Playing To Win

TRAINER-JOCKEY RELATIONSHIPS

A day at the track is entertainment to us. It's an opportunity to have fun while escaping from our normal day-to-day pressures. That's not the way the trainers and jockeys look at it. It is their business! While our focus is on the next race they may be looking down the road. We make betting decisions. They make business decisions.

Not every horse that a trainer saddles is out to win. Some are in the race for conditioning purposes while are running for various other reasons. When a trainer thinks that his horse can win, however, he will do everything within his power to enhance his chances. High on that list is the jockey who is given the mount. The first choice of most trainers is the fellow who has been riding him, so long as he has been doing it effectively. If that fellow isn't available, or if the trainer thinks a change will be beneficial, the switch will generally be made to one of the following:

1. A rider who has won or almost won with the horse in the not too distant past.
2. A jockey who has ridden a lot of winners for the trainer in the last month or two.
3. One of the leading riders at the meet.

Of course, if the new rider qualifies on all three counts so much the better, but if he doesn't fall into any of the above categories there is a good chance that the horse is not particularly well-meant.

Jockeys put in a long day. In addition to their afternoon activities they get up early to help out trainers with whom they have a good relationship. That is how many earn their afternoon mounts. Few have much input on which horses they will ride, however. That is left up to the agents they employ. In effect, the agent is their salesman and he receives a percentage of the jockey's earnings as compensation. Those working for the lesser ranking jockeys are generally happy to get any mount while agents for the higher ranking jockeys often have their pick of two or more. The average fan assumes that they will accept the mount that is thought to have the best chance to win. That's because his focus is on the next race but that isn't how a good agent looks at things.

Let's assume that you were a salesman for the XYZ Corporation and had to choose between making a very profitable one time sale or accepting a lesser profit while pleasing a fellow who was in a position to give you a lot of high profit business in the weeks and months to come. We suspect that you would choose the latter. That's sound business. Similarly, a good jockey agent will generally make his decision at least as much on the quality of the barn as compared to the quality of the horse. He won't always choose the more successful trainer. Depending upon their relationship the agent may ask the trainer if he would mind if his jockey rode "Sureshot" instead of the trainer's horse. Some will say "no problem" while others may insist that the mount be accepted or that the jockey will never ride him again.

Very little is black and white when it comes to trainer-jockey relationships. The one thing that we can hang our hat on is that we shouldn't back a horse unless the jockey assignment makes sense from the trainer's viewpoint. Don't eliminate a horse from consideration simply because we don't think that the rider was the trainer's first choice, particularly if that rider is aboard a horse from a more successful barn, and the trainer has found a suitable replacement. Even if the two trainers are of relatively equal stature we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Maybe the other trainer asked first, or the agent could have been undecided and flipped a coin.

When a leading rider apparently declines a horse who appears to be at least a secondary contender from a top barn in order to ride a horse for a trainer who doesn't win so often, we should take notice. That is particularly true if he hasn't been riding the accepted mount on a regular basis. The players aren't doing what the script would normally call for. Either the big barn's horse isn't the contender he appears to be, or the accepted mount has a big chance to win even if it appear that way on paper.

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Topics

• Trainers
• Trainer-Jockey Relationships