Townend and Ruby

sunybay

sunybay

At the Start
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For how long Townend will want to be second stable jockey?

I think owners will also put preassure on Mullins,
for me, Townnend is the best jockey riding in Europe at the moment.
 
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I think he is exceptional - he'll keep the ride on Hurricane Fly too - but Mullins and Walsh have a very close relationship and I imagine Ruby will be number 1 for a while yet.
 
Remember you mentioning that Mullins will put Townend up on enough good horses to keep him happy Gal. Hope he keeps him on Hurricane Fly as he said he would last year prior to Townend's injury and him being forced to miss Punchestown.

There are horses in the yard who seem to run so much better for PT compared with Ruby - most notably Golden Silver, fingers crossed the arrangement continues to work but he's a hell of a jockey.
 
That's it, the difficulty will be keeping him happy in 12-18 months time. He's an incredibly good jockey, Townend, but Ruby is still the daddy for me. You only have to look at how certain horses perform without him - Twist Magic for one, to appreciate what a superb horseman he is.
 
sunybay said:
For how long Townend will want to be second stable jockey?

I think owners will also put preassure on Mullins,
for me, Townnend is the best jockey riding in Europe at the moment.
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Is being the top jockey in europe not the same thing as being the top Irish jockey.
 
Townend is in the perfect position at the minute. Mullins is very fair about letting lads keep rides (Hurricane Fly/Golden Silver for Townend and The Midnight Club for Emett Mullins etc.) as well as getting the pick of the Mullins rides with Walsh in England a fair amount of weekends. He has time on his side.

Was I the only one who thought Townend nearly made a complete balls of the ride on Hurricane Fly yesterday by the way?
 
I see the situation in a different way,
if Mullins doesnt use him as first jockey he is in dangger of someone like Henderson or even Paul Nicholls signing this one.

Gosden was quick with Buick, and Townend is an even better jockey than this.
 
About Hurricanes ride,
I think it was perfect, a jockey solving a tricky situation in the bend not panicing , making the horse jump perfect and very strong and balanced in a tight fought finish.
 
Why would Paul Nicholks sign him when hes Quby Walsh and every other top jockey happy to pick up spare rides. Henderson has McCoy/Gerathy so as usual the only job available is Howard Johnson and Id imagine Townend would be a million to one for that job. What will be interesting is when he does go to the UK to ride one during the season, who will snap him up for the other races on the card.
 
I don't see Townend leaving Ireland. He has just bought a new house so it's obviously not on his mind. He just needs to show a bit of patience and maturity and his time will come. Thankfully that looks not to be a problem.
 
We've been here before with jockeys. The lad is only young and I hope he doesn't do what he hasn't done so far.....and follow the same route as some of his fellow jocks. Unlikely given the master he has, but still he has a few years yet where it could all go wrong. Precocious talents need to be nurtured and too much too soon is not alwyas a good thing. I think he's a fine rider and would like to see him do well for the next ten years, rather than suddenly get an ego, like so many have done before him. He's in the right place at the right time now, but it can still go horribly wrong.
 
It will stay as it is for a couple of seasons at least,Townend getting some plum rides and Ruby riding most of the good ones but not all.

Between Mullins multiple runners and Ruby being away a lot there's loads of space for Townend.
 
Isn't Ruby also married to one of Mullins' relations ?

Townend has a brilliant job as it is - apart from an offer of stable jockey to Nicholls or Henderson what would be better for him ???
 
Most people are talking about Townend as if he is still an up and coming jockey, but in fact he's already right up there. In the season just over he finished in 14th place in GB and Ireland in terms of races won (i.e. taking races won in both countries into account), but as high as 6th place in terms of prize money won.

As chroniclandlord says, it's hard to see where else he could go that would give him better opportunities than he's already getting.

Here, by the way, is the top 10:

Wins Runs % TOTAL PRIZE
R Walsh 177 658 26.9% £3,839,241
A P McCoy 201 941 21.4% £3,209,492
B Geraghty 122 523 23.3% £2,263,172
D Russell 93 642 14.5% £2,164,000
P Brennan 68 657 10.4% £1,696,315
P Townend 56 421 13.3% £1,604,006
R Johnson 162 822 19.7% £1,438,788
A J McNamara 58 462 12.6% £1,416,467
Jas Maguire 110 568 19.4% £922,634
T Murphy 55 298 18.5% £917,458
​

If anybody knows how to tabulate the data properly I would be grateful for their help.
 
Is Townend is a similar position to Spencer just before the latter got his chance in Ballydoyle?? Had shown his huge talent with some big race wins but lacked the experience of handling himself when things got tough. That experience comes with time. I think he's in the best place he could possibly be. Mullins will most certainly keep his feet on the ground.
 
Spencer still messes up even with his experience!!!! I think this week would have been a big and stressful week for Townend - and he did not falter for a moment.

Cantoris said:
Is Townend is a similar position to Spencer just before the latter got his chance in Ballydoyle?? Had shown his huge talent with some big race wins but lacked the experience of handling himself when things got tough. That experience comes with time. I think he's in the best place he could possibly be. Mullins will most certainly keep his feet on the ground.
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Ardross said:
Isn't Ruby also married to one of Mullins' relations ?

Townend has a brilliant job as it is - apart from an offer of stable jockey to Nicholls or Henderson what would be better for him ???
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First jockey with Willie Mullins?
 
Cantoris said:
Is Townend is a similar position to Spencer just before the latter got his chance in Ballydoyle?? Had shown his huge talent with some big race wins but lacked the experience of handling himself when things got tough. That experience comes with time. I think he's in the best place he could possibly be. Mullins will most certainly keep his feet on the ground.
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Big differences for me,
Spencer doesnt have the head this oen has.


Townnend is with S. Cauthen, K. McEvoy and Paul Carrberrythe jockey most talented gifted I have seen.
 
Galileo said:
Spencer still messes up even with his experience!!!! I think this week would have been a big and stressful week for Townend - and he did not falter for a moment.
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Might have been stressful but Mullins' horses were on fire. Now imagine they weren't and the pressue going out t ride the sixth favourite when the five previous ones have all been beaten. Things can go from great to bad very quickly, just ask Sam Thomas who could do no wrong one season and couldn't do a tap right the next season. before anyone jumps into it, I'm not comparing Thomas with Townend, just the dangers involved. Of course the flip side of it is that he'd be riding with some confidence now and success breeds success.
 
Code: 
                   Wins     Runs    %         TOTAL PRIZE    
    R Walsh        177      658     26.9%     £3,839,241           
    A P McCoy      201      941     21.4%     £3,209,492 
    B Geraghty     122      523     23.3%     £2,263,172           
    D Russell      93       642     14.5%     £2,164,000 
    P Brennan      68       657     10.4%     £1,696,315  
    P Townend      56       421     13.3%     £1,604,006 
    R Johnson      162      822     19.7%     £1,438,788
    A J McNamara   58       462     12.6%     £1,416,467       
    Jas Maguire    110      568     19.4%       £922,634       
    T Murphy       55       298     18.5%       £917,458

26.9% - I know he has the pick of the rides, but that's not too shabby is it? Any idea what his LSP is?
 
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