CONTESSA: "..wanted to throw up"

[Kasept]

Not looking to reopen yesterday's volatile discussion of Dominguez' performance on Daytime Promise Thursday at Aqueduct, but I did just get off the phone with Gary Contessa...

The Q and A:

INSTRUCTIONS TO RAMON?
"She prefers to be outside horses anyway, so I told him to sit off and just make one run on the outside."


THOUGHTS DURING THE STRETCH RUN?
"I wanted to throw up.. It's the human side of the game. You do everything you can to prepare a horse and then you get one of the worst performances of the guy's career.. maybe THE worst."


WHAT DID HE SAY AFTER?
"He apologized over and over.. He said 'I can only tell you I'm sorry.'"


WHAT DID HE TELL YOU HE WAS THINKING?
"He said that when they came off the turn he was sure the rail horse was going to float wide and take the other one with him and that he would have the rail to boot home. He said the jock on the rail horse was using both hands to hold left on his horse as if the horse was trying to bear out so he thought the rail would open up."

[ninetoone]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Not looking to reopen yesterday's volatile discussion of Dominguez' performance on Daytime Promise Thursday at Aqueduct, but I did just get off the phone with Gary Contessa...

The Q and A:

INSTRUCTIONS TO RAMON?
"She prefers to be outside horses anyway, so I told him to sit off and just make one run on the outside."


THOUGHTS DURING THE STRETCH RUN?
"I wanted to throw up.. It's the human side of the game. You do everything you can to prepare a horse and then you get one of the worst performances of the guy's career.. maybe THE worst."


WHAT DID HE SAY AFTER?
"He apologized over and over.. He said 'I can only tell you I'm sorry.'"


WHAT DID HE TELL YOU HE WAS THINKING?
"He said that when they came off the turn he was sure the rail horse was going to float wide and take the other one with him and that he would have the rail to boot home. He said the jock on the rail horse was using both hands to hold left on his horse as if the horse was trying to bear out so he thought the rail would open up."

Steve,

I wish you would have asked one more question...

"Would you hesitate to use Ramon as a rider in the future?"

I'd venture to say the answer would be "no"....

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

Now that we have the riding instructions and the trainer comments, then I admit that Ramon made a bad decision.

However, what Ramon thought would happen about the hole opening up was what I said in the other thread that he thought would happen. He just made the wrong decision that didn't pay off this time. A lot of other times, it would have proven to be the right decision as a hole would have opened. If the hole would have opened, no one would have been complaining about his ride.

[JJP]

That ride was suspiciously bad. IMO, worse than what Ferrer did at Hawthorne last October.

Originally Posted by kentuckyrosesinmay

Now that we have the riding instructions and the trainer comments, then I admit that Ramon made a bad decision.

However, what Ramon thought would happen about the hole opening up was what I said in the other thread that he thought would happen. He just made the wrong decision that didn't pay off this time. A lot of other times, it would have proven to be the right decision as a hole would have opened. If the hole would have opened, no one would have been complaining about his ride.

I agree. RD didnt follow instructions at all. Therefore, it was a bad ride. I understand RD's thinking, but he has to follow directions or be 100% positive that he is able to get the rail.

[cmorioles]

The whole instructions things is a joke anyway. When the gate opens, nothing is really that predictable. Personally, I would say just trust the jockey to do the right thing given the circumstances. If I didn't trust him, why is he on my horse?

[Downthestretch55]

I should keep my mouth shut.
I should keep my mouth shut.
I should keep my mouth shut.
100X

I can't resist.
Steve's post said it.
Yes, we all make mistakes. Excuses are for losers doncha know?
Winners don't need to create them, cause they won.
Yes, RD shoulda, coulda, woulda followed instructions. No question.
Did he blow a race that this one had been trained to? No question.
So, ask yourself after reading what he said back to Contessa in Steve's first post, if you saw a jock working on his horse, both hands, and expected that it would come out, where would you go? In other words, if they were going to go wide and open a hole inside, where do you think you'd take your horse?
Decisions on the track are made in a blink. Sometimes they look brilliant, and sometimes they look like a complete and total F-up.
Cut RD a break. We all F-up!

I should keep my mouth shut.
I should keep my mouth shut.
I should keep my mouth shut.

[ninetoone]

Well said DTS....and on that point, if a hole had opened up on the rail & Ramon had taken his horse too wide, we'd have a thread about why he should have taken the rail. Even if we had the information about the instructions, we'd have people whining about how those are "just a guide" or something to that effect...he should have used his judgement...blah blah blah. Come back and look at this thread in 5 years & see what Ramon has accomplished. We'll probably all be wondering why we were talking so much about a 3/5 shot in an AOC race at Aqueduct on a Thursday.

[paisjpq]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

But the question remains why make it harder for yourself? Why not just go outside, as per Contessa's instructions? Why even try and make an inside run in a 5 horse field where 2 of the runners were already hopelessly beaten?

how about we consider the idea that Ramon was trying to look like hot sh*t and his plan backfired...and then he had to go cover his sorry ride with an angry trainer...whose instructions he failed to follow.
not too different than a child who makes a bad decision and then tries to lie to mom and dad...

