No apologies necessary Doalittle - In my view the second part of your post above is what this or any other forum is made for, a sharing and agreeing and dis-agreeing with views, you have set out why you feel I am wrong and that it was a perfectly good ride. My view is that he took away the horses chance at the start and had he ridden to give it a chance then he may have met trouble like my selection Predominence but it would have been just hard luck, my issue is some horses will not achieve their best placing through bad luck and some through Jockey mis-judgement or ineptitude and Jamie's mount suffered this, as giving 10L when the horse broke perfectly well by taking an unnecessary pull and needing to come 10 wide because of this was poor. I am not right however, as that would be impossible, because it's only a view. The other part about the post beginning stewards enquiry is clearly tongue in cheek and I am sure you know I am not actually calling for one, nor do I really believe there was a substitute jockey at Lingfield in a Johnny Murtagh mask, this is just light hearted humour and not meant as anything more. The Jamie Spencer bashing is a theme running through the forum come the flat season and will often appear from numerous posters as he does seem to produce some questionable tactics on a more regular basis than most. I will point out two things however, the first being no one on here genuinely expects any less and we do all accept it as a risk of backing his mount, and be we moaning in frustration or good humour, we do recognise that the forum refer to him as 'Frank' for a reason and so never really blame anyone but ourselves. I do always try and remain balanced in my race watching which is why my first post from yesterday (before the berating one you refer to ) specifically states what a fantastic couple of rides he gave at Lingfield, even though he beat my selection I could still appreciate his skill. This is also the reason he gets such stick in my view as were he just rubbish no one would say too much as you can't blame someone for limited ability, Jamie however is full of ability as a horseman but sadly his tactical awareness, over confidence in himself or his mounts lead him to make glaringly questionable tactical calls. if it were possible for him to have Ryan Moore tell him via an ear piece where to sit and where to go he would be a champion Jockey as he has good hands, can settle a horse well and is strong enough in a finish, he just gets his positioning wrong far too often to avoid criticism. There is a reason he got employed in the first place but fired from Ballydoyle and Qatar racing and nearly retired, he gets employed in my view because the talent is all there to be seen, but gets let go for other jockeys because he does not seem to be able to reign in his natural tactical failings. I feel Richard Hughes began his career exactly the same type of jockey as Jamie but learnt from his mistakes leaving the natural talent to shine and find appreciation, becoming one of the best in the country, Jamie has not done that in my view. I will end by repeating from earlier however that he comes across as a good lad with a sense of humour, and my viewpoints are only to do with his race riding ability, and I state again my view is not right, it's just a view, but this forum is the appropriate place to share it.
