I donât like criticising jockeys as a rule, but I do think Jamie Spencer âtook the biscuitâ today. I watched him closely, especially after the first two races, and hereâs what I felt about several of his rides... My Propeller- on his knees out of the gate. Maybe we can give him the benefit of the doubt, but he probably âsnatchedâ at the horse. Precision Break- this horse had never lost at Doncaster and was gambled on quite heavily to carry on the trend. Spencer had him in second or third, going very well, in what was a very moderate to slow gallop. Before they turned the tap on in the last three furlongs, Spencer allowed himself to drop back into fourth on the rails. As they accelerated, he was totally boxed in, and only in the last furlong did he get clear and passed four or five horses in third gear. He never actually got into overdrive and showed no jockeyship nor initiative in trying to ensure he had daylight. One of the worst rides I have seen in a long time! One for the note book-watch todayâs race on ATR. Samitar- very slowly away again-irrespective of whether he wanted to hold him up. Fathsta- Again one of the slowest away, the horse obviously needs hard driving. Spencer didnât get to work until approaching the last furlong(well over a furlong too late)- when he had no chance of winning, even though he finished strongly. Another terrible ride. Book Kieren Fallon to ride him. Viva Vettori. Yet another slow start. When the horse did try and make up ground in the straight, Spencer got him unbalanced and boxed in the middle of five horses.He then dropped his hands, as all chance had gone. What do other members think of him? Personally I feel heâs totally a âhold-up merchantâ with poor horsemanship, initiative, and adaptability. Very poor at the gate also.
To be honest Tam, I've never really watched him. I've heard some praise for his rides and plenty of criticism. It would be very easy to get a horse well handicapped with the type of rides you've mentioned and I suspect it goes on a lot. When analysing the chances of a horse in a race I think it is necessary to find the time to analyse its previous races by video (where one can see how the horses were ridden) as this can explain several lengths that won't be found in the form book.
I think he's a decent, if sometimes flawed jockey. He's no Piggott or Fallon (but then who is?) but he's by no means awful either, even with all the stick he gets online etc.
I feel Jamie Spencer has suffered from over confidence in the past and perhaps still does to a much lesser extent. He rides horses sometimes with too much confidence in them which unless you have a horse of considerable ability they will sometimes be found wanting. Another way of putting this is he can often give a horse too much to do but he does it much less now. I think now he is one of the best which i would not have said two years ago. In some ways the Coolmore job brought him down to earth and served him well. I would put him in the top ten jocks but not near the top. Richard Hughes i always found very similar to Spencer and found them quite frustrating at times when doing the blatently silly within a race. Hughes has done it twice this week already to my eye, once to my advantage and once possibly costing me a nice winner at a big price. On reflection though as with Spencer i think he has largely eradicated these over confidence problems and is now a superb horseman and can settle a horse very well when that is what is needed. I have become philisophical about Jockeys nowadays in as much i know if i were riding 6 races a day i would mess it up at times and wish i could have ridden it again, its something you have to accept if you back horses. Disclaimer The above philosophical statement does not apply to Richard Hills who can have me in despair on a regular basis.
I think he`s a 1 dimensional jockey, much like Paul Carberry over the sticks. When it all comes off and they deliver the hold-up horse to perfection they look like genius. But put them on a different type of horse and they can't do it. Fallon and McCoy kick their arses every time.
I think you know what you are getting with Jamie Spencer! Compared with a jump jockey I would say he is like a Jason Maguire! Works hard is a good rider but not the best nor talented jockey! but wins some big races! But I do agree with blue sky does get a bit over confident had some decent rides yesterday and only really the one came off. Had decent rides but didnt really work out! I think sometimes he just lets the horse do abit to much and just basically sits ther! Like what I think happend today coming slow out of the gates perhaps thought the horses would do more! But I quite like him plus he has banged Hayley Turner! Which defintately goes in his favour! lol
The best hold-up jockeys are those who only use those tactics when it is right to do so. The comparison with Carberry is a good one. Both are excellent horsemen but average jockeys, in my opinion.
