Pletcher's jockey assignments

[lemoncrush]

I realize that Johnny V is first call for Pletcher, but sometimes wonder how they (jockey's,agents and trainers) go about determining who will ride where, especially for a deep and talented barn like Pletcher with horses running this Spring all over the country in stakes races. Anyone who is closer to the situation might be able to explain the reasoning for this weekends mounts:

Johnny V has the mount on Circular Quay in the Louisana Derby. Prior to the Risen Star last month when Johnny V rode CQ for the first time, Gomez had ridden him in 3 prior starts (One 1st and two 2nd place finishes). I understood why Go-Go didn't ride him in the Risen Star, since there wasn't really any other races at Fairgrounds to lure him to leave all his mounts at Santa Anita.

But since Pletcher is having Gomez come down to Fairgrounds this weekend to ride Octave in the Oaks, I thought he would be back aboard CQ, especially since his riding style fits the horse pretty well. Also, since Soaring By is also in the Louisana Derby, I figured Pletcher would let Gomez on CQ, and JV would on Soaring By. Even if Soaring By isn't a legitimate Derby Horse, JV still retains first call on Any Given Saturday, Scat Daddy, etc.....

Gomez ended up picking up the Mount on Zanjero ,which is nice, but there's no way he's going to stick with that horse through the derby trail and/or in the Derby. He has too many other choices with Pletcher. Still, if Zanjero beats CQ this weekend, you have to wonder if Pletcher made the right move having Johnny on him instead of Go-Go.

Speaking of the Oaks, JV is sticking with Appealing Zophie for Assmussen I would assume he would have had
1st call on Octave if he wanted it.

So, I may be reading way too much into this, but here's three things to ponder.

• Pletcher's #1 horse is Ravel and since Gomez has been riding him on the west coast, Pletcher's thinking that's Gomez's derby horse. Therefor he wants Johnny V to get comfortable on CQ.
  
• Pletcher's barn may still feel CQ is there best derby horse (see Steve Haskin's Derby Dozen list this week and the comment he made), thus why Johnny didn't want to pass on the chance to ride him this weekend and possibly beyond.
  
• Octave is very overrated, and doesn't have much of a chance this weekend, especially off the layoff. We know the BJ juvy fillies was a weak race, and I have no idea how in the world she received an 85 beyer for her performance in the painfully slow Matron last September.

[the_fat_man]

Originally Posted by lemoncrush

Gomez ended up picking up the Mount on Zanjero ,which is nice, but there's no way he's going to stick with that horse through the derby trail and/or in the Derby.

I'm intrigued by this horse. Now, it might be the case that he can't handle a distance or that he's just not good enough (can't access the Risen Star replay so I'm going by the memory of a single viewing)
but he does have an explosive move and I wonder what would happen if the connections actually attempted to time it better.