Javier Castellano = Bad rider - 5/26 race 8

[menifee]

What kind of ride was that on the 2 in the 8th at Belmont on Les Antiques. My single in the pick 6. Unfreaking real.

[46zilzal]

Winner looked MUCH the best although lugging in a little. Lost the whip in the last and still had the best closing TWO fractions of any out there.

[toetoe]

Not being antagonistic at all, but I think the ride was almost good enough to win with the second-best horse. He saved all the ground, then did that desperation kick thing in the SHADOW of the wire. Sometimes that gets a win. I just didn't see *2* as a single.

What a heartbreaking game, eh ?

[Tom Barrister]

Originally Posted by menifee

What kind of ride was that on the 2 in the 8th at Belmont on Les Antiques. My single in the pick 6. Unfreaking real.

The ride looked okay to me. The horse was hard to handle early (perhaps he doesn't like being stuck on the rail/hedge in traffic), and he was in-tight in the stretch and wasn't able to angle out until very late. It looked like Castellano did everything he was supposed to do with a horse that wasn't behaving well, and he just didn't have the racing room in time.

What would you have done differently?

Originally Posted by 46zilzal

Winner looked MUCH the best although lugging in a little. Lost the whip in the last and still had the best closing TWO fractions of any out there.

Are we talking abot the same race? The winner sat in the garden spot most of the race and barely held off a horse who had two major trip problems.

[46zilzal]

Originally Posted by Tom Barrister

Are we talking abot the same race? The winner sat in the garden spot most of the race and barely held off a horse who had two major trip problems.

GOOD ride and much the best pace fractions got him the win while lugging in.

[menifee]

Originally Posted by Tom Barrister

The ride looked okay to me. The horse was hard to handle early (perhaps he doesn't like being stuck on the rail/hedge in traffic), and he was in-tight in the stretch and wasn't able to angle out until very late. It looked like Castellano did everything he was supposed to do with a horse that wasn't behaving well, and he just didn't have the racing room in time.

What would you have done differently?



Are we talking abot the same race? The winner sat in the garden spot most of the race and barely held off a horse who had two major trip problems.

The horse needed to be on the outside. He had much the best horse. I don't what race other people were watching. He had an opportunity to swing the 2 to the outside near the turn. Instead he takes the rail. The 10 pins him on the rail when he finally gets through, he swings the horse to the outside and comes running. The 2 wins that race easily if not for Castellano.

[Fastracehorse]

Originally Posted by 46zilzal

Winner looked MUCH the best although lugging in a little. Lost the whip in the last and still had the best closing TWO fractions of any out there.

Les Antiques would have won the race easily. She z on my watch board.

fffastt

[Fastracehorse]

Originally Posted by menifee

What kind of ride was that on the 2 in the 8th at Belmont on Les Antiques. My single in the pick 6. Unfreaking real.

Wasn't the ride, just bad luck, 10 horse wouldn't leave JJ alone.

Day before there was a horse named North Country, 3-1, broke thru the gate and then got buried impossibly in the stretch, it was Desormeaux ridin. Not his fault either.

Belmont turf is one of the most difficult to ride. It will tear your heart out: you will pick a nice one and something will happen or somehow U will get caught at the last jump.

If U have singles it's not a bad idea to wheel the grass race. Dirt z much more reliable.

fffastt

[razzle]

Menifee,

Originally Posted by menifee

The horse needed to be on the outside. He had much the best horse. I don't what race other people were watching. He had an opportunity to swing the 2 to the outside near the turn. Instead he takes the rail. The 10 pins him on the rail when he finally gets through, he swings the horse to the outside and comes running. The 2 wins that race easily if not for Castellano.

I couldn't agree more. I love the ground saving rail trip, but to go the whole 1 1/8 mile "in trouble," which is what he did, didn't make much sense. He checked repeatedly all the way up the backside. It wouldn't have been so striking to me but I had the misfortune of betting JJ on Latitude Forty in a grass feature on 5/18. Same thing. Latitude didn't even get loose in the deep stretch like Les Antiques did. JJ just doesn't seem willing enough to split horses, though I'm hesitant to make too much out of just those two races. At any rate, two very frustrating bad beats.
raz

[Fastracehorse]

Originally Posted by razzle

Menifee,

I couldn't agree more. I love the ground saving rail trip, but to go the whole 1 1/8 mile "in trouble," which is what he did, didn't make much sense. He checked repeatedly all the way up the backside. It wouldn't have been so striking to me but I had the misfortune of betting JJ on Latitude Forty in a grass feature on 5/18. Same thing. Latitude didn't even get loose in the deep stretch like Les Antiques did. JJ just doesn't seem willing enough to split horses, though I'm hesitant to make too much out of just those two races. At any rate, two very frustrating bad beats.
raz

I think frustrating bad beats are just inherent to the Bel turf course.

I had one bad beat with JJ on Sun, got caught late at 10-1. Then JJ won the next grass race on the grass at $16.80 - didn't have that one.

And the beat goes on.

