Originally posted by useful@Feb 1 2008, 06:08 PM
Paul Carberry (a bit like Russell) tried his luck over here as Ogden's retained pilot but was exposed as not up to the job.
Eh????!!!!!! Eh?????!!!!!!! Eh?????!!!!!!!!
C'mon useful - you have got to be ripping the proverbial with that comment in particular?
Paul Carberry is one of the most, if not THE most, gifted horsemen I have ever seen sling a leg over a horse's back. He is also a superb jockey [yes, there is a big difference, not that many can comprehend that - and there are very, very few who excel at both]. He may be a little bit of a nutter, but they do say that there is indeed a very fine line between genius and insanity.
I would fall over myself in the rush to say yes if he were to indicate he wanted to ride my horse - I could not think of anyone better suited to not only educate a young horse but to kid it into thinking it's not in a race in settling it the way many others cannot and also in giving it a ride.
I cannot get my head around why you have Paul Moloney (another very, very good yet seriously under-rated jockey) Tony Dobbin and Davy Russell in your "not to back" list either.
....and where the hell is farmer Tizzard??? He should be top of the "not to back" list, closely followed by Andrew Thornton!
I'm also bemused that Choc Thornton doesn't figure in your "to back" list, and that Sam Thomas does - that'll be Sam Thomas the horse wrestler, who suffered a rare break in his usual form and managed to win a few races for Nicholls when Ruby was out of action without wrestling them to the ground when jumping?!
Nevermind who you'd back and who you wouldn't - which, as trackside points out is ambiguous as you surely have to alter your ideas according to the individual circumstance of each runner - I have thought long and hard about who to put up on my boy when he eventually goes hurdling. Bearing in mind I want a jock who will 1) hopefully be available to ride him most of the time rather than be claimed for a main retainer 2) be honest with me about the animal and know that I can trust what comes out of their mouth 3) would hopefully be prepared to come and sit on him before they ride him 4) is a horseman who will help him, educate him and not batter him senseless unnecessarily if they feel his chance has gone, nor sit up on him and pull him up in said situation 5) that I can trust to give him a decent ride [ok, so that kind of coers point 4 as well!] and 6) that I can trust to follow riding instructions as well as they can without disregarding them completely, I have settled on one of two of either Mark Bradburne or Jimmy McCarthy. I'm still deciding on which one; I've got a few months yet and I might have a chat with them both and see if they'd come down and sit on him for me. I know plenty will be critical of the pair but to be quite honest, in my eyes they both fill my criteria very well and I would be more than happy to put either of them up.
