A Life Lesson
 

This may be cheezy, but I just watched replays of horses running in the 9th on Thursday at Santa Anita, a state-bred MSW. J. Paul Reddam has 3 in the race, and when I saw that the first thing I thought was, "which one is Gutierrez on?"

The loyalty a man like Reddam has shown this jock ever since he brought I'll Have Another home in the Kentucky Derby in 2012 has been inspiring. From the outside, it would seem there is nothing within reason that would ever break that loyalty Reddam has to Gutierrez. Whether it's a horse in O'Neill's barn, or Ed Freeman's or Ben Cecil's, it's plain to see that Mario Gutierrez is unquestionably first call. And all Gutierrez has done since is bring home Nyquist in the 2016 Derby.

Prat and Bejarano have the other two in the nightcap Thursday, but it would seem Gutierrez got the one that any jock with a choice would have taken.

Just kind of a "feel good" thing to me. Particularly after some comments were made about Baffert's relationship with jocks in another thread recently.

Maybe other's like it too.

loyalty is terribly rare

it's nice to see cases like Mario and Johnny V. who have been 1st-called and have earned it.

Can't fault a Baffert either.

Some people chomp at the bit waiting for more than one Reddam runner to run in the same race.

It means at least one of the horses will be "Gutierrez off", anecdotally powerful betting angle.

And that enhances the loyalty thing even more. There ain't but a few handicappers, and many an owner/trainer, that wouldn't prefer Prat or Bejarano over Mario Gutierrez. The loyalty is all Reddam. O'Neill still uses Gutierrez on other owner's horses, but not like he does on Reddam's. It's plain to see that it's Reddam's call that Gutierrez is always up when available.

And I've seen Gutierrez on other horses in races that Reddam has one. It could be for a hundred different reasons like previous commitment and whatnot, but that pops up now and then.

He's underrated for sure.
Gutierrez is double tough.
Gets track bias right,understands how much horse he has underneath him......and the proper time to use his horse.
But his true calling card is the old "ice water in his veins" on the biggest stages...….he comes up big when it counts the most.

He's annexed:
The Kentucky Derby twice(with two completely different masterful rides).
Preakness...….perfect ride.
BC Juvy Filliy…..34-1 for Eurton….judged pace/track bias perfectly.
BC Juvy Colt.
Florida Derby.
Santa Anita Derby.
Gr.1 Front Runner twice.
Stephen Foster.
Alcibiades.
Del Mar Futurity twice.
FWIW: Rode one time for Baffert in 2018.....Won the DMR Futurity(Game Winner).

He drives me crazy as a player because its tough to predict what he will do with the horse compared to what I see on paper. I guess its a compliment to say he adapts to the race and not the running style of his horse.

Is it though? Should be pretty easy to check.

It was, took about 1 minutes using STATS Race Lens.
Jockey change from Gutierrez last start.

Last 12 months, 188 Races, 199 Starts, 15% win, 10% place, 14% show. -28% ROI



http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/d...BJRU5ErkJggg==

Yeah, great, compared to Gutierrez himself during the same time period:

13% wins, -30% ROI


Nice try though...


Mario has reached that "15%" plateau only once since arriving full-time in California.


Tiz far more easy to seem "loyal" to someone when few others really want your services.

A piece of trivia: Reddam is a big Detroit Red Wings fan and names a lot of the horses he buys after Detroit players.

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I don't trust Gutierrez at all in big races. Look at his ride on Pavel in the San Pasqual last year.

I think he wins big races sometimes because he gets good horses. I don't consider him one of the better jockeys out there.

I have always thought he's poison on the hill.

I don't know what the Reddam/Gutierrez relationship looked like before I'll Have Another, but since, Reddam has shown monumental support for him. It really has made Gutierrez's career on the big stage, because he would struggle just on a day to day basis on the SoCal circuit if not for all the Reddam horses he rides, and J. Paul Reddam has A LOT of horses.