I have never been a Jockey's Agent but one thing I have noticed over the years in the UK and now in the US is there seems to be many sorts of agents. Just a couple of examples.
1. When I was growing up in the UK, a commentator I know called John Hanmer was a jockeys agents. Softly spoken but delivered few words with authority in a way that you never had to question what he meant or said. Perhaps the epitome of talk softly and carry a big stick.
2. Here in the US the most spectacular jocks agents I have come across are large dealmakers but inevitably seem to eventually alienate themselves, often by force of their own personality and lack of self-awareness leads them to being thought of (sometimes very unfairly and sometimes entirely justified) as loud used car salesman. This is shame as often they are the very people who understand the game on myriad levels and very deeply.
It may be the more transient style of US racing combined with each track more or less being an fiefdom that leads to this behavior. But a good jocks agent is a skill that is criminally underrated by many. I respect anyone who can make a success of it in the long haul. They deserve every reward they obtain.
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