ROB'S SHOUT - JOCKEY ISSUES TO ME ARE NOW JUST LIKE WATER OFF A DUCK'S BACK

By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, July 22, 2010

Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. He has his second successive Premiership all locked up having trained nearly twice as many winners as his closest rival. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the premiership winning trainer will appear every Thursday on HRO.

"The fight for the Brisbane Jockey's Premiership will go down to the wire in the next ten days and the rider who ultimately claims that honour for this season will have really earned the title.

"When Larry Cassidy rode three winners for me a couple of Wednesday's ago, it was suggested to me that my stable was becoming a big factor in the outcome of the Jockeys Premiership and I was asked, was I really favouring Cassidy over Stathi Katsidis and Jim Byrne?

"First and foremost, Larry rides work for me. Stathi and Jimmy don't. Glen Colless doesn't as he's on the Coast. Shane Scriven rides for me now and then but rides work most mornings. Damian Browne doesn't for me as he's up on the Sunny Coast.

"I have an enormous amount of time for these top jockeys, but they don't ride work for me as often Larry does so he has his nose in front in that regard when it comes to our jockey selection ... but I learned a long time ago never to come between an owner and his preferred choice of hoop on top. I can only give advice.

"Virtually as soon as Larry came up from Sydney, he has turned up and ridden work. He has got an excellent work ethic.

"That is not to say any of the others don't have a good work ethic. I certainly do acknowledge that, with the racing schedule we have today, I can understand why Stathi and Jimmy and the others don't ride that much work like they used to in days gone by, but I like to think that riding work is an important part of the relationship between both trainer and rider and horse and rider.

"I think they should ride work. It doesn't have to be too much, but I think they should ride more work than they do ... but it's an individual preference they have and it's also tough on the jocks who do ride work and find it tougher to get the good rides.

"Particularly, and this surprises me, when there is a really good horse and a jockey had the ride on it. You would think he would not want anyone else to get near it and he would turn up and want to ride it all the time, including in work. But that is just my opinion.

"I use to be sceptical about riders and how they went about things. I'm certainly not anymore. I think the first five years of my training career ... the first half of my career ... I was a lot harder and tougher and less understanding on jockeys than I am today.

"I now see how tough it can be for them and the perils associated with their profession.

"I personally think ... and they may disagree ... but I think I am a lot more understanding of riders and what they go through.

"Take Cavaliered's last run. He drew wide. He sat three deep. He got beat a head. The winner had a perfect run and never went around a horse.

"I thought Shane Scriven rode the horse brilliantly. He can't jump horses. He can't make them disappear. Riders are most often a victim of their barrier draw and how a race is run including the tempo. The guy sitting back fourth the fence cannot make the tempo stronger!

When it comes to my preferred instructions, I say to any rider, let the horse be where it is happy ...where it wants to be. No horse needs to run where it doesn't want to run.

"To me that is paramount as a strategy. If it doesn't finish the race off then I've either got it in the wrong grade. I haven't got the horse right. It doesn't handle the track or more commonly, the race tempo may have gone against the horses racing pattern.

"There are a lot of factors that conspire against a jockey and this is something I try to educate my owners within the e-mails I send to them both pre-race and post race.

"On Sunday I had a runner at Caloundra and it ran stone, motherless last. I was really disappointed. I thought it would run better. So did all my staff.

"The next morning it has got a completely shut, black-eye. Now that clod of mud - bang after 500m - may have put paid to its chances. There was nothing the jockey could do about that, just a racing incident!

"When we win a race the first person I usually praise is the rider ... always the rider. You can see a professional. He just did the right thing.

"Sometimes they may make an error, but have learned to reserve my comments until I have had time to review the race and the circumstances.

"As recently as last week when Larry rode that treble for me ... when he won on Fillydelphia, I expected the horse to be back in the field. Larry came in and said she absolutely pinged the gates. She was happy to be there, so he let her be where she wanted to be up outside the leader.

"That's what you get with senior jockeys ... the value of their experience.

"Take Glen Colless. I love Glen Colless as a rider . ah and Damian Browne. They are from the same mould. They are true horseman with great hands and judgement. They are patient and they have that personal belief and confidence in their abilities - and it shows.

"The top jocks can have barrier fourteen and they come out and their confidence rubs off on the horse. I firmly believe that.

"They have the ability to read the play, you know, as it is unfolding or about to unfold. They might make the rare odd error of judgment, but they get the job done more often than not.

"A very simple analogy was put to me a few years ago. You take ten rides from any given jockey, your top jockeys ... Byrne, Cassidy, Katsidis, Colless, Browne, Cahill, Scriven and so on ... those guys will give you eight top rides on average.

"Your next stream guys will give you five or six top rides rides on average. Your 3kg claiming apprentices will give you three absolute crackers ... three absolute shockers and, you know, four 'bad luck' rides where things just didn't go their way.

