LARRY'S VIEW - SPLIT SECOND DECISIONS ARE THE NAME OF THE NAME
By Larry Cassidy | Friday, August 19, 2011
Larry Cassidy currently has forty-two Group 1 successes behind his name. He is a multiple Premiership winning jockey having taken out three titles in Sydney and one in Brisbane. Larry’s View, the personal blog of this top class rider will appear on horseracingonly.com.au every Friday, workload permitting.
Last week’s blog which detailed my winning ride on Leapfrog got a very positive response from readers who enjoyed the insight of my view from the saddle. In that blog I was unable to give any details of my losing ride on the Bryan Guy trained Red Royal on the same day as that result was subject to a stewards inquiry which still had to be completed.
Several e-mails from readers have asked me to give my view of that ride when I am free to do so. As the result of that inquiry has now been finalized, I am happy to oblige.
My explanation of my ride on Red Royal at the inquiry was that at the 500m mark was that I had two choices to make.
The choice I made was … I believed that I couldn’t steady back, ease around and come outside Peppered Black’s heels, which in turn still would have had me inside Paul Hammersley’s mount Tehuti, and still looking for a run.
As the speed went on, and I was under pressure, I didn’t believe I could afford to lose ground at that stage, because I had 58kg and also because of what had happened earlier in the race.
I got interfered with early in the race which caused me to hit the running rail and lose my position … (A Spinks suspended) … also my horse over-raced for about 200m after that. So I had to weigh up what effect that had on my horse’s chances of finishing off and I had to decide what I thought the best option was at that stage.
All of these things go through your head in a split second.
I had choice A and B. I chose choice B because of all of those things. I thought Peppered Black was going to be able to push out in front of me. I think that rider left it three strides too late before he decided to. He got strung up … which, in turn, strung me up.
I totally understand why they questioned my ride. They wanted to know why I did what I did. I gave exactly the same explanation as I gave to the trainer when I got off the horse.
Obviously Bryan (Guy) was disappointed, but he could see why I made that decision. The stewards could see, in the end result, why I made the decision, but they believed I was putting my faith in another rider and that I shouldn’t do that. They felt I should rather put my faith in my own hands, which I can understand, but it’s easy in hindsight.
If Peppered Black had pushed out and got a run, I then would have got a run … I believe. If I then went on to win, it would have been declared a genius ride. It didn’t unfold that way.
I, and other jockeys, make that sort of decision every race. What goes through your head in a split second … in this case, for me, it was what happened earlier in the race. I got checked, hit the running rail and then my horse over-raced and got his head up for a significant amount of time. The speed went on and I’m under pressure. I can’t afford to take hold because I’ve got 58kg.
Now it took me thirty seconds to explain that. In the race it goes through your head in a split second and then you have a decision to make. The option I made was based on the reasons I’ve explained.
As I said to the Stewards, if we could freeze the race at that time and I could say, let’s have a good think about this, maybe I would have made the other choice, but we can’t do that.
I make a lot of choices in races and I think eighty-five to ninety percent of the time it is the right choice. Of course you are going to have that percentage where things don’t work out.
I know it looked awful … and you can imagine how I was feeling as we were about to straighten, knowing that I had nowhere to go and that I can’t really do a damn thing about it.
In situations like this obviously Stewards have to ask questions. Obviously punters are angry if they backed the horse. Connections probably aren't happy.
Bryan Guy was disappointed but, in the end he understood why I did what I did. Bryan’s been in the game a long time and I really respect him.
He was fantastic in the Stewards’ Room. He could have gone off his head and been angry but there was none of that. He accepted that it was a riding decision that just did not work out on the day.
The Stewards also adjourned the inquiry to check the betting sheets. They obviously have to check the betting sheets to see if there is anything untoward on there. They said there was nothing unusual on the betting sheets. Everything was normal.
Taking everything into account, it was found that I had no case to answer.
Case closed.
Till next week,
Larry
*Extract from the official Stewards Report:
Stewards continued the inquiry into the tactics adopted by L. Cassidy on Red Royal over the final 500m of Race 1.
The inquiry had been adjourned to investigate betting activity on the race. However nothing untoward was identified in this area.
L. Cassidy explained that as he was held up to the inside of Peppered Black at the 450m and rather than restrain Red Royal at that point, which he felt would cause his horse to lose momentum, he elected to endeavour to follow through to the inside of Peppered Black with the intent of obtaining a run should Peppered Black shift ground. However when this did not eventuate, Red Royal was held up for clear running until leaving the 100m.
After considering the matter, stewards advised L. Cassidy that they were of the view that he had erred in taking this option. However when considering the matter with reference to the relevant rule, stewards were satisfied that jockey Cassidy's decision to remain to the inside of Peppered Black, given that he was obliged to make a decision between the two courses of action very quickly, was not culpable in the circumstances.
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