We have \"Wide\" Mike, we have \"The Kentucky Strangler\" or \"Frenchie\" for Leparoux, I\'m trying to make \"120lbs. of Sand\" stick for Gutierrez, what about \"Holy shit is this guy overrated and just generally not that good\" for Castellano?
I\'m open to other suggestions, any thoughts?
Maybe the way you spelled his name in your title you just gave him one. Seriously this has not a been a good year for him. Was burning major money on rhe big days beginning March in Florida. The Ortiz brothers have stepped up the competition including inside the Chad Brown barn. Also riding a lot for Pletcher this year has been a major drag. His quality is WAY down. Been saying that for months....
Just for clarification, is this the same Javier that is leading in total earnings - and of the top ten jocks in earnings per start (he\'s 10), only JV is within 400 mounts of Javier (both Ortizs are outside the top 10)?
He rides every day and still winds up in the top ten. Not that good meaning . . . a horse you had money on lost?
Actually he won both times he carried my money today, thanks Mr. Castellano!
Not *that* good meaning TG shows he averages the 2.4 path on dirt and 1.9 on turf, as in: the same as everyone else.
As far as the earnings, there\'s a chicken and egg problem there, is he earning because he gets the best of Brown/TAP/everyone else\'s, or does he get the best because of his earnings?
In any event, I was mostly referring to the abysmal ride on Flintshire and to a lesser extent the ride on Destin.
He gets the best mounts because he sucks and is overrated, In Miff\'s absence I\'ll answer for him BRILLIANT.
JJ is so far heads and shoulders above anyone else since Dominguez had to retire, its not even close.
This was a REALLY stupid post, he\'s only won the last 3 eclipse awards and is even money to win another one.
Maybe I should re-phrase:
He had a rough day today, to my eye.
A few other points, since I have a few minutes still before the dinner bell:
As stupid as my post may have been, your reading may be worse. I didn\'t say he was awful, I said he was \"over-rated and not that good\" in the first post, in the second I said there was a chicken/egg problem, and that he tends to be in the same path as an average jock, in other words, he isn\'t worse, but he also isn\'t better.
At no point did I say he sucks.
Do you understand that he can be the best, and be overrated at the same time? Are you aware that there is an Eclipse award for best handicapper each year too, and that it is often won by a person that you may not actually say is the best handicapper?
More Brilliance
Did it ever occur to you that when you ride Cadillac\'s you can take a little bit longer way around (staying out of trouble when you have the best horse) than Eric Cancel or Jomar Torres? There is a big disclaimer there you have to show a lot of talent to get to ride Cadillac\'s. Johnny V. is the best case in point for that, he made a living swooping the group on Pletcher Cadillac\'s. He also won a ton of races on balls and talent riding Fords as did JJ.
The difference is now JV will never ever go through a hole or scrape paint, JJ will when he has to and when the money is on the line. He gets first call on basically whatever he wants to ride.
HE USUALLY KICKS MY ASS BECAUSE I REFUSED FOR A LONG TIME TO BET HIM AFTER TAP GAVE THE MOUNTS TO HIM FORM AN INJURED JV.
INTERESTED TO KNOW HIS RECORD IN CLASS SEPARATELY - CLAIMING KING?, aoc, OR G1?
Why don\'t we both try to stop responding in a sarcastic and insulting way, ok? I\'ll go first.
The fact that Flintshire is good enough for him to get stuck, stop the horse, go 4 wide in a 4 horse race, and win wrapped up in spite of all that, does not speak to his talent as a jockey. It may speak to talent he showed previously that he was deemed worthy of putting on the horse (or, for that matter, his agent\'s talent in getting him the ride), but I can\'t say a single positive thing about the ride on Flintshire other than \"He didn\'t fall off.\"
I can give him some style points, because he did really mug at Joel as he went past, which was genuinely fun and funny.
Oops, should have checked, I guess Jose Ortiz was the actual victim of the mean-mugging.
