Geraghty

A

Ardross

Senior Jockey
Joined
Aug 8, 2007
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He really is riding superbly at present . Just ridden 4 other jockeys completely to sleep at Sandown on Une Artiste .
 
Never seems to get the same credit as AP or Ruby but how can you knock any of them

Ruby has great hands, a unbelievable good judge of pace and horses always seem to run for him Weaknesses: None

AP the bravest, hardest working jockey ever could win on a donkey and near impossible to beat in a close finish Weaknesses: None

BG Always where he's meant to be, best judge of pace in the game and has no superior when it comes to presenting horses at a fence. Weaknesses: None

Don't even want to think about who is the best.... I'd just end up arguing with myself
 
No argument with any of the above.

Mr Carberry shone today as well. The current lot are the best bunch of jump jockeys there's been in my time following racing. Davy Russell, Noel Fehily, Richard Johnson and Paul Townend, to name but three (er, four actually :p), could have been champions or multiple champions in other times, as could Timmy Murphy in his prime.
 
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Relatively speaking I think the NH jocks are a good deal better than their Flat counterparts. The fact that Graham Lee could go from one code and break a 100 winners is testimony to both his own ability and what he was up against. All jockeys have weaknesses and their ability will eventually wain. Personally, I would have Adrian Maguire as the equal or better of any listed.
 
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Ruby is god but ive got a large softspot for paddy brennan.barzalona probabley my favourite on the flat if only for that outrageously brilliant derby celebration.
 
Add in the new generation
Paul Townend Already a Champion
Bryan Cooper
Adrian Heskin, like Andrew Lynch in that his claim was used to the max for large handicaps by ML Hourigan and preserved for same.
Danny Mullins who rode senior guys to sleep over Christmas and new year at Leopardstown and Fairyhouse.
 
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Townnend and Carberry are the best for me

Walsh, Gerathy and T. Murphy very good

Cooper looks good and could be top class

Lynch is already very good and has scope

McCoy good and his atittude in small races is remarkable but he is overrated for me

Russell is ok , R. thorton quite good.

Richard Johnson not a negative.

J. Maguire not a negative


Brennan and Condon big negatives for me.
 
I think if McCoy has one fault, it is his ability to get one over a hurdle/fence when completely going for it. I think he has his fair share of fallers when flying in top gear.
 
Beats the hell out of me how anyone can say AP is overrated .

The man has a strike rate of between 21% and 31% for the last 18 years and on average ridden about 800 times a season.

As far as falling goes it would suprise you just how few of his mounts do fall.........he's had 1 UR from his last 50 rides. It just when he does come off one its a bigger talking point than it is when some other jockey falls
 
Must admit I have a soft spot for jockeys who can put a horse to sleep and conserve energy. Martin Blacksaw, David Goulding, The brilliant Declan Murphy and now we have Paul Carberry.

The one draw back is their type are so quiet they would have you believing at times they have a ton of horse under them and when they get beat they become the targets of name callers, most of which haven't got a clue.

Paul Carberry is up there with the aforementioned but if he could change anything it would have to be his ride on Harchibald when beaten by Hardy Eustace.

Many say he left it too late but he'd disagree, he came too soon and was in contention too early giving Harchibald too much time to think about things is what beat him that day. Sad really because he won 5 Grade 1's on Harchibald but the one he really wanted slipped by.

I think Davy Russell time in England haunts him as far as fans go. A lot of people don't like him but for me he's right up there with the best and with the horses he has to ride at present things can only get better.

He never seems to lose that hunger for winners and he's definitely in my top 5.

Seems all the jockey's I like have one thing in common..........They're Irish;)
 
In Davy Russell's big interview in the Owner Breeder magazine he says that his time in England was the making of him, particularly the help and advice from Ferdy Murphy
 
Lucy Alexander best female jockey ive seen, and up there with the majority of the boys.
 
Tanlic said:
Paul Carberry is up there with the aforementioned but if he could change anything it would have to be his ride on Harchibald when beaten by Hardy Eustace.

