I have had a few decent price winners ridden by girls over the years, not phenomenal success but ok. Do the posters think womens' jockeys mounts go off overpriced simply because there is a girl riding? Open minded question, any thoughts or stories regarding female jockeys?
I am sure it is the case a lot of the time. Racing is still very much an "old boy's network". I still encounter sexism of a sort and I've been working in the industry for 12 years. Many times I will be at a racing function with my boss and people assume I am his PA, when in fact I run the darn office. Also if I'm racing with my husband and we go to a corporate box people will assume that HE is the racing fan/worker, not me. Drives me mad sometimes!
Guess some guys will always be sexist. One day last year i got shedloads of abuse in my local betting shop for backing rachael green in a race that mccoy was riding in. When racheal beat tony in a driving finish and I collected the blokes said if they switched horses mccoy would have beat her by 30 lenghts. Absolute rubbish.
Hayley Turner at a gaff track = underpriced But in general, I would expect that they would be overpriced.
I remember at Redcar's Family Fun Day a couple of years ago we were standing in the parade ring when a stag do arrived. When one of them pointed out there was a female jockey riding in the race (think it was milkshake?), they started with the sexist remarks - 'she couldnt ride her lover let alone a horse' , so i thought i would give her the benefit of the doubt and backed her to the win the race. You know the outcome right? Yep - tailed off last!
I wondered what you were going to come out with for a second then Smokin "..... so I thought I would give her the benefit of the doubt and ................smokin"
I think the days of a horse being overpriced because a filly is on board are long gone. Undoubtedly happened in the past, when something of a novelty, but these days almost all of the filly jockeys are more than capable and I think punters now realise this. Any punter who thinks that Nina Carberry, Katie Walsh, Amy Ryan, the Gannon girl and most of the other filly riders on the back of a stead is a negative will quite quickly see themselves knocking on the doors of the poor house. The undoubted fact is that the price of a horse will be larger if a rider deemed to be ‘poor’ or ‘unknown’ is on board as opposed to a top notcher, like ‘King’ Kieren or Ryan Moore. But these days, from a punting perspective, I believe the definition of ‘poor’ is judged solely on the standard of riding rather than the sex of the pilot. As old boy Nassau said if anything having a filly in the saddle can lead to horses, in fact, being underpriced. Turner’s media profile is far in excess of her actual talents (I’m not saying she’s poor by any means but not in the ‘top half dozen’ as her profile implies) and ‘mug’ punters tend to latch on to her because she is ‘well known’. In fact this latter opinion, in my view, also applies to that Dettori creature.
Whatever way you dress it up, an average 8 stone man is always going to be stronger than an average 8 stone women. That's not being sexist, it's just pointing out a scientific fact. Obviously strengh isn't the only attribute, that you need in a rider, but it is an important attribute. There are obviously some women, like Hayley Turner, who can outride some, and I do mean some of there male counterparts. I personally judge each jockey on there own individual merits, rather than looking at them as a man or a woman. Though it has to be said there are very few lady riders who I'd trust with my money, then again there are alot of male riders who I wouldn't back either