T Peck,
FYI, the hole you are digging is getting deeper by the shovel full. bbb
TP- I take no position on your view of Castellano (other than Frank D is absolutely correct about Javier)but I am curious as to the criticism of his ride on Flintshire. Many jockeys would have panicked when trapped on rail and either forced a move too early or been trapped on rail-Castellano obviously knew at every step he would win and had the best horse. He waited, circled four wide and cruised home. He wasn\'t concerned about ground loss obviously. What did he do in the Bowling Green to set you off and upset you?
The plan was to bring him back in the Sword Dancer, so the stroll in the park today was fine by the trainer. And Castellano\'s intent was to keep Flintshire covered up until the stretch, which is hard to do in a 4-horse field yet he managed it exquisitely.
Sorry not to have stopped by the backside at margaritaville today. Great seeing Richiebee yesterday and will see Frank, JB and the gang next weekend.
Templeton,
You need to move on. You made a very dumb post, on the wrong board. People here, at least a good majority, understand the game.
Even your secondary \"re-trenched\" position, ala Trump, doesn\'t hold water. Nothing wrong with the Flintshire ride. Circumstances. Flintshire has no gate speed. U wanted him to send? The horse who figured to send, did, and the competition race Rode him quite a bit. Locking him in.
As for Destin, upon first reaction, as somebody who singled Destin, I was angry he didn\'t try to at least get within a half length of the winner. Then I watched the replay, after the anger was gone, and what I saw was a horse who had every chance to win, had a better trip than governor Malibu and couldn\'t even beat him. Pletcher didn\'t have the horse ready to run his A race.
Judging a jockey purely on paths is silly, even for s Kool-aid drinker. It is certainly a dimension, but Frenchie has good stats there and I wouldn\'t let him ride my tractor. Javier an astute judge of pace. Case in point would be today. I tossed Rays at the Bar , partly on value, but mostly because as a plodder who is always at the back of the pack, he figured to be up against it in a race with no pace. Instead, Javier somehow gets him out of the gate, just off the front runner, in position. And he wins
Good luck with your next post topic
Jim
I should say, he didn\'t set me off, or upset me. I think I have come across that way in this thread, which is my fault. I felt a little foolish about responding to Frank so sarcastically, but otherwise I\'m feeling ok :-)
As with many things, it\'s a matter of perspective. On the one side of the coin, you see a ride where he did not panic when stuck at the rail, and on the other side of the coin, I wonder why he ever was stuck there? His horse broke well, has previously showed some early lick, at least by the standards of a 12f euro turfer, and he allowed a situation to develop down the back and into the turn where he could get pinned at the rail.
Maybe the horse needs cover or prefers it, as I know some euros do, and in that case my beef diminishes, but it seemed to me he let a situation develop where he needed to get on the brakes pretty hard, make a pretty sharp right turn, and then the horse was enough to overcome it. That he won, to me, speaks to the quality of the horse, rather than the quality of the jock or the ride.
Said another way, in a 4 horse field, he ended up 4 wide and didn\'t get there entirely of his own choosing. To say after the fact \"He won wrapped up anyway, he clearly knew what he was doing,\" feels like results-oriented thinking, to me.
And I guess I\'ll say it one last time, I\'m not saying the guy is a bum! I\'m only saying that I don\'t think this was his finest work, and that I don\'t think the distance between him and the pack is as great as some think it.
An aside -
For the few horizontal players who had to leave Flintshire off their tickets (on what they\'ll insist are sound handicapping principles) the race gave them an emotional thrilling few seconds in an otherwise unemotional objective day to contrast with the many who gulped when it appeared he might not get out of the box.
The thrills of the sport.
\"It\'s like Papa Wallenda said, \'Life is on the wire. The rest is just waiting.\'\"
based on the last yr
stakes/alw 717-153 21%
clam 265-57 22%
msw 279-56 20%
mcl 189-46 24%