Gomez Leading Standings at Saratoga But...

[Rupert Pupkin]

Garret Gomez is now alone atop the standings at Saratoga with 15 wins. But the funny thing is that he's not riding nearly as well as last year. He's been getting into a lot of trouble. It's not always a jockey's fault when they get into trouble. Sometimes it's just bad luck. Sometimes everything just goes wrong in a race. But over time, the good jockeys get into less trouble than the bad jockeys.

Last year, Gomez had a period of about 6 months straight where he was in the right spot every time and he got a perfect trip every race. He made every right decision and he had some good luck too. He rode as well during that period as any rider I have ever seen. He's definitely not riding nearly as well this year. Just the last two days, he's gotten into more trouble than he got in practically all of last year.

Don't get me wrong. When he's riding his best, I think he's the best jockey in the country. I think he gets more run out of horses than any other rider. He's one of the only riders out there that can actually move a horse up.

And don't believe for a minute that he's not a smart rider. He's as smart of a rider as I've ever seen. He understands horses better than practically any rider out there.

He's definitely my favorite rider and I expect him to continue do very well in New York. He has been a little bit inconsistent lately and has had a buch of troubled trips. Some of them were not his fault but some of them were. Anyway, he can definitely ride much better than he's riding right now. It's a little bit like Tiger Woods. Tiger is so good that he is often leading the money list even when he's not playing his best.