Quote:
Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin
I completely agree with you that having first dibs for any of the top barns is huge. But practically all of these top trainers have great eyes and they won't use jocks that are making mistakes. The only reason Baffert starting givng Garcia first dibs was because Garcia was riding great for him.
Even if a jock is lucky enough to get in with a big barn, they will be out very quick if they are giving bad rides. Baffert won't hesitate to give a guy the boot if the guy isn't riding well. We will see if Garcia lasts with Baffert. If you are right and Garcia is not a particularly good jock, he probably won't last long. If I am right and Garcia truly has become a top jock, he will probably be riding for Baffert for a long time.
By the way, the number for the Garcia/Baffert combo in 2009-2010 is 30% wins and an ROI of $2.12. That is from 194 mounts.
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Since when does Baffert keep his riders around for a long time? He has ridden about every top jockey on the west coast at one time or another.
Garcia is an aggressive rider and rides to instructions but is very average as a whole. Yeah, he doesnt screw up the best horse in the race but he isn't going to put in a winning ride and make the difference when the horse isn't clearly the best either. Yeah, he has made a difference on lucky. Unlike Gomez, he rides the horse like he is best in the race and the horse has delivered twice. What jockey couldn't do what he has done on top of that horse in those races?
Drugs's point about his turf riding is salient. The turf is where you find out who can really ride. Garcia has not done very well there.