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Angus McNae

Captain's Blog - 18th July 2011

Frankie Dettori's win on Blue Bunting in the Irish Oaks has been dubbed as redemption for the mistake he made when dropping his hands on the same filly in the Investec Oaks and losing third place. Of course he will be pleased to have put the Epsom Classic behind him but much more importantly he will be pleased that the 1,000 Guineas winner has proved what a good filly she is.

Jockeys should not drop their hands close home. Clearly they should ride their horses out to the line, but in saying that we should recognise that horses do not have push button gears that can be switched up and down at will. In the final furlong of races horses are invariably slowing down and the pressure applied by jockeys is merely to to try and redress that deceleration rather than to make them go faster.

I often hear that a horse would have gone faster for one more crack of the whip in the final hundred yards of a race, this is palpable nonsense. One more crack may encourage the horse to keep galloping at the same speed but will not make that horse go faster. Likewise when a jockey stops riding for a few strides a horse does not immediately put the brakes on. Momentum continues to carry the horse forward even if that forward momentum is at an ever decreasing speed.

Thus, as horses are slowing down close home, it is debatable just how much the dropping of hands increases any deceleration. This is not to condone this unprofessional act but it seems to cause debate and indeed anger amongst punters which is out of proportion to the mechanics of what has happened out on the track. Horses do not have a break and accelerator; their performance in any race is dependant upon raw ability and the pace they are asked to go in the early stages of a race.

Let me put this scenario to you. In a mile race a horse blasts to the front and runs 23 and 3 for the first quarter mile and then backs that up with a lung busting 23 flat second quarter. As the race develops this horse is still in front a hundred yards from the line but is soon passed by two horses who have been riden with more restraint. Our hero is out on his feet and the jockey decides enough is enough and drops his hands twenty yards from the line and is beaten a neck for third place.

He finishes fourth and in doing so is being slated for not riding the horse out to the line to maintain third place. Clearly he should have kept riding, but let us always remember that even if he had kept riding he would probably still have been placed fourth. To think that the horse could have found more and held on for third in this scenario shows an alarming lack of understanding of pace. Equally to think that the horse slowed down because the jockey stopped riding is naive, he was slowing down anyway. Third place was lost in the first four furlongs not the last 100 yards and this is almost always the case.

It is the studio for me today for a couple of evening meetings on . Do join us.

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