Jerry Bailey said: ride the rail, ride the rail, ride the rail.

fffastt

[menifee]

I understanding that riding a horse is a very difficult thing to do and I could never do it in a million years. I understand that sometimes things happen in a race that the jockey can't control (i.e, horse is tossing its head, too sharp, etc) and it can cause the jockey to steady a horse.

I also understand that sometimes a jockey needs to take a risk with a horse and ride the rail to save as much ground as possible. Perhaps the horse is not that good or just on par with the field he is facing. Grindstone's 96 Derby ride by Bailey is an example. That was a brilliant ride and he won the race for Grindstone.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=l3niz2N5CAE&feature=related

But if you have a horse that is much the best as the 2 was in that race, why do you need to and why do you try to save ground? That field of maidens was not strong. He had much the best horse. Why he chose to bury the horse at the rail the whole race makes no sense. He steadied the whole race until deep stretch. He could have taken that horse back 50 times and moved him to the outside, he chose not to.

Castellano is not a good rider. I've seen him do this a lot. Watch Bejarano on the left coast. This guy is a real superstar. He rarely steadies and he times his rides perfectly.

BTW, I really did not lose that much from this race, I would have only had 5 of 6 in the Pick 6. I got beat in the last leg, but it still drives me nuts when I see a jockey take down the best horse in the race.

[46zilzal]

Originally Posted by menifee

That field of maidens was not strong. He had much the best horse.

Data does not support that allegation.

[Tom Barrister]

I watched the race again and didn't see a thing wrong with the ride. Certifiably Royal came over a bit and crowded/intimidated Les Antiques for much of the stretch. If Morales had kept his horse on a straight line instead of allowing it to drift/lug in, Castellano would have had clear sailing.

Hindsight is wonderful, in that we now know that Les Antiques was much the best horse in the race and would have won by daylight if he'd gotten clear sailing on the rail, and since we also know that Certifiably Royal kept Les Antiques from getting through cleanly.

Castellano didn't have the luxury of knowing that every horse behind him would fail to fire, every horse in front of him would quit, Certifiably Royal would come over on him instead of (more likely) drifting out and giving him a nice clear path, and that Colonial Kid (the eventual winner) wouldn't have a better late kick than he had. If some horse had finished better, and Castellano's clean rail ride had won the race by a nose, his ride would have looked brilliant, whereas swinging him two or three wide and losing by a half-length would have looked stupid and impatient.

Castellano (in my opinion) made the best decision that he could in the second he had. He was riding a horse who was difficult (meaning that keeping it on a straight line would be easier than trying to maneuver it outside), there was plenty of room entering the stretch (and Certifiably Royal was supposed to drift out due to fatigue), and he was taking the shortest path home. It didn't work out for him, but swinging him to the outside didn't have to work better in all possible situations that could have developed.

[Fastracehorse]

Originally Posted by Tom Barrister

I watched the race again and didn't see a thing wrong with the ride. Certifiably Royal came over a bit and crowded/intimidated Les Antiques for much of the stretch. If Morales had kept his horse on a straight line instead of allowing it to drift/lug in, Castellano would have had clear sailing.

Hindsight is wonderful, in that we now know that Les Antiques was much the best horse in the race and would have won by daylight if he'd gotten clear sailing on the rail, and since we also know that Certifiably Royal kept Les Antiques from getting through cleanly.

Castellano didn't have the luxury of knowing that every horse behind him would fail to fire, every horse in front of him would quit, Certifiably Royal would come over on him instead of (more likely) drifting out and giving him a nice clear path, and that Colonial Kid (the eventual winner) wouldn't have a better late kick than he had. If some horse had finished better, and Castellano's clean rail ride had won the race by a nose, his ride would have looked brilliant, whereas swinging him two or three wide and losing by a half-length would have looked stupid and impatient.

Castellano (in my opinion) made the best decision that he could in the second he had. He was riding a horse who was difficult (meaning that keeping it on a straight line would be easier than trying to maneuver it outside), there was plenty of room entering the stretch (and Certifiably Royal was supposed to drift out due to fatigue), and he was taking the shortest path home. It didn't work out for him, but swinging him to the outside didn't have to work better in all possible situations that could have developed.

What we az playerz have to understand, and U exlpained this succinctly, iz that a jock makes a decision, and hopefully it works out.

If it doesn't work out, it doesn't necessarily implicate stupidity.

Just part of the game.

fffastt

[onefast99]

Originally Posted by Fastracehorse@DRF

Wasn't the ride, just bad luck, 10 horse wouldn't leave JJ alone.

Day before there was a horse named North Country, 3-1, broke thru the gate and then got buried impossibly in the stretch, it was Desormeaux ridin. Not his fault either.

Belmont turf is one of the most difficult to ride. It will tear your heart out: you will pick a nice one and something will happen or somehow U will get caught at the last jump.

If U have singles it's not a bad idea to wheel the grass race. Dirt z much more reliable.

fffastt

I think Desormeaux is protecting himself and not riding as he would due to the fact he doesnt want to get hurt prior to the Belmont. He doesnt look like the same jockey right now.