Jerry

[Michael D.]

Hi,

Jerry Bailey hired Californian Ron Anderson in 2000, and their relationship with Bobby Frankel blossomed in 2001. You seem to think that Frankel started cheating, or \"moving up\" horses, in 2001. Can you be sure that the \"moving up\" wasn\'t more a function of Bailey than the vet or drugs? Wouldn\'t switching to one of the greatest riders of all-time move up the horses?

Frankel once said the following of JD Bailey:

“Jerry puts a lot of time and effort into what he does,” Frankel said. “He’s very well-prepared going into every race. By the time he gets to the paddock, he knows everything there is to know about the horse he’s riding, and he knows everything about the horses he’s riding against. I had a jockey describe a horse he was riding for me the other day, and it was like he was talking about a different horse.”

[Silver Charm]

Michael countering that but also to prove your point.

If Meg D\'Oro was just a creation of the White Mercedes Magic why is he doing so well at stud?

Passing the White Mercedes Magic and the wisdom of Bailey\'s rides on to his siblings?

[colt]

\"I had a jockey describe a horse he was riding for me the other day, and it was like he was talking about a different horse.”....I was on the floor...LMAO when I saw this....

[TGJB]

Michael-- the test is not whether the horses win more often but whether they run faster. There is no indication that any rider is getting substantially faster FIGURES than others, at least on the major circuits, where virtually all are mechanically (physically) competent. Let alone the HUGE moveups that Frankel was getting back then-- and given geographical constraints, it\'s unlikely Bailey rode all of them.

The differences between riders are almost all strategic, meaning mental. If you watch Gomez in California, or Bailey when he was riding well, specifically at Saratoga, or Day, or Cordero, they were unbelievable at finding the rail, saving ground, and being patient-- no premature wide moves. Later, when Bailey was riding all Cadillacs and had already made his money, he was always stalking, going 2-3 on the turn.

But you know what the other common denominator was? That was when Steve Allday started treating Frankel\'s horses. Some coincidence.

[Michael D.]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Michael-- the test is not whether the horses win
> more often but whether they run faster. There is
> no indication that any rider is getting
> substantially faster FIGURES than others, at least
> on the major circuits, where virtually all are
> mechanically (physically) competent. Let alone the
> HUGE moveups that Frankel was getting back then--
> and given geographical constraints, it\'s unlikely
> Bailey rode all of them.
>
> The differences between riders are almost all
> strategic, meaning mental. If you watch Gomez in
> California, or Bailey when he was riding well,
> specifically at Saratoga, or Day, or Cordero, they
> were unbelievable at finding the rail, saving
> ground, and being patient-- no premature wide
> moves. Later, when Bailey was riding all Cadillacs
> and had already made his money, he was always
> stalking, going 2-3 on the turn.
>
> But you know what the other common denominator
> was? That was when Steve Allday started treating
> Frankel\'s horses. Some coincidence.


While Gomez appears to do it more with patience and ground, I thought Bailey often got the horses to run faster by putting them in the game earlier.

You make some good points. I wouldn\'t suggest JD is responsible because I really don\'t know. I think it\'s useful to bring him into the discussion though, because, well, being one of the greatest riders of all time, it is some coincidence.

Thanks for the response.

[Uncle Buck]

Surprised nobody has mentioned it yet that JD Bailey rode a lot of Frankel horses on Breeder\'s Cup Day. Frankel couldn\'t get a sniff on BC Day during the time period in question. Why is that?

[TGJB]

Michael-- at some point it might be worth doing a study of the figures jocks get relative to the previous tops of all their mounts. Problem is all this stuff takes programming, and we have a ton of stuff already going on, and only a couple of programmers, both of whom have other obligations. One of the new things will be announced in a couple of days, and we\'re also hopeful (I use that word advisedly) of getting TG U.K up and rolling in the next month (finally). The delays there were absolutely beyond our control.

Yeah, between developing new products, having to sue a couple of people (see: TG U.K., also one very good 3yo filly), trying to solve a drug problem that has been going on maybe a century, dealing with horsemen, and making figures, I\'m a little busy. Eventually we\'ll get to Richie\'s stuff too, but no telling when.

[smalltimer]

Espinoza and Castellano rode of bunch of them for Frankel during that 30+ Grade 1 season.  Bailey was the one aboard Medaglia who was dropping him 12-15 lengths off the pace when the horse never won a race in his life by being more than 7 off the pace.  Losing ground on the turns, etc, etc.  When Bailey rode them like they were \"much the best\", they got beat.  Lastly, there\'s not a more pathetic handicapper on the television scene that JB.  For the most part, a truly great rider, but needs to uncover a clue about handicapping.

[imallin]

All the jocks at the highest level of the sport are so physically gifted that i can\'t imagine there\'s any difference at all in one jock or another getting \'more\' out of a horse than another jock at this level. Its splitting hairs.

You can also make the case that the jock who get the best \'numbers\' out of horses is the jock who is PHYSICALLY the most gifted. Being smart (like Bailey) has nothing to do with TG numbers because the numbers are just about how fast a horse runs and not how smart the riders decisions happen to be. Bailey\'s ascent to greatness was part physical skill, part politician and the part intelligence.