Woolly..she's a dingo! Anyhow,back on topic,briefly no doubt!. JS is certainly not my favourite jock,but he is far from one dimensional and certainly not not a bad horseman...tad unfair Tam!..don't forget he has ridden winners over hurdles..surely that exhibits horsemanship and adaptability,as do his wins in North America.He can also ride from the front and he gave Cape Blanco a great winning ride in the US when he realised he had to lie close,raced a tight second,before pouncing to win.Perfect example of adapting to a different country and their style of racing. He certainly has the reputation of being a lover of the "Hollywood ride",as has Carberry..but that is their style and everyone,owner,trainer and punter alike,know what to expect. We can all remember his howler on Powerscourt at Arlington Park,but he was young and,tbh,that was a lesser cock up than the apparently untouchable Dettori on Swain. If that clip of the BC classic was played on QOS,in the what happened next round, most would articulate it was footage of an apprentice h'cap at wolverhampton! JS is more than above average when one considers some currently riding and jockeys are always going to make mistakes.Unfortunatly,or fortunately,these are always going to be visible in todays blanket media coverage of the sport....but hey,it's all about opinions and we all have our weighing room hero's and demons,and in Woolly's case sexual fantasies!!..
lol thanks dexter, I think most people on here would agree she aint a dingo but Emma Spencer and Hayley turner- he certainly has had some good rides under him! lol please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Dex, Ok, we beg to differ. I should add that I've not studied his riding for any length of time, but I certainly didn't like what I saw today- and I felt all of it was indeed one-dimensional. In fairness, I'll watch him a bit more in the future.
Woolcombe, I've just seen your photos. You obviously have a fetish for these horsey women. Anyway, how do you know they're "under him?" If his rides today are anything to go by, then he comes far too late!
Spencer is a genius - true horseman Odddy imo you have him all wrong not one dimensional at all have you seen him on the front runners very very good tactical genius. I find the mug punters that constantly have a go at him rather funny to be honest. I do it about Hills but only having a laugh. Anyone that knocks his talent watch his rides on Cape Blanco in the States this year and what about his ride on that Noseda horse yesterday. Mug punters easy target HERO!!!!!!!!!!!
I am not meaning to be mean to Hayley Woolcombe who, i happen to really like as always speaks well, is good for the sport and i like to see do well. However on the subject of your praising Jamies nocturnal conquests is he not guilty of perhaps getting off the favourite in the Derby to ride a 12-1 shot ?
Tam,I think I'll be a bit more circumspect in future re his mounts in light of some of the rides you highlighted. As stated,I'm not a huge fan either,and when I see his name beside a certain type of horse,it can be disconcerting. His major fault is his inconsistency.That is always going to be a problem when your prefered modus operandi is that of a camera pleasing knife through butter ride. I honestly believe his performance over the last couple of years has been adversely affected by his activities with the two females featured above. Woolly...don't get the Hayley hype...do like Emma though. Tam,Oddy,Ron,Danbo,,Blue,Fulkes,Kiyon...are we Hayley or are we Emma?..(think the killers made a song about that!)
Personally it's so hard to tell these days what a bad ride is because you never know if his been told to get it boxed in or been told to make it lose to get it's handicap mark perfect, because if you look at spencer he either gives a horse a absoulete peach of a ride or a absoulete stinker of a ride, but in the big races he always seems to ride the best he can also his 3-3 on fame and glory and i thought the ride he gave him in the gold cup was exceptional, but opinions will always be divided and as were never know the facts about the orders were never know. Maybe he just does ride really bad races and really good races or maybe it's all orders. But don't forget every jockey has good rides and every jockey has bad rides, for example AP is a 15/16 ( can't remember lol ) times champion jockey but even some of the rides he gives horses bemuse me at times, don't think i've ever sweated so much over Big Bucks when he was onboard but the man is shere class and the ride on Drill Sargeant that time when it just stopped was outstanding the way he got it going again and it won.
