Highlighting Bad Rides to BHA

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bruce_Savage
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Eventmaker Racehorses are McEntee's main owner. They (a bloke who owns a florists in London) bailed out McEntee when he went bust for £120k. He is now his "employer" - Its the only way a bankrupt can reapply as a trainer.

Whole host of dodgy names being banded around on this thread although I have to say when Kirby rode for me, I don't have a bad word to say about him. He did exactly as I asked every ride.

On the other hand, I had a horse run a few years ago who was draw well at Lingfield. I told the jockey to jump out, sit 2nd or 3rd and then kick on in the straight. I watched (alongside a former boyfriend who used to train) and we couldn't believe it when the jockey deliberately pulled its teeth out after breaking well and took it right to the rear of the field (the horse was 2nd fav). It then made headway late on but way too late to get involved. I nearly lynched the jockey when he got back only to hear him mutter and scuttle away. The owner was fuming and demanded I got the BHA to watch the tapes which I duly did. Their answer? "Oh the horse is quite small and took a bump!" They couldn't have given a stuff. The horse was so blatantly stopped and yet they weren't interested.
 
You must know plenty about the training merry-go-round in Newmarket, Kirsty - are you able to enlighten us at all, or would that require you to join the witness protection programme?
 
As a completely straight trainer, jinnyj, would you feel that some people might've somehow thought you were in cahoots with the jockey? If jockeys are doing dodgy deals with undesirables while riding for decent trainers, how would that decent trainer avoid the BHA thinking that they are not quite as decent as they appear to be? In other words, do you think there's a chance to get tarred with the same brush as the dodgepots? And how can you combat that?
 
Funny you should say that Rory! Why do you think I have disappeared from view??!!

Actually, Kri - I completely agree - it is a very difficult thing to prove unless you give your orders to the jockey in front of a BHA official but then whats to stop you having another quiet word later?? On that occasion as I was doing my usual rant around the course, I was "warned" by several people not to complain as it wouldn't do me any good and if I complained about jockeys, the rest would "gang up" and not ride for me. Being naive, I completely ignored them! But it did very much narrow those I was prepared to put up as there were plenty I just didn't trust and plenty again who just couldn't be bothered to ride for a small yard.
 
It just struck me when reading into the topic a bit more that that could make some serious problems for trainers whose main ethic isn't gambling. I've also spoken to young jockeys who are collared by professional gamblers for free entry badges as their 'guests'. The jockeys don't seem to realise that once these people are seen as attachments to them, they will be forever associated with them. If in future these dodgy geezers are investigated or banned from entry, inevitably there will be an eyebrow raised about the jockeys who appear to be their mates, even if they're not and all they've done is obtain them free entrance to courses.

I'm surprised that the PJA doesn't pay more attention to this sort of thing, and that the NTF doesn't perhaps take a more serious stance about jockeys who deliberately disobey trainers' instructions. I know trainers have the right to not engage them again, but without any sort of penalty involved, the habit can go on and on to everyone's detriment except the people who want a different result.

Maybe it's time for the PJA and NTF to work more closely together and perhaps, if there is the will to carry the issue forward, advise the BHA that they want stronger penalties where jockeys fail to do as instructed. If that means that trainers log in a brief of their instructions along with their final decs, then fine. Then there's no argument. Would that happen, I wonder?
 
If you want to know what's trying and fit just watch the BF markets just before the off... There was some good debate about this a while back when I still looked in TRF. Its uncanny how often the drifters run badly. Not saying it always happens and drifters never win but its never too far wrong.
 
I don't know about writing to the BHA it would have to be blatantly obvious a jockey had broken the rules and the stewards hadn't spotted it which is highly unlikely. A lot of enquiries don't hit the headlines and excuses accepted as genuine.

If jockeys were done for stupidity there wouldn't be many ridng that wouldn't get banned at least a few times a month.

Adam Beschizza e.g is a first class young jockey but what was going through his head on Emma's Gift on Sundays beats the hell out of me.

Having backed him for a place I was delighted with the result but at a guess I'd say a few thousand punters were fuming.

Only 6 runners he moved rapidly in to 4th and immediatly finds himself in a pocket so has to take a pull. He has a ton of horse underneath him and 5 wide he's in a good enough position and got plenty time to pull out a yard further and come round the entire field, but decides to sit for another 50 yds then go between horse and the door shuts in his face again.


Then he has a brainwave." I'll take another pull and go round the outside of the field, I'll get a clear passage there DUH!!"

By then of course Nijinsky couldn't have caught the winner.

Certainly could describe the ride as inept but if I wrote to the BHA saying so they would simply think "we agree" and file it in the bin where it belongs, as the jockey has broken no rules.
 
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Del Boy has had several rides highlighted to the BHA.... and YouTube mostly to do with riding the finish a circuit or two too early ....:lol:
 
You boys could overdub a porn movie with race calling - it'd be a lot more entertaining than the usual grunts and groans. "Really thrusting for home now - oh, no! Unlucky! Gone through the rails there!"
 
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