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by paisjpq

how about we consider the idea that Ramon was trying to look like hot sh*t and his plan backfired...and then he had to go cover his sorry ride with an angry trainer...whose instructions he failed to follow.
not too different than a child who makes a bad decision and then tries to lie to mom and dad...

Yup.

[ManilaRose]

Originally Posted by paisjpq

how about we consider the idea that Ramon was trying to look like hot sh*t and his plan backfired...and then he had to go cover his sorry ride with an angry trainer...whose instructions he failed to follow.
not too different than a child who makes a bad decision and then tries to lie to mom and dad...

Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what he was thinking. Nothing makes you look more like "hot sh*t" than coming up the rail to win a race. lol

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

But the question remains why make it harder for yourself? Why not just go outside, as per Contessa's instructions? Why even try and make an inside run in a 5 horse field where 2 of the runners were already hopelessly beaten?

Since he disobeyed Contessa's instructions, then it was a bad ride. Again, if a hole would have opened up, it wouldn't have been considered a bad ride at all.

Originally Posted by kentuckyrosesinmay

Since he disobeyed Contessa's instructions, then it was a bad ride. Again, if a hole would have opened up, it wouldn't have been considered a bad ride at all.

Go to the inside of two horses in a five horse field is ok?

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

Originally Posted by Pillow Pants

Go to the inside of two horses in a five horse field is ok? What planet are you from?

It depends on what the trainer's instructions are, and how much horse the rider has.

Originally Posted by kentuckyrosesinmay

It depends on what the trainer's instructions are.

But you just insinuated if he would've won the race going inside that it makes it ok, regardless of trainer instructions.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by kentuckyrosesinmay

It depends on what the trainer's instructions are, and how much horse the rider has.

In this particular case I have to disagree with you. The horses had already gone around the turn. Ramon was not going to save any ground by going inside. You save ground if you go inside around the turn. You don't save ground by going to the inside once they've straightened away.

There is no excuse for his ride. The ride was completely moronic. Even if he had not been given any instructions, there was no reason to go inside in that situation. There was nothing to gain and everything to lose.

You are correct that if he would have gotten through and won, there would not be such a big uproar. But astute observers would still agree that it was a bad decision and that he took an unnecessary risk.

I agree with you that when it comes to deciding whether or not to go wide around a turn, it depends alot on how much horse you have. But in this case, the incident did not happen on the turn. It happened after they already straightened away in the stretch.

By the way, I have seen other jockeys make similar moves to this and I always shake my head in disbelief, no matter what the outcome is. You will notice that Garret Gomez will never make a move like that. When they hit the top of the stretch, he will always go to the outside if possible. This is the correct move. It doesn't cost you any ground to swing out once they have straightened away. It only costs you ground to go wide around the turn.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by kentuckyrosesinmay

Since he disobeyed Contessa's instructions, then it was a bad ride. Again, if a hole would have opened up, it wouldn't have been considered a bad ride at all.

This is just more incorrect posting...which coincides with your posts yesterday ( where you told us we had to stop bashing jockeys....even though the posts weren't " jockey bashing " at all but a correct analysis of a racing situation ).

Even if a hole had opened it was still a " bad ride " as he took an unnecessary chance for absolutely no reason whatsoever. There were two paths, one was completely clear outside and the other would have taken an occurance to work out and offered the possibility of something extremely detrimental happening. It was an absolute no-brainer and a his decision was so bad that it offers the hint of a possibility that he had motives other than winning the race. Yet, you not only chose to defend him, but you also chastised other posters for questioning his judgement.

Being too result oriented in life, but especially in horse racing, is a very poor thing to do. " Good rides " and " bad rides " are very often NOT defined by how the race works out. Many riders give terrific rides that go completely unnoticed because they simply were on too slow a horse. This you will surely agree with. However, many riders give poor rides that also go unnoticed for both similar reasons or because their mount was good enough to overcome it. For you to think this ride in any way could have been considered anything other than a " bad ride " is a total misread of the situation.

You say we shouldn't comment on jockeys if we haven't ridden a horse. I say, based on your opinions, your's aren't qualified simply because you have.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

This is just more incorrect posting...which coincides with your posts yesterday ( where you told us we had to stop bashing jockeys....even though the posts weren't " jockey bashing " at all but a correct analysis of a racing situation ).

Even if a hole had opened it was still a " bad ride " as he took an unnecessary chance for absolutely no reason whatsoever. There were two paths, one was completely clear outside and the other would have taken an occurance to work out and offered the possibility of something extremely detrimental happening. It was an absolute no-brainer and a his decision was so bad that it offers the hint of a possibility that he had motives other than winning the race. Yet, you not only chose to defend him, but you also chastised other posters for questioning his judgement.

Being too result oriented in life, but especially in horse racing, is a very poor thing to do. " Good rides " and " bad rides " are very often NOT defined by how the race works out. Many riders give terrific rides that go completely unnoticed because they simply were on too slow a horse. This you will surely agree with. However, many riders give poor rides that also go unnoticed for both similar reasons or because their mount was good enough to overcome it. For you to think this ride in any way could have been considered anything other than a " bad ride " is a total misread of the situation.

You say we shouldn't comment on jockeys if we haven't ridden a horse. I say, based on your opinions, your's aren't qualified simply because you have.

Yes, I agree 100% with everything you said.