"That's basically the way I look at it. I say to owners, do we take the claim here and take the risk? Most times, if we think the horse is good enough, we'll try and get a top tier rider.

But, as with everything in racing, we all still make mistakes both as trainers and jockeys.

"I said Larry might have his nose in front with me, but he is not a shoe-in on any particular ride. I have to look at the type of horse and try to assess on an individual basis what rider would be best for what horse.

"Often it's being able to get a rider that you want to ride your horse.

"Form and, of course, circumstances play a big part in that.

"An example is that Larry did ride Woorim several times last prep and got it well back and got beaten a few times. Larry came in one day and said this horse is definitely looking for 2000m. He doesn't get on the bit and he doesn't do this or that.

"Two weeks later we won with Woorim with Stathi on over 1400m. Larry got that one wrong as he didn't know the horse as well as us but, to be fair to him, the horse did have a few issues with his feet.

"That is not to in any way denigrate Larry's professionalism at all. He is a top rider and you can see why he has won all of those Group 1's.

"That was just one of those errors of judgment I mentioned earlier.

"In this particular instance, it was just that Stathi suited Woorim better than Larry did ... and I think that's been proven yet again, more recently, with Woorim's win in the Glasshouse.

"Stathi suits that horse and he gave him a pearler in the Glasshouse.

"The owner made the call on Stathi riding the horse as he was available. If he hadn't been, Larry was very nearly on top of him.

"It was the same with Jim Byrne and Tabulate. They formed a partnership and that was one of the main reasons behind that horses run of success.

"Jimmy rode the horse perfect in all his rides on him!

"Now, while the results show that I have made good use of all three of those riders chasing the championship during the season, it isn't always our call.

"Sometimes you want a rider and he chooses to ride another horse in the race which he thinks has a better chance.

"Larry has told me of a number of rides he took with me that lost when he could have been on the winner. He will say that cost him 'x' amount of wins in the championship so far.

" I respond by pointing out the number of times he knocked me back when I wanted him to ride a horse for me. The times when he got on another horse and my horse won.

"That' s often how it is and its part of the business. Nothing personal, just business.

"I still joke with Larry's agent when he phones. I always walk around in my office ... up and down ... when I talk on the phone and, while talking with him recently I said, oh dear, sorry about that, I just tripped over another Ipswich Cup.

"Larry got off Our Lukas too early when he thought he wasn't going well enough after having won the Ippie cup last year.

"Stathi picked up the winning ride which probably irked Larry but he is professional enough to simply move on as we have to!

"Everybody makes a wrong call on occasions.

"Have I ever reported a jockey to the stewards for disobeying instructions as per the most recent Danny Nikolic controversy?

"Yes, I have. I can tell you the ride. It was Game On ... Bobby El-Issa ... the Brisbane Cup, quite a few years ago.

"Bobby's back riding now and he has had rides for me since then. He knows he made a error that day and I was very angry, but all is forgiven now and we once again have a good working relationship.

"He's now married and a dad which is very evident in his 'new work ethic and attitude'!

"I wanted him to lead in the cup but he clearly had other intentions on how to ride him and he rode him contrary to our explicit instructions!

"I went into the stewards room. They had the inquiry and they found him guilty of not following my instructions and all they said was, don't put him on anymore.

"Then I just stood up and said, what a waste of time this has been for me. I learned a valuable lesson that day!

"That was then. So now I try to no longer lose my temper or criticize a jockey. If I believe a jockey has eared that badly, whatever the reason, then I just give him a holiday.

"They do deserve their rewards and the accolades that come their way. Its a tough and dangerous profession!

"Just with regard to the stewards, I will say ... I will openly go on record, and I have even gone to him personally and said to Wade (Chief Steward Wade Birch), I have seen a distinct improvement in the way his staff ... and I'm referring to all of the stewards under his control ... have conducted themselves in the last twelve months.

"There has been a much more friendly and approachable manner to licensees, but still with complete professionalism and integrity. It's been a nice change!

"To me it is a noticeable change. Whether it means I'm doing less wrong and not having as much interaction ... that is possible, but they do have a tough job policing our industry. I have been on the wrong side of the racing authorities in the past but that's where it lies...in the past!

"They've got a job to do and we've got to understand that. You know, with something like a protest and they turn the result over, it is going to piss off some people and it will make other people happy.

"I been in that situation on both sides. I've come out in front and I've come out behind.

"Just recently I won a race on protest and, quite seriously, I would have been just as happy to see the result go the other way. There wasn't much in it !

"When I first started I made a lot of mistakes, but nowadays it is generally water off a duck's back. The issues that concern me now which I have made huge and upset me before are now something that is quickly resolved one way or another and I just move on.

Speak to you next week.

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