Rest Of Leopardstown

Thanks Happyaslarry - I couldn't open the pictures Uncle Goober posted up.

I don't think there's much doubt looking at those that you can't blame the jockey for that one.
 
Shadow Leader said:
Thanks Happyaslarry - I couldn't open the pictures Uncle Goober posted up.

I don't think there's much doubt looking at those that you can't blame the jockey for that one.
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Yeah, jockey could do nothing. In fairness to the horse he gave every effort to stay up as well. I was really impressed with him yesterday.
 
Shadow Leader said:
In the pictures in today's RP you could clearly see the horse nearly going down - he was biting the turf!
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I'm not sure what was more striking ~ the forward momentum of Cousin Vinny leading to the stumble, or the post error inertia which caused Patrick's momentum to carry him to the point of no return. Anyone?
 
A great sequence of images, thanks for those HasL

They also explain in slow-mo detail what happened - it's clear in images 61>62>63 etc that PM thought with good reason that the horse was going to fall on his left side, and you can see him taking evasive action leaning back over to his right and trying to get his feet out of the irons. There was a real risk of him being rolled on so he had to try to jump clear - he had no reason to think the horse would manage to stay up!
 
Headstrong said:
A great sequence of images, thanks for those HasL

They also explain in slow-mo detail what happened - it's clear in images 61>62>63 etc that PM thought with good reason that the horse was going to fall on his left side, and you can see him taking evasive action leaning back over to his right and trying to get his feet out of the irons. There was a real risk of him being rolled on so he had to try to jump clear - he had no reason to think the horse would manage to stay up!
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Must disagree with all that (apologies ~ not trying to pick a fight), but it's presumptious to assume that we can know what is going through Patrick Mullins' mind, and if he was trying to bail out at the first sign of an error then his career as a jockey would be over in an instant. He comes out the side simply because the horse is slowing down and skewing sideways while his momentum is on a different path (I'm actually playing the momentum/inertia card seriously now). The whole sequence lasts less than half a second and it's unrealistic to assume a cogent thought process for the jockey in this timeframe.
 
I did look at the pics closely and they told a slightly different story from the one I'd seen in the re-run - that's how I read them, though as you say Rory 'thought' was probably not the right word to choose!! (I'm full of co-codamol and v strong antibiotics ... ie pretty fuzzy)

I think PM had some reason to bail out, if that was what he was doing, and I for one would find that understandable - But as the pics could also show, it was possibly his attempt to get himself upright from leaning left which resulted in an 'overcorrection' when the horse heaved himself up and righted himself again, or tried to! But the pics do show how close CV came to going over onto his left side (PM going with him) and instinct surely comes into play here, esp given the split second reactions in play!

In any event I think we are all agreed that he had no chance of staying on, which is the point in question
 
Interesting images alright (and a very snazzy website Healy's have to boot!).

Totally agree that he had no chance of staying on once the horse knuckle. However, not sure how the photos absolve the jockey of any blame, given that we only see the landing side of the fence. Far as I see it, the horse couldn't see a stride, got in a touch close, overjumped and knuckled. Nothing I saw in any of the photos changes that opinion.
 
rorydelargy said:
... unrealistic to assume a cogent thought process for the jockey in this timeframe.
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It's amazing how fast you can think in a siutation like that, Rory. I went over the ears of a horse when the little sod slammed the brakes on because he didn't like the look of the wall we were heading for. As I went into orbit I realised that I was going to land across the wall, thought "That's how Sarah broke her back" and managed to get both hands down to push myself over to the other side and landed on my feet. All in a matter of a second or so.

(Got a load of cheers and applause for a very graceful dismount!)
 
During a fall any reactions tend to be subconcious and automatic - especially when you are coming off a racecourse when it is going at a clip. I see where you're coming from Redhead but in all fairness you'd have a few more seconds to have a think as a horse stops coming into a fence at a slower pace, not least since when you come into a fence (especially something like a wall) it will more than likely be going through your head [even subconsciously] that they may stop at it - that's very rare in a hurdle race!

The first subconscious reactions tend to be to save yourself; ie rolling into a ball, protecting head and belly area, folding in limbs so they don't get broken, attempting to roll clear and staying in a crouch until danger has passed. All this is usually done without you even thinking about it - and if it doesn't happen automatically it helps to avoid serious injury if you learn it, pronto!
 
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