Hollywood Scottsville, Sunday 16 January

naresh wrote:

Crown Towers and Astrix had almost all the runners under sufferance. They never even run a place. Do not know why Crown Towers never lead where he is comfortable from.

Only the winners merit rating can go up. Decorated definitely much better than an 81 on this run if you compare him to Gentleman's Wager 103. Decorated for the notebook as he merit rating will remain the same.

The handicappers say that Decorated ran to a 91 but his merit rating cannot go up due to the conditions of the race. Although Decorated has won on the Polytrack, I think his better on the turf.

mikesack wrote:

Appalling ride by the Appie on Family Favourite in the last.
Switching at a crucial stage instead of just going through the gap.
Was lucky no horse was on his outside when switching out sharply behind the 1 horse.
Reckless.

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Stipes report says an enquiry is opened with regards to the riding of FF by the Appie.

mikesack wrote:

mikesack wrote:

Appalling ride by the Appie on Family Favourite in the last.
Switching at a crucial stage instead of just going through the gap.
Was lucky no horse was on his outside when switching out sharply behind the 1 horse.
Reckless.

Xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

Stipes report says an enquiry is opened with regards to the riding of FF by the Appie.

If you see the video below between time 2.00 to 2.06 you can see that Kittens Adventure ridden by another apprentice definitely moves towards the rail hence Family Favourite got eased and went to the outside of Kittens Adventure. To me not much Geerthsen could have done. Maybe he pulled the reigns too much but that's about it in my opinion.

naresh wrote:

mikesack wrote:

mikesack wrote:

Appalling ride by the Appie on Family Favourite in the last.
Switching at a crucial stage instead of just going through the gap.
Was lucky no horse was on his outside when switching out sharply behind the 1 horse.
Reckless.

Xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

Stipes report says an enquiry is opened with regards to the riding of FF by the Appie.

If you see the video below between time 2.00 to 2.06 you can see that Kittens Adventure ridden by another apprentice definitely moves towards the rail hence Family Favourite got eased and went to the outside of Kittens Adventure. To me not much Geerthsen could have done. Maybe he pulled the reigns too much but that's about it in my opinion.

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Look at the head on in the clip from 1.55 onward and you will see there's enough race track for a horse to go through if the intention was to chase the leader who was well clear. The horse on the rail at that stage of the race was one paced and the 3rd horse moves ever so slightly but keeps on a straight course to the finish so much so that the Stipes Report doesn't even consider a mention of it moving inwards momentarily or sharply and baulking FF in the process.

Apprentices are trainees, and still learning their trade and are bound to make mistakes. Fact. The positive that I saw was that he looked over his left shoulder before switching the horse out to the left. This is something even experienced jocks sometimes don't do. The decision may not have been the correct one, and but he followed protocol, which is good. Hopefully the decision making will improve over time. This is why they get the claiming allowance, to compensate for the inexperience, and the risk (incorrect decisions etc).

According to form grids, he started race riding in June of 2021, having ridden 101 times, having 6 winners. He rode FF 3 times, with a win and a fourth place finish. In my opinion, he should only be held accountable if his actions violated safety regulations, or if he made a clear and obvious error.