Belmont jocks are striking right now

[Ruffian1]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

Anyone who doesn't think being a jockey and succeeding at it isn't extremely challenging is extremely naive. I think the jockey who doesn't have to go to extremes to maintain weight is a rarity. Also unlike other sports where contestants have to make weight jockeys are weighed after the event, not hours or the day before. If a boxer, wrestler, or weightlifter went to extremes to make a weigh in they can at least re-hydrate and get some nutrition in them before they have to compete, a jockey can't even do that.

Absolutely. The vast majority of riders , about 75% when I was there , reduce and jocks are weighed before and after every race they ride.

[Racetrack Playa]

Originally Posted by Tom

And when .... do.
What the jocks did yesterday was unacceptable.

totally acceptable IMHO

cOME ON NOW, THESE JOCKEYS deserve a little respect, bud


Do you really hate everything and everybody -it seems so, sad.

[NY BRED]

Perhaps Dale Romans threatened to sit on the "little people"?

[chiguy]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

Actually, you should admire them.

If horseplayer solidarity were as strong as these jocks, it would produce some positive change...because all the whining and bitching certainly hasn't.

PA you are correct. We should admire them for taking the stand.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Racetrack Playa

totally acceptable IMHO

cOME ON NOW, THESE JOCKEYS deserve a little respect, bud


Do you really hate everything and everybody -it seems so, sad.

I hate people who put themselves and their causes ahead of others, especially when those others are paying customers.

If you want to make someone else the bad guy in this, I suggest you call out NYRA who grom comments in this thread, do not care about the riders at all and refuse to discuss the matter with them.

I am just a customer showing up to support the industry. And I bet from home., What about the inconvenience the pinheads caused the people who work there, have kids at home to get to a certain time, who need to make travel connections to get home?

I always take the jocks side when it comes to refusing to ride for safety reasons. This BS was political.

[Andy Asaro]

Twitter

[Denny]

These jockeys may get what they want, but, is it what they really want?

More competition for jobs.

Aren't 90% of today's jockeys small men from Latin America?

Wouldn't raising the scale make it more doable for everyone - even people born in the US and elsewhere?

[Denny]

One other thing about jockeys.
I think the top guys - like Velazquez - have a lot of nerve wanting everybody to pay all the jockey costs for insurance.
They're always looking for donations for the PDJF.
He, and the other big names, could do more for his fellow riders financial situation by taking less mounts and letting others have a chance to make some money. Do the Ortiz boys, for example, have to ride every race on the card?
I'd like to see some limits put in place so the top 5 jockeys don't win 90% of the money.
Same goes for trainers btw. Put some limits on them too.
No trainer should have 100-something, or whatever outrageous number, horses.

[Tom]

Fields are too large in turf races?
Gee, maybe there would be less congestion if the riders kept a straight course.

Clearly, one of the groups is full of S*** from that article.

[Fager Fan]

Originally Posted by chiguy

PA you are correct. We should admire them for taking the stand.

I'm still trying to understand how this is a NYRA issue. If they want to raise the scale, then that's a national conversation, not one at a single jurisdiction.

[Ruffian1]

Originally Posted by Fager Fan

I'm still trying to understand how this is a NYRA issue. If they want to raise the scale, then that's a national conversation, not one at a single jurisdiction.

I think it is because they have the biggest light on them with the Belmont on the horizon. If the jocks at Pimlico did this, most if not all will be watching the Preakness from the balcony leading to the jocks room not from a horse in the race. This was timed for leverage and the NY jockeys colony has the names and some of the mounts in the Preakness and certainly the Belmont.
The jockeys have a union and it was weak as a kitten in my day but plenty strong and well organized these days. Pretty sure that was the idea behind NY riders doing what they did.

[Ruffian1]

Originally Posted by Ruffian1

I think it is because they have the biggest light on them with the Belmont on the horizon. If the jocks at Pimlico did this, most if not all will be watching the Preakness from the balcony leading to the jocks room not from a horse in the race. This was timed for leverage and the NY jockeys colony has the names and some of the mounts in the Preakness and certainly the Belmont.
The jockeys have a union and it was weak as a kitten in my day but plenty strong and well organized these days. Pretty sure that was the idea behind NY riders doing what they did.

So much for my assumptions. I was wrong. Seems as though the NY jocks already have a big weight break compared to other tracks. sorry I did not know that but I pay virtually no attention to NY racing.

Below is a summary of what the delay last Saturday was all about:

Tensions are escalating between the Jockeys’ Guild and the New York Racing Association over a number of health and safety issues and the fact the two parties have been operating without a contract since the beginning of the year.

On Saturday, about an hour before first post of Belmont’s 11-race card, the jockeys requested a meeting with NYRA management that resulted in a 37-minute delay to the start of the card.

Read the rest here:

http://www.drf.com/news/nyra-jockeys...-safety-issues

[Tom]

Thanks for the update.

This part got me:

“Riders are concerned for their safety and their horse’s safety because of the configuration of the turf course in races of certain distances,” the guild wrote. “In addition to the dangers, due to the field size, it potentially impacts the outcome of the races, which is not fair to owners, trainers, and the betting public. However, management has continued to write races with these field sizes.”

And grabbing and heardding is fair to the bettors????
The balls on these little pukes!

What are these pee-brains smoking. If they don't like those distances, refuse the mounts in them. If they ALL refuse to take a mount, they make their point, the race will not fill, and most importantly, they will not screw with the customers.

[Fager Fan]

Originally Posted by Ruffian1

So much for my assumptions. I was wrong. Seems as though the NY jocks already have a big weight break compared to other tracks. sorry I did not know that but I pay virtually no attention to NY racing.

Below is a summary of what the delay last Saturday was all about:

I don't think your assumptions were necessarily wrong. If you re-read, you'll see the statement is that the weight is supposedly much lower than that of other countries, not other tracks.

I guess they are just hitting up the track they're at, and know that NYRA is perhaps not even arguably the top circuit in racing.

[burnsy]

Originally Posted by chiguy

PA you are correct. We should admire them for taking the stand.

Damn straight. That's a big part of what's going wrong in this entire country. People are chicken shit to take a stand. Taking a stand and speaking up has been ostracized. People will vote against their own interests, have let unions be broken and they worship the people that do it to them. This is how dumb Americans have become.

You got one thread complaining about the "Corporatizing" of horse racing and another bitching about jockeys taking a stand........

Newsflash folks, The jocks are not corporate America............some of them need interpreters.

As usual in sports.........some are millionaires and that gets demonized by billionaires........and some of the average suckers buy in, hook , line and sinker.

"Oh those jocks...that bust their asses.....they are ruining it." lol

Yeah ok