Ramon Dominguez. Best jockey ever?

[only11]

Originally Posted by boomman

only: I wouldn't necessarily agree with that, although late in his career he and his agent hand picked and chose low-odds horses that certainly put him in a better position to win. If you want to talk about someone that always had his horses in position to win, how about Pat Day? Most riders would LOVE to win A riding title @ Churchill Downs. Pat won 34 of 'em!!!!

Boomer

Boom would you say Eddie D makes your top ten?

[johnhannibalsmith]

I'll take Antley over Day or Stevens (yes, I AM serious, laf) ... you get credit for one out of three; can't argue with Laffit...

[aaron]

I'd take many riders over Day. I saw him lose too many races with his waiting style. A good rider,but in my opinion not great. I'd take Bailey over Day anytime. He was never a dominant rider against the best NY riders. For me, Cordero was the best.

[46zilzal]

McCarron one year broke his leg badly and was a commentator for a spell.
I recall they asked him how much an effect a rider had on a horse and he was quite honest in saying :`We can only make a horse reach his potential by keeping him out of the unexpected trouble that develops in a race. We cannot make a horse better than the horse is.``

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by 46zilzal

McCarron one year broke his leg badly and was a commentator for a spell.
I recall they asked him how much an effect a rider had on a horse and he was quite honest in saying :`We can only make a horse reach his potential by keeping him out of the unexpected trouble that develops in a race. We cannot make a horse better than the horse is.``

Never listen to riders when they talk about how much a difference a horse makes. They have a political reason to downplay their talents, its called modesty. It would be career suicide if a jock said 'im better than other jocks, i make em run faster, etc"

Jocks are trained to give credit to everyone else, jocks are constantly thanking trainers and owners for giving them a shot. No way a jock is going to throw his fellow riders under the bus and say that some guys make em run faster than others.

[46zilzal]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Never listen to riders when they talk about how much a difference a horse makes. They have a political reason to downplay their talents, its called modesty. It would be career suicide if a jock said 'im better than other jocks, i make em run faster, etc"

Jocks are trained to give credit to everyone else, jocks are constantly thanking trainers and owners for giving them a shot. No way a jock is going to throw his fellow riders under the bus and say that some guys make em run faster than others.

They know, more than anyone else, how much their efforts can or cannot make a difference.

But I suppose even coming directly from one of them is still not reason enough to believe his perspective

[Greyfox]

A horse cannot run faster than its ability.
A good rider - hands, timing, balance, - can allow the horse to run to it's ability.
A poor rider- can withdraw energy from a horse via hands, timing, balance and inability to spot chances to fire.
The poster that said earlier that top rider X would ride the same horse 5 lengths faster over a mile distance at the end than rider Y, with both doing their best was close to the truth.
My guess would be closer to 3.

[Robert Goren]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

So, you're saying that riders in general haven't improved at all in the last 30 years?

I won't speak for him, but as for myself, I would say on a whole they gotten worse. JMO

[boomman]

Originally Posted by only11

Boom would you say Eddie D makes your top ten?

only: Yes! Let me see if I can compile My "top ten" list (with apologies to David Letterman) since my introduction to horse racing in the mid 1970's:

1) Laffit Pincay, Jr.
2) Gary Stevens (pre knee injury)
3) Pat Day
4) Bill Shoemaker
5) Angel Cordero, Jr.
6) Steve Cauthen
7) Larry Snyder
8) Eddie "D"
9) Chris McCarron
10) tie: Patrick Valenzuela (in his prime, pre suspensions)
Jerry Bailey


Best riders today:

Dominguez
Bejarano
Borel

Boomer

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by Robert Goren

I won't speak for him, but as for myself, I would say on a whole they gotten worse. JMO

There's just more scrutiny on today's jocks with all the blogs, message boards and whatnut. Maybe they've gotten worse from a tactical standpoint, but i think they make more speed, they make them run faster.

[Greyfox]

Originally Posted by boomman

Best riders today:

Dominguez
Bejarano
Borel

Boomer

Bejarano,

[Trotman]

No arguments with most of the riders mentioned they are the cream of the crop, interesting no mention of Sandy Hawley he rode against most of them and Pincay,Shoe,Day
and McCarron all admited that he was one of the best they
have ever ridden against.

[gales0678]

1/38 in tc and bc races - ramon is going to have to do better on racing's biggest days to become a great

[Fager Fan]

I'm surprised by the high rankings of Stevens by some. I think he's soundly in the second tier of best jockeys.

If you polled jockeys, they'd probably rank Angel as the best of all-time.

The best jockey of recent has to be Bailey. He wasn't the most gifted rider, but he was the smartest rider.

[Marshall Bennett]

Rajiv Maragh may be as good as anyone riding right now .