classic and Sunday Silence . I've said this before . Whittingham felt confident . He new he had the fresher horse . He chose a softer spot
prior to the BC and I doubt he even expected EG to run as well as he did ,
Easy Goer's owners felt they had to do the right thing and run him in
NY no matter what the distance was , they felt committed .
IMO both were great horses . They were a giant match up .

I'm not sure if that was "the reason"-- I think Easy Goer ran fine in the BC Classic but just got beat-- but your viewpoint was definitely shared by a lot of the powers that be in New York. 1989 was the catalyst for a bunch of changes in the fall stakes schedule there that were intended to make the whole thing more Breeders' Cup friendly.

[nijinski]

I'm not sure if that was "the reason"-- I think Easy Goer ran fine in the BC Classic but just got beat-- but your viewpoint was definitely shared by a lot of the powers that be in New York. 1989 was the catalyst for a bunch of changes in the fall stakes schedule there that were intended to make the whole thing more Breeders' Cup friendly.

Easy Goer was very much needed to run in the JCGC at 12 furlongs and
Phipps family wasn't passing the famous race . He did quite alot through the Summer and Fall . Again , both horses were superb .

[dilanesp]

Easy Goer was very much needed to run in the JCGC at 12 furlongs and
Phipps family wasn't passing the famous race . He did quite alot through the Summer and Fall . Again , both horses were superb .

I don't think Shug thought that there was anything wrong with running a mile and a half prepping for the BC Classic. If your horse was based in New York in those days, that was the logical prep race. Honestly, I don't think there's anything wrong with it either. Alysheba didn't run in the JCGC, but he won the BC Classic off 2 strenuous 1 1/4 mile preps run in very fast times and spaced close together the year before, which wasn't that much different from what EG was asked to do.

But I remember the uproar after Easy Goer lost again to Sunday Silence-- it was swift and loud, and the very next year they shortened all the races, introduced the "Breeders' Cup preview days", etc. 1990 was the year that NYRA decided that since their big races were no longer championship races and were preps, they were going to be spaced and set up explicitly as preps. And it was in large part because a lot of people thought Easy Goer was compromised against Sunday Silence by prepping at 12 furlongs.

[nijinski]

This is short but sweet Shows the human side od GS , I'll have to look for the entire video one day . Talks to Pont Given before it ends . http://youtu.be/6eUDQlOlvY0

[PaceAdvantage]

Regarding the video nijinski posted...I'd think there is some serious debate as to the best horse never to win a triple crown...pretty sure Point Given is not at the top of the list.

We can start with Spectacular Bid and go from there...but this really isn't the thread for that, is it? :lol:

[nijinski]

Regarding the video nijinski posted...I'd think there is some serious debate as to the best horse never to win a triple crown...pretty sure Point Given is not at the top of the list.

We can start with Spectacular Bid and go from there...but this really isn't the thread for that, is it? :lol:


You had to spoil it . I was enjoying the moment . :lol: :lol:

BTW it could just as well be young Ronnie saying those same words Gary Stevens said to PG , right after the Belmont :)

.

[nijinski]

Stevens had to feel really good this day . From Wiki

On the day that Point Given won the Travers (August 25, 2001), it was a record Travers Stakes day attendance of 60,486. The race, dubbed the "Midsummer Derby," achieved a total betting handle of $34,529,273. This was also a Saratoga record.

[horses4courses]

Gary Stevens makes the trip north tomorrow for one ride in the feature race

GGF R8 :5: Enterprising

The price won't be attractive - but he's not flying up there for the fresh air ;)

[Stillriledup]

Gary Stevens makes the trip north tomorrow for one ride in the feature race

GGF R8 :5: Enterprising

The price won't be attractive - but he's not flying up there for the fresh air ;)

That's a tricky track to ride if you've never ridden there, but if anyone can adjust on the fly, its this guy.

[iceknight]

Gary Stevens is one of the best of the best in the field. I love his ride on War Chant in 2000 (closing effort though), Gary missed out riding Da Hoss in 1998 though!

[letswastemoney]

Gary Stevens makes the trip north tomorrow for one ride in the feature race

GGF R8 :5: Enterprising

The price won't be attractive - but he's not flying up there for the fresh air ;)I hope Gary enjoyed his fresh air...