Thursday, April 4, 2019

The Jockey Factor

By Dean Arnold

You will never cash a ticket without a good ride.

Nothing is more important to me when playing the horses than believing the rider is going to do everything he or she can to give my horse a winning ride. This was the very first handicapping criteria I learned to use when evaluating a race. Back in the late 1970’s, my first trips to the racetrack were to watch my Dad bet a rider that completely dominated meet after meet. But it was not Angel Cordero or Laffit Pincay, Jr. It was Rodney Creedon riding at the Massachusetts Three County Fair circuit.

Equibase sums ups his career stats as follows:
R. Creedon: 
1,873 career starts
222 wins
255 seconds
233 thirds
$402,411 earnings

Winning 12% of his races and averaging $215 per start may seem laughable by today’s standards. But the races at the fairs had just $1,600 purses, less than $1,000 going to the winner.  In the 70’s and 80’s, Rodney won race after race at Berkshire Downs, Great Barrington and Northhampton on war horses like Fleetlate’s Jewel, who won 24 of his 99 career starts amassing a mere $42,500, and Golden Guss, a 29-time winner in 73 starts for earnings of $72,000. These were durable horses. The 10% winner’s share of a purse only put about $96 in a rider’s pocket.

“The beauty of horse racing is that the cheapest seats in the house are pressed against the rail.” – Mike Joyce, TVG

I remember as a third grader being in the infield at the fairs, against the chain-link fence on the backstretch. My little brother and I would stay right where the far turn began and get pelted with dirt clods as the field went by. From our vantage point, I could not see the finish, so I would wait until the horses were pulling up on the back side.  I would yell out: “Did ya win, Rodney?!?!?!” and he would nod with a grin, never saying a word. As an eight-year-old growing up in New England, my sports heroes were Boston Red Sox hero Carl Yastrzemski, Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers, and jockey Rodney Creedon.

Fast forward to 2019 and I watch with amazement as the Ortiz brothers (Irad and Jose) have quickly risen to the top tier of their sport. Here on the East Coast, you can’t underestimate how important it is to factor in the presence of a top rider, and these two seem to complete multiple exactas a day, once again demonstrating that the heroes of the past are replaced by the young guns on top of their game.

Just as important as remembering the great rides at all levels of this sport is remembering that there are many permanently disabled jockeys that need our support. This Sunday, April 7th, Hall of Fame jockeys and TVG talent will team up to host the second annual telethon to raise money for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) live on TVG, America’s Horse Racing Network.

I strongly encourage you to donate whatever you can by calling: 1-844-TVG-PDJF or to go online at https://pdjf.org/donate/

Last year was a great success with nearly $230,000 raised. Once again, superstar guest jockeys of today and yesterday will be waiting at the other end of the line from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm ET.

Jockey Mike Smith will be joined by riding legends Pat Day, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Steve Cauthen, Chris McCarron, Sandy Hawley, Ramon Dominguez, Alex Solis and Quarter Horse legend, G. R. Carter. Also on the call will be leading jockeys riding at Keeneland and Santa Anita that day.

Whether at Keeneland, Santa Anita, or remembering your favorite small-circuit local riders, take time to appreciate just how important jockeys are to our sport.  If there’s one simple truth worth repeating, remember that you will never cash a ticket without a good ride!

Be sure to check out Dean Arnold’s handicapping book, A Bettor Way, on sale now through Amazon.

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