Jerry Bailey

Sandi in Florida · Postby **Sandi in Florida** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:18 pm

OK, I'll be the first (and maybe the only) one to say this, but who's paying Jerry Bailey to hold back horses??? I'm kidding (sort of) but doesn't it look like he placed several of his rides too far back in company and then gave them a late run? I was heartsick when I saw he was riding Six Perfections--if he had let her move earlier, she may have pulled it off. I thought it was a consistent theme of Bailey's riding today--maybe my dislike for his riding style clouds my vision/opinion. I can't stand it when he rides one of my favored horses. ARRRRGH--he drives me CRAZY.

EK · Postby EK » Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:43 pm

Hi Sandi,

I think that Jerry Bailey was definitely a bit rusty today from the layoff he had from his broken wrist. I do not think he was at his top of his game but soon will be back to full skills.

Sincerely EK

Sandi in Florida · Postby **Sandi in Florida** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:45 pm

WHAT skills?

He does this all the time, not just today. Every time I see him ride I like him less. I'm just about at LOATHE.

Mahubah · Postby **Mahubah** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 7:08 pm

What skills? :roll:

Let's see, how many U.S. riding titles does Bailey have under his belt? Six? Seven? Let's not forget the pretty collection of Eclipse Awards he has, too. You can say it's because he gets the best horses if you like, but any jockey who consistently gets good horses gets them because the trainers of those horses think he delivers. He had to earn his way to getting choice mounts from being just another bug boy, just like everyone else.

Take a look at any list of leading jockeys in any year and you'll find that even the best jocks lose a lot more often than they win -- a 20% win rate or better is pretty good, 25% is exceptional. The only jock I can think of who came remotely close to making 50% was the 19th century marvel Isaac Murphy, whose lifetime win percentage was 44%. And even Murphy turned in a bad ride once in a while -- but that didn't define his career, any more than today defined Bailey's.

Sorry if I'm ranting, but it's easy to criticize, hard to perform.

Sandi in Florida · Postby **Sandi in Florida** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 7:55 pm

OK, Mahubah--you can be his fan, and I'll choose not to be, OK? I wasn't just talking about today's riding. He may have won some nice awards, but he's also hurt the careers of some really nice horses, in my opinion. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagee on this one.

Nessa · Postby **Nessa** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:09 pm

Sandi I practically cried when I saw that Shug had named him on Stormy, I knew that she would be hard pressed to win with him in the saddle. I hope that he never rides LTP again. I have never been a fan of his and nothing I've seen will make me one.

Pete · Postby **Pete** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:47 pm

Hi Sandy and Nessa,

Bailey's a first call jock for most top trainers for one simple reason, he get his horses in position to win a race.

Bailey had 2 seconds and 2 thirds in BC races, not shabby at all.

Sad you both need to manufacture fault on a special day of racing like the Breeder's Cup when there was no fault to give.

Pete

Sandi in Florida · Postby **Sandi in Florida** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 7:15 am

Sorry you feel that way, Pete, but that's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it. My main complaint with his riding is his seeming inability to position a horse favorably in a race. In case you haven't noticed, he rides lots of great horses who SHOULD HAVE OR COULD HAVE WON. I'm sure the owners of those horses weren't thrilled with the second-place finish. You may think a second place is fine, but when there's a million dollar purse on the line....big difference. If I owned racehorses, he wouldn't touch a hair on their heads.

TEXAS · Postby **TEXAS** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 7:38 am

SANDI DARLINN...

Always bet JERRY BAILEY..... ACROSS THE BOARD!!! AND STAY WITH HIM ALL DAY LONG...
AND DO THE SAME WITH JOHN VELAZQUEZ AND YOU WILL GET TO TALK TO AN IRS AGENT LIKE I DID YESTERDAY!!!!! :shock:

As you well know I have a simple mind and did that yesterday $50 x3 on both Bailey and Velazquez all day across the board and also would wave my stetson in the air to collect numbers to pick my 5 trifectas with at just $10 a pop. (just $350 bet on each race).. gotta love the KISS system !!!!

The first race was my best payout... picked the winner, place and hit one of my $10 trifectas.... after blasting the first race... my indepth analysis really paid off.... all three minutes of it... (I figured just the initials JB would be good enough to win and they did and also figured that Velazquez was a good name to stick with.. might be a cousin of John's... hehehee).. I stand on having a little bit of pure luck and a lot of ignorance goes a long way!!! .... laughingallthewaytothebank....

For the rest of the day I let my daughters collect the winnings..since they are unemployed college students..... the IRS retaining 37% on the first race was not going to be the forte' for the rest of the day.... and their 10% surcharge makes them spend their own money.... needless to say they stayed in Dallas to go malling today... laughing!!!!

GADS... we had fun.. I stayed with JB and JV the rest of the day and won trifectas in the 1st, 2nd and 9th races... THE GREAT LONE STAR WAS SHINING RIGHT DOWN ON US ... IT'S GREAT TO BE A TEXAN... YEEEEEHAWWW .. justagrinnin.... texas

Looking for a fresh gopher hole to put this fruit jar in.... no sense of wasting energy on digging my own hole.... lol...

judi · Postby **judi** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 8:05 am

Hi Sandi,
Are you confusing him with Pat (wait all) Day?
I think Bailey is usually competent. Still don't know why he was missing a day at Saratoga, just to fall off a ladder. Maybe he should have hired someone. I know labor was scarce at the time, but planning ahead is always good. Especially when you have the money to pay for it.
Judi

Mahubah · Postby **Mahubah** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 8:08 am

I'm not particularly a fan of Bailey or any other jockey. But I do recognize the difficulty of the job and the quality of the man's career based on the body of evidence. Over the last decade, very few indeed have been more consistent winners than Bailey -- that's all I'm pointing out.

EK · Postby EK » Mon Nov 01, 2004 12:16 am

Hi All,

I can only say that if I had a really good horse, I sure would hate to go against a horse ridden by Jerry Bailey. I think that F. Pegasus quest for the triple crown was thwarted by a clever ride by Jerry Bailey in the Preakness.

One of my friends who is a real hot head, Had a horse in a race who was interferred with during that race. When my friend finally cornered the jockey he let him know how ticked off he was, and told him you cost me the race. The jockey said simply, when I ride for him I ride to win and if I ride for you I will do the same.

Jerry Bailey unfortunately sometimes is able to change history, but that is the nature of a great rider and make no mistake, he is the best.

Sincerely EK

TEXAS · Postby **TEXAS** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 5:22 am

I looked at my scribbles on my Breeders Cup program and noticed that I mentally tallyed these totals for the day ....

JERRY BAILEY....~ 1,500,000 for 6 races

JOHN VELAZQUEZ... ~2,300,000 for 9 races

out of the 15 races.. they placed in 12 of them...

almost 4 million of the purported 14 million purses... will bet across the board on the jockey anyday rather than the horse..

I have yet to figure out the jockey mentality of running fast fractions and coming in last.... the dam of one of my mares is by TOP AVENGER and I have to smile when I watch that 1981 derby tape... set records for every fraction thru one mile and ended up 19th out of 20 starters.... double duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... they would have never found that jockey's body... laughing texas...

Sandi in Florida · Postby **Sandi in Florida** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 5:28 am

And Jerry Bailey would have won even more than that if he had let Six Perfections run her race, as well as a few other horses he rode that day.

madelyn · Postby **madelyn** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 8:56 am

texas, what is in your past that would make a racetrack clip 37% of your winnings? I have hit some super huge pots at Churchill but my social security number never triggers withholding... I just have those annoying 1099-G's at the end of the year....