Smart rider

[lamboguy]

instead of going to Tampa with about 97 other riders, DESHAWN PARKER hooked up with Eric Reed and Steve Asmussen and rides first call for both in Texas

[FiveWide]

I'm betting DP will dominate!

-Five

[tonypp]

when it comes to speed figures,i believe Sam Houston plays the fairest.

[JustRalph]

Why did he leave WV?

[therussmeister]

Mountaineer closes for a while in winter.

[SharpCat]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

Why did he leave WV?

The last several years he went to Tampa Bay when Mountaineer closed shop for the winter. He's had limited success at Tampa Bay and should do better at Sam Houston riding for Reed and Asmussen. If you stay and ride at CT you have to deal with cold weather and allot of cancelled racing dates.

[Milkshaker]

For at least the last decade, Tampa has been an extremely competitive jockey circuit.

Maybe not in terms of overall quality, but quantity.

You get a lot of "stable riders" who don't get a lot of mounts outside of the smaller outfitts they are the regular exercise riders for.

And a lot of the jocke/trainer loyalties are regionally based.

Probably a larger pool of riders in terms of per capita horse population than most places, I would guess.

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by Milkshaker

For at least the last decade, Tampa has been an extremely competitive jockey circuit.

Maybe not in terms of overall quality, but quantity.

You get a lot of "stable riders" who don't get a lot of mounts outside of the smaller outfitts they are the regular exercise riders for.

And a lot of the jocke/trainer loyalties are regionally based.

Probably a larger pool of riders in terms of per capita horse population than most places, I would guess.

they sure got a lot of jockeys, but what is more important than jockeys are exercise riders, and the ones that freelance down there are pretty weak. probably the main reason why guys like Proctor and Ness win all the time, they bring good ones there.

[ManU918]

I'm surprised Parker never moved to Parx. The purses are a lot higher than Mountaineer and the jockey quality is horrible. Carmouche finally decided to try GP out this year but he's not doing to well.

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by ManU918

I'm surprised Parker never moved to Parx. The purses are a lot higher than Mountaineer and the jockey quality is horrible. Carmouche finally decided to try GP out this year but he's not doing to well.

he's better than Camouch. try putting Camouch on a 2 year old, he's gutless, Parker's never afraid to give you a good ride. i put Parker on my horses in Presque Isle all the time.

[ManU918]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

he's better than Camouch. try putting Camouch on a 2 year old, he's gutless, Parker's never afraid to give you a good ride. i put Parker on my horses in Presque Isle all the time.

That's exactly why I said Parker should move to Parx. He would be very successful there.

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by ManU918

That's exactly why I said Parker should move to Parx. He would be very successful there.

Parker didn't go down to Texas without having 2 guys to ride for. in Parx he has no business whatsoever.

if you lined up all these riders side by side, the best rider on a good day might be 15% better than the worst rider in a colony. most of them there are little difference.

in this business of betting on horses, you got to forget about looking at riders and find fast horses. fast horses make bad riders look good!

[mountainman]

DeShawn is a tall rider whose mechanics on a horse, especially in deep stretch, have probably been a stumbling block to picking up strong outfits elsewhere than mnr. The slow, roundhouse whip-motion is a visual drawback, and he flops around much more than a top rider should when putting his mount to an all-out drive.

The things that make him special- guts, gatesmanship, patience, swiss watch in his head, court vision, not to mention the competitive heart of a tiger-take longer to make an impression and make Parker an acquired taste.
In my opinion, that's why his game hasn't travelled well.

Hopefully, that changes at LS. DeShawn can ride with anybody, and outride 99% of his brethren. His agent, a sharp, well-connected, somewhat pushy guy named Billy Johnson, informed me a month ago that Shawn would have first call from Eric Reed and ride a few for Asmussen.

Incidentally, I've been accused of favoring Parker in my commentary. While I'm not sure that's the case-the guy just doesn't open himself for much criticism- I do plead guilty to respecting him a great deal. He's a self-made man who's parlayed average talent and decades of hard work into a pair of national titles. He's also a modest, soft spoken guy whom I've been on a friendly basis with for a long, long time.

[lamboguy]

in friday's 5th race at Sam Houston, Parker just put on a clinic on how to stay out of a speed duel, save the horse and aces the win at the wire. not that many guys riding horses can do what he just did.

he only has 2 mounts tonight for Eric Reed.

[duncan04]

He has back to back wins in the 5th for Eric Reed and the 6th for Steve Asmussen.