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Trainers don't stop horses

R

reet hard

Senior Jockey
Joined
Aug 4, 2011
Messages
8,454
I'm back, having taken the advice of a few members, and taken steps to exorcise the cause of my chagrin, and would like to raise a subject close to my heart.
How many times do punters claim a horse was 'hooked up', usually one they've bet themseves. not unusual for some to claim more than one in a race, either, unable to come to terms with bad selection.:)
My mate Fist (where is he,btw) recently told me he'd once had a conversation with Jonjo on the subject, and was told (laughingly) the real problem was finding races they could win, which is an entirely different kettle of fish to most punters' perception.
Imo, another racing myth which wants binning along with 'Hendo's leaking info' and and other such erroneus beliefs.
 
Good to see you back, reet :)

I think some trainers prep/train their horses in races and therefore don’t want them knocked about too much. Often looks like holding back somewhat. Occasionally a rider of a “ready” horse is told “not today” when connections haven’t been able to get their price. Not sure how prevalent that is, though.
 
Welcome back, Reet.

I'm a bit puzzled by your post. Are you suggesting that every horse in every race is trying to win?I

I'm fairly sure that this isn't the case and I don't believe that you don't think that.
 
They are more likely to find a race that they can win if they are stopped, not that Jonjo would know anything about it.
 
100% Trainers stop horses.

Either by running too unfit, wrong ground, wrong distance, unsuitable course, wrong riding instructions......especially with horses you are needing a handicap mark for or one that needs to drop a few pounds.

And you can spot plenty if you look carefully enough. Jonjo is the a prime example only I think sometimes he gets over clever and misses a race he should have won.
 
Colin Phillips said:
Welcome back, Reet.

I'm a bit puzzled by your post. Are you suggesting that every horse in every race is trying to win?I

I'm fairly sure that this isn't the case and I don't believe that you don't think that.
Click to expand...
Not at all, Col.
Any half-decent trainer has enough tricks in the box to disguise a horse's true ability.
Recall when I used to pooh-pooh a leading trainer's claim to be "always trying". That may well be the case, but his horses aren't always placed to best advantage.
 
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Good to see you back Reet.
Trainers run horses in wrong races and numerous other reasons so they cant win,its the way of getting their hcap mark down.
And everyday you see jockeys not trying.thats where most of my winners come from.
 
Outsider said:
Good to see you back Reet.
Trainers run horses in wrong races and numerous other reasons so they cant win,its the way of getting their hcap mark down.
And everyday you see jockeys not trying.thats where most of my winners come from.
Click to expand...
 
Outsider said:
Good to see you back Reet.
Trainers run horses in wrong races and numerous other reasons so they cant win,its the way of getting their hcap mark down.
And everyday you see jockeys not trying.thats where most of my winners come from.
Click to expand...
That may well be the case O, but most likely when connections are aware that circumstances, on the day, are wrong for their horse, and I'd doubt jocks would risk the possible censure for deliberately riding to lose.
 
reet hard said:
I'm back, having taken the advice of a few members, and taken steps to exorcise the cause of my chagrin, and would like to raise a subject close to my heart.
How many times do punters claim a horse was 'hooked up', usually one they've bet themseves. not unusual for some to claim more than one in a race, either, unable to come to terms with bad selection.:)
My mate Fist (where is he,btw) recently told me he'd once had a conversation with Jonjo on the subject, and was told (laughingly) the real problem was finding races they could win, which is an entirely different kettle of fish to most punters' perception.
Imo, another racing myth which wants binning along with 'Hendo's leaking info' and and other such erroneus beliefs.
Click to expand...

I sorta left because you left but that aside but the place is like a drug you can't live without.

You are slightly misquoting me pal. What Jonjo said is "It's not stopping a horse it's finding one that's good enough to stop" What he was actually talking about was if you were laying one out for a gamble and that was avery long time ago..

Physically stopping horses as such was rife during the 70's and 80's and they were all at it. They were mostly under instructions from trainers the idea being to get a horse back down to a winning mark.

Some however did it did financial gain. One of best known that no one ever tlks about concerned a fav for the Triumph Hurdle who received a shockingly bad looking ride. The well known jockey apologised to the owners and asked if he could ride the horse again at Liverpool and stopped it again....or so the story goes. There were cases of Jockeys asking bookmakers to lay their well fancied mounts to win the a few grand but that was this and this is now.

No way would anyone get away with that nowadays before eventually being found out.

Nowadays they don't get away with physically stopping a horse in Britain...Ireland is somewhat different. Modern technology sees to that and the stewards who once turned a blind eye to it have been replaced with people who know if they do turn a blind eye they wont be stewards for very long.

Not saying stewards are perfect just that trainers are much smarter and less good jockey are willing to to put their neck on the line by stopping one. So the trainers have adjusted to the times and basically send a horse with too high a rating racing 80-90% fit knowing that he is sure to blow up and not get home. They are then in a lot less danger of getting into trouble.

Punters are also more educated these days with everything being on video so if someone does stop one then everyone and their uncles plus the bookies know it. The next time it runs and you end up lucky if you get evens and probably would have got a better price running the horse on it's merits in the first place.
 
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