Many say he left it too late but he'd disagree, he came too soon and was in contention too early giving Harchibald too much time to think about things is what beat him that day. Sad really because he won 5 Grade 1's on Harchibald but the one he really wanted slipped by.
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He only got there too soon because a gap opened when Cash brought Brave Inca off the bend turning in. Carberry had to go for it when it was there. It was just circumstances and I'm not sure he would have won even if he held him up. Carberry tried to beat Brave Inca subsequently at Punchestown by coming from off the pace and it didn't work. Against the battlers, Harchibald just didnt have the heart for it.
 
Cantoris said:
He only got there too soon because a gap opened when Cash brought Brave Inca off the bend turning in. Carberry had to go for it when it was there. It was just circumstances and I'm not sure he would have won even if he held him up. Carberry tried to beat Brave Inca subsequently at Punchestown by coming from off the pace and it didn't work. Against the battlers, Harchibald just didnt have the heart for it.
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Was there not rather an important jockey change on Brave Inca that day ? ;)
 
OTB said:
Lucy Alexander best female jockey ive seen, and up there with the majority of the boys.
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Completely agree. Watch her ride on Tipsy Dara last week - It looked like a field of pony club riders against a top pro, admittedly it was a conditionals race but the difference was easy to see. She was head and shoulders above them.

Great rider and still being underestimated.
 
Cantoris said:
Against the battlers, Harchibald just didnt have the heart for it.
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A stiff 2m was always at the outer limits of Harchibald's stamina reaches. When he came up against the "battlers" at the business end of a championship pace against top horses, his stamina ebbed away.

He was always criticised for a lack of heart by some (you know who you are...), but I do think he put it all in; he just happened to do it on the bridle.
 
cjboy said:
In Davy Russell's big interview in the Owner Breeder magazine he says that his time in England was the making of him, particularly the help and advice from Ferdy Murphy
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Remember Davy went directly from riding P2P to Ferdy Murphy job, after Adrian Maguire broke his neck.
He had little enough track experience and virtually no GB experience of raceriding and travelling on a daily basis.
He then came back to Edward O Grady, another high pressure job for a relatively young jockey.
His biggest plus is the way he minds horses, gets them in a rhythm jumping so they make few mistakes and rarely come back torn or marked from the obstacles.
That is probably why he has the Gigginstown retainer.
 
granger said:
Didn't take long (7 days) for poor tracks to come out defending his boy
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Some things are just beyond the pale, and questioning Harchi's heart is one of them. (Incidentally, that is the same pale Grasshopper and others bludgeoned me repeatedly with following the 2003 Champion. :cool:)

In fairness, they were halcyon days with Harchi and Hardy and Macs and Cantoris' yolk that couldn't travel through his races. :cool:
 
trackside528 said:
A stiff 2m was always at the outer limits of Harchibald's stamina reaches. When he came up against the "battlers" at the business end of a championship pace against top horses, his stamina ebbed away.

He was always criticised for a lack of heart by some (you know who you are...), but I do think he put it all in; he just happened to do it on the bridle.
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I always thought it was a mental thing rather than lack of heart. When you watch him beating Rooster Booster and at the rate he went off at that just had to be stamina sapping.

When you look how far behind him Harchibalds was and how much ground he still had to make up on him at the last there's not a hint of him stopping.

He just stuck he is neck out and ran all the way to the line.

If that Champion Hurdle was run again and he was brought with a late sweeping run I still say he'd have won that day but alas we'll never know.

One Point: Old Sea Pigeon was the same when Monksfield beat him in 79 looking all over the winner but got there too soon and people said he didn't see the trip out properly but ridden differently he won the race twice.
 
Tanlic said:
One Point: Old Sea Pigeon was the same when Monksfield beat him in 79 looking all over the winner but got there too soon and people said he didn't see the trip out properly but ridden differently he won the race twice.
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The track was changed in 1980; they no longer passed the finishing post making the race ~ 200yds shorter and one hurdle less ( not sure about the hurdle).
point taken though; Francome gave Sea Pigeon the best ride in 81.
 
Tanlic said:
I always thought it was a mental thing rather than lack of heart.
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Barkchibald was capable of very high-class form on his day, but there is equally no question that he was also a coward.

Stop thinking 'Hardy Eustace' and start thinking 'Straw Bear'. :cool:
 
I'm pretty sure the best advice Ferdy gave to Davy Russell was 'buy an alarm clock and remember to set it each night'.

Definitely the making of him!
 
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