After the Follow Us On Twitter At bluesq Handicap at Wolverhampton yesterday the Racing Post said: Al Freej won an uncompetitive C&D maiden on her third start, but she did not have the experience to cope with this more demanding contest. She lacked the sharpness of some of her rivals and gave the impression she still has a bit of learning to do. That was partly true but does not explain the loss. We will attempt to be a little more honest.
The truth was that jockey Dominic Fox was caught cold and really did nothing for his filly apart from sit on it. We/he knew there were pacesetters in the race and he had to jump out or sit close to the lead from his decent draw as the filly gets six furlongs. He did absolutely nothing to enhance the ride and before he knew it the race was over and another wasted bullet in the annals of horse racing.
We remain convinced that if a ‘Joe Fanning type jockey’ had rode the horse she would have won and our guess is she will be out again shortly and win her next race (Fox might not retain the ride despite his 3lb claim, it was not the weight that beat her yesterday). These type of results always hurt a little more than those beaten on merit. It was made worse when Matthew Cosham, rider of the 40-1 winner said ‘they did not go a fast pace and his horse was a six furlong type and got first run’ so where did that leave our selection who has early pace and gets six furlongs? Incidentally our horse was backed from 11/8 to 5/6 so once again best price secured and we will take that crumb of comfort from the race.
I am often reminded of a jockey that I religiously followed in Australia called Kevin Langby and although he was not world-famous he was great at the Sydney tracks. Irrespective of the horse he was riding, a Group 1 at Royal Randwick or a Canterbury midweek he was like a machine and his motto and creed was always the same. He was fast out of the gate, into the box seat and strong at the finish! It worked!
Langby won four Sydney premierships in the 1970s when stable rider for the legendary Tommy Smith, proving himself against the best jockeys of that golden era, including George Moore, Ron Quinton, Peter Cook and Malcolm Johnston. He won three Golden Slippers on Toy Show (1975), Hartshill (1974) and John’s Hope (1972) and rode many great champions including Gunsynd, Imagele and Maybe Mahal. He also won the 1985 Cox Plate on Rising Prince.
It seemed in big fields Langby would always be in fourth position less than two lengths behind the leader and in small fields he would be second or third on the fence one length back, he never had to make ground and always got first run. You could argue how did he cope with hold up horses and the answer is I do not know because he was always handy, always!
This little piece has prompted me to go and buy this book…