The price to pay when betting rookie jockeys

Sometimes you see a horse that you think can win and he is coming into the race with less weight than the others because he has an apprentice jockey or bug boy as they are called around the track. Playing these horses is usually dangerous here is why.

First thing that pops into my head is the word "rookie" you are betting your hard earned money on a rookie jockey. If there is a better jockey in the race that has been around the track a million times he has an internal clock in his head and knows what pace his horse should be running so he can time his finish. Odds are this jockey will pass the bug boy if he runs the race the right way and has some horse left under him.

Something has been happening at the tracks lately that has prompted me to write this as I am seeing more horses breaking down because of these bug boys and here is my theory.

One of the things that is well known by everyone is that you never beat a dead horse. What I mean is a horse that can not win and is tiring. I am watching more and more apprentice jockeys not only whipping the horse that is tired they are also whipping the horses as they are making the turn before they come down the stretch. This is calling for trouble in the worst way.

Some horse are even being forced to switch leads in the turn which confuses the horse and 9 times out of 10 the horse will break a leg and throws the jockey. I hate to say this but after seeing this more and more it is only a matter of time before someone gets killed. Something to remember is most of the time this horse is in 1st place and struggling or is trying to hold on to place money. That means there is usually a bunch of horses right behind them. Not a good place to be in when a spill happens.

The sport needs some sort of program where they have retired jockeys come in and talk to these kids. Maybe some video tapes that have spills on them and watch them and have the retired jockeys point out the cause of the spill. I am sure the veteran jockeys in the jockey room explain this stuff to them as it is in their best interest but being that these jockeys are so young they think they know it all and probably don't listen.

An apprentice jockey Kyle Kaenel had one of the worst spills that I have ever saw at Aqueduct a few weeks ago. I believe this was part of the cause as he was switching leads in the turn. I am glad he didn't get hurt as bad as it could of been.