Go back to California Mike

[bellsbendboy]

Sekrah, first off Mikey\'s ride was terrific.  Disagree if you must,  even point out the post race \"apology\" from Smith himself, but the bottom line is is if his colt doesn\'t drop a shoe at the pole he wins!

Secondly trashing the west coast riders as a group has exactly zero merit. bbb

[sekrah]

bellsbendboy Wrote:
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> Sekrah, first off Mikey\'s ride was terrific.
> Disagree if you must,  even point out the post
> race \"apology\" from Smith himself, but the bottom
> line is is if his colt doesn\'t drop a shoe at the
> pole he wins!
>
> Secondly trashing the west coast riders as a group
> has exactly zero merit. bbb


NY/FL/KY has better, deeper jockey colonies than CA.  I\'m sure it\'s a debate we could have all night though.

[P-Dub]

sekrah Wrote:
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> What does being a gentleman have to do with jockey
> skill relative to his peers?   There\'s lots of
> gentlemen out there, it doesn\'t mean they are the
> best at their profession.   That trait doesn\'t
> make him a better jockey.  Mike Smith is SEVERAL
> years removed from his prime and is a PISS POOR,
> Below Average jockey these days.   I don\'t have
> any remarkable encounters with this gentleman that
> would affect my honest and accurate assessment of
> his jockey skill.
>
> But P-Dub, Here are the ROI and Win% (last 12
> months) of all the jockeys that had mounts in the
> Belmont Stakes.
>
> Nakatani 2.14 ROI - 18% Win
> Alvarado 2.08 ROI - 20% Win
> Gutierrez 1.93 ROI - 19% Win
> Napravnik 1.88 ROI - 22% Win
> LeParoux 1.87 ROI - 22% Win
> Lezcano 1.86 ROI - 18% Win
> Castellano 1.84 ROI - 21% Win
> Desormeaux 1.77 ROI - 15% Win
> Velazquez 1.70 ROI - 20% Win
> Dominguez 1.69 ROI - 23% Win
> Solis 1.53 ROI - 9% Win
> Smith 1.12 ROI - 13% Win
>
> That\'s alot of butchered rides there Mike.
> Someone should stick a fork in the guy, he\'s DONE!
>  He\'s a hell of a gentleman though.  Pathetic,
> disgrace of a jockey, but hell of human being.

First of all, I was responding to an encounter someone had with Smith.  Nowhere does it say.....\"See, I told you he\'s a great rider, see what a great guy he is??\"

You read far more into stuff than most rational people do, as your latest comment right here illustrates. I was merely talking about an encounter, nothing more, nothing less.

You\'re going to tell me ROI is the most telling stat??  So the tote board is the means we measure rider skill? That has nothing to do with it.

As Miff said, at this stage of his brilliant career...and sorry Sek, it is brilliant....what jockey wouldn\'t have lost a bit.  He finished 2nd in each TC race giving superb rides. I guess Paynter losing a shoe had absolutely nothing to do with him bearing out a bit??  His left hind shoe to be precise.

You\'re not a bad handicapper, but you try to come off as an expert on subjects you clearly aren\'t.  Race riding and jockey performance to name a few. You throw out a few stats and say...\"See, I told you he sucks.\"  The problem with you is that instead of lamenting a perceived poor ride, you go on a tirade screamong he is the worst rider alive and sucks. Our beloved Cube was saying the same thing on the other board.

So you and Cube have the same outlook on a subject.  Sorry, but that\'s not the guy you want to be linked with to bolster an opinion.

You\'re pissed because you lost a bet, and you did what most do in that situation....you blame the jockey.  He sucks, he\'s done, he should retire.

I\'m sure Drosselmeyer\'s connections were happy he rode their horse last fall.  The one that stormed from off the pace to win the BC Classic. Yep, that Smith sure is a bum.

If you want to lament a lost wager, fine. However, launching diatribes against a rider with Smith\'s credentials, a guy that despite losing some skills along the way (pssst, something any professional does as they get older) still can ride at a high level, is uncalled for.

[Beginner]

My only point in posting that was that the experience was pretty cool given that it was just a few hours later that he was riding in the Belmont Stakes and came oh so close to winning. I wasn\'t making any judgment about his riding skills good or bad - only that he was gracious and a good guy.  Sure, I would have preferred Paynter to win, but probably not nearly as much as Mike Smith would have preferred to win.  As I said, I\'m sure the poor guy was wondering how many times he was going to get run down.  So I wasn\'t about to ask him how or why he moved a path or so to the outside or judge him on it.

[Flighted Iron]

You\'re not a bad handicapper, but you try to come off as an expert on subjects you clearly aren\'t. Race riding and jockey performance to name a few. You throw out a few stats and say...\"See, I told you he sucks.\" The problem with you is that instead of lamenting a perceived poor ride, you go on a tirade screamong he is the worst rider alive and sucks. Our beloved Cube was saying the same thing on the other board.

P-Dub,


Re; your comment on his handicapping


you\'re way too generous and damnit i\'d bet on that.


flighted

[sekrah]

And this is what you do.. You find one race that he wins (despite a pathetic record over his last 500 races), and you sarcastically snipe, \"he\'s sure washed up isn\'t it.\"

Smith cannot ride at a high level.  Winning one or two stakes races out of a pile doesn\'t meana you can ride at a high level.  Jockeys should be judged on their consistancy.   When you are consistantly losing (on favorable mounts) over a long period of time, one G1 stakes win doesn\'t erase the fact that you are no good.

That ROI is even more glaring when you consider Drosselmeyer won at $31.60 and is in those numbers.   You\'d probably look long and hard to find more than a couple 10-1 shots he\'s won on in the past year.

[sekrah]

FI,

You couldn\'t hold my pencil.

[Flighted Iron]

Sekrah,

 Naturally. You\'re too busy scribbling your conspiracy theories down and then
frantically erasing them because they sound too crazy even for you to believe.
Except for this one.


Flighted

[P-Dub]

sekrah Wrote:
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> And this is what you do.. You find one race that
> he wins (despite a pathetic record over his last
> 500 races), and you sarcastically snipe, \"he\'s
> sure washed up isn\'t it.\"

I found one that most people saw, it was the biggest race of the year.  There are others.

>
> Smith cannot ride at a high level.  Winning one or
> two stakes races out of a pile doesn\'t meana you
> can ride at a high level.  Jockeys should be
> judged on their consistancy.   When you are
> consistantly losing (on favorable mounts) over a
> long period of time, one G1 stakes win doesn\'t
> erase the fact that you are no good.

This is the problem Sek.  You want to say he sucks and isn\'t any good. He isn\'t what he used to be, but repeating insults at him is uncalled for.  Any reasonable person should agree with that.

>
> That ROI is even more glaring when you consider
> Drosselmeyer won at $31.60 and is in those
> numbers.   You\'d probably look long and hard to
> find more than a couple 10-1 shots he\'s won on in
> the past year.

You would probably have to look long and hard to find any 10-1 shot.  There are many fine riders in the So Cal colony.  You also have no idea on the quality of mounts he gets, or anything else to do with his winning percentage. You toss out a few stats and conclude...\"he sucks.\"  If you had bet on Drosselmeyer last fall, you would have told us how awesome you and Smith are.

Enough already. You think he sucks. We get it.  Move on.

[P-Dub]

sekrah Wrote:
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> FI,
>
> You couldn\'t hold my pencil.


Frankly, I don\'t think anyone wants to come close to your pencil.