Importance of Harness Drivers

[pandy]

http://www.drf.com/news/bob-pandolfo-importance-harness-drivers

[LottaKash]

Bob, thanks for sharing your thoughts about the the "drivers", good stuff...I especially like the "down memory lane" part, about the the "Red-Man" and "the Master" and all those old guys....

And, it's true, many years ago we would discuss the various drivers like they were baseball or football players...We rooted for them...

I agree with just about all of what you have stated about the new and rising stars, except for one....Jim Marohn Jr., imo, the guy just doesn't make it in my book...I mean he is ok at the cheap tracks, but he just doesn't get it at M1, as he is so "Driver-Error" prone....What you called "patience", I called "dumb luck"...But, that is only my opinion, is all..

[cmp92]

http://www.drf.com/news/bob-pandolfo-importance-harness-drivers
Good read. One particular thing I've noticed is how drivers fare after getting to pick which horse to drive. As many of us know, drivers like Tetrick and Gingras find themselves having to choose between 2-4 horses in a race. What percentage do they win at when they have a choice between 2 horses? 3? 4? I'd bet the percentages are good. A recent example sticks out. The Weiss at Pocono featured Offintothesunset, a filly trained by Linda Toscano. Tetrick and Toscano have teamed up many times in the past. Tetrick has been a loyal driver for Toscano.

Now, Tetrick had raced at Pocono in the other divisions, but instead chose to go to Dover Downs. I don't know what the purse for the final will be, but I would think that these guys want to race in the series so they can take down the final. I believe Tim won five races that night at Dover. Meanwhile, Toscano's horse goes off at 4-5 and breaks at the start. Now, how did Tetrick make that decision? I'm inclined to think that Tetrick knew that Toscano's horse wasn't worth the trip. Decisions like these are important clues to pick up on.

[pandy]

Thanks guys. Marohn has a positive ROI at the Big M this meet.

[Just a Fan]

The Weiss finals only have purses of 30,000. That's not a whole lot of money to a guy like Tetrick, he's not going to change his schedule around for a series like that, particularly for a 4 year old.

I think some drivers make decisions on who to drive based primarily on loyalty (like Gingras and Kakaley driving for Burke, obviously, and a guy like Scott Zeron who is trying to establish himself is going to choose to drive Tony Alagna's horses, since Alagna was essentially Zeron's meal ticket to the US). Some drivers strictly pick the best horse at almost every opportunity, and other drivers are somewhere in between. I actually don't put a lot of stock into it if a driver chooses off a horse I like, sometimes I think the public overestimates how much the driver knows/remembers about the horses at the time he has to make his decision.

I'm a little too young to really appreciate Carmine and Herve, but I get the sense that the bigtime drivers were essentially household names back then. Ask a non-racing fan who Yannick Gingras or Tim Tetrick is, and there's no chance that those names will register.

I kinda liked the nicknames/catch phrases that Jack E Lee would use for drivers at Fhld (NOOObody beats the Catman, all you gotta know is Jackie Mo, Howard Pacin Parker, Lightnin Luc Ouellette) and maybe he contributed to some of the nicknames in Bob's article when he was calling the races at RR, but some of the Meadowlands nicknames seem kinda forced on those guys.

[mrroyboy]

In all my years of betting harness races I have had many names for the drivers. Some are unprintable.

[pandy]

Jack E Lee may well have created some of those other nicknames, I'm not sure. I think he called Jimmy Marohn, The Mighty Might.

[cmp92]

After reading this thread, I cashed on Scott Mongeon at Saratoga in Race 12. I don't think that has happened before. :cool:

[LottaKash]

Thanks guys. Marohn has a positive ROI at the Big M this meet.

Pandy, I see you are right about a positive ROI, but, and this is a "big but" for me, notice his "freguency" of wins per start....

Maybe others will follow this guy around, but me I don't have the patience waiting for a forthcoming win from him, at the expense of missing out out some other lucrative winners during this time....

Still, in his defence, I have noticed that Marohn has been given "a lot" of hand me down horses...The ones that the top drivers have opted off of, for whatever the reasons, whether a bouncer or lamer or just an over peaked off form horse....But me, I have bet on him a time or two on some plays that I thought were very live, and he severely disappointed me with his drives each and every time.....He is very tentative with leaving, and makes some weird moves and often at ill timed portions of some of those races....

I will pass on him even on a good enough looking play....That's me...He hasn't shown me he will be a great one, at least not yet, imo...I will continue to watch tho...

http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp137/lottakash/MAROHNSTATS_zps82121791.png (http://s405.photobucket.com/user/lottakash/media/MAROHNSTATS_zps82121791.png.html)l

[cmp92]

Pandy, I see you are right about a positive ROI, but, and this is a "big but" for me, notice his "freguency" of wins per start....

Maybe others will follow this guy around, but me I don't have the patience waiting for a forthcoming win from him, at the expense of missing out out some other lucrative winners during this time....

Still, in his defence, I have noticed that Marohn has been given "a lot" of hand me down horses...The ones that the top drivers have opted off of, for whatever the reasons, whether a bouncer or lamer or just an over peaked off form horse....But me, I have bet on him a time or two on some plays that I thought were very live, and he severely disappointed me with his drives each and every time.....He is very tentative with leaving, and makes some weird moves and often at ill timed portions of some of those races....

I will pass on him even on a good enough looking play....That's me...He hasn't shown me he will be a great one, at least not yet, imo...I will continue to watch tho...

http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp137/lottakash/MAROHNSTATS_zps82121791.png (http://s405.photobucket.com/user/lottakash/media/MAROHNSTATS_zps82121791.png.html)l
I agree. He's great at Monticello and Tioga but I haven't seen much from him at the Meadowlands.