Betfair Official Blog

Listen to the jockey and it's you who will be taken for a ride...

The assistant can't believe that we pay so much attention to what the little guy (or girl) says

In what other world, with the exception of Nazi Germany, would anyone listen to what a jumped-up midget thought about anything?

Welcome to racing.

In our world, the little fellas are revered, with everyone eagerly seeking their opinions as to how their mount has, or will, perform.

I've seen owners, who know a lot about racing, who are sharp operators in their professional fields, be completely influenced by a 30 second conversation with a jockey who has known their horse for less than 10 minutes.

No-one is immune. An owner at a previous yard was a professional punter. He made consistent and significant profits from betting on horses on the back of the machinations of a computer-driven speed ratings programme. He never had a bet unless he felt the numbers were in his favour and would berate mug punters for their lack of objective assessment.

And yet the same man would happily change his mind on running plans for the horse based on a post-race comment from a jockey.

If you're after punting success, it's best not to look upon jockeys as intelligent decision-makers who coolly assess all the relevant facts and give an objective post-race judgement, but rather to see them as naughty schoolboys trying to cover-up some wrongdoing.

Because this is all their post-race comments usually are: an attempt to draw attention away from the fact that they messed-up.

Let me translate some jockey-ese into English.

"The horse needs further."

Actually means: "I lost concentration mid-race when I started thinking about who I'd try to get-off with tonight. Next thing I knew I had too far to make-up on the leaders and although I tried, I was too late."

"The horse needs to drop back in trip."

Actually means: "I thought it was a five furlong race, went too fast, and for some reason the horse was unable to complete a mile-and-a-half at the same pace."

"We were unlucky in running."

Actually means: "The horse would have won easily if I'd steered round the field, but I thought it would look more impressive if I took a daring run up the inside."

"The horse doesn't respond to the whip"

Actually means: "I dropped the whip when I tried to do that twirly thing with it."

I'm being slightly facetious of course. Jockeys wouldn't pretend they could tell you much of use about a horse after such a short association, but they understand that as self-employed business-people, they have a sales role to fulfil. And if their clients are interested in their opinions, no matter how baseless and ill-thought out they might be, then they feel obliged to give them.

We're the stupid ones for listening to them.