Chief Stipe

Where else is it going to run in the South Island? The tracks from here on into the winter aren't going to get any better. I agree to a point. However if you are going to express an opinion or a critical analysis on a ride or a drive isn't contingent on you to provide your opinion on what SHOULD have been done. In my opinion I don't see what Hassamam could have done any differently to get a different result. As you point out @the galah the track and the draw were against the horse.

One race where she raced above her rating. She didn't perform consistently at the elite level in my opinion. Certainly not past 1600m. Comparing one race beating Mr Brightside and Via Sistina is a fairly shallow analysis. Mr Brightside 9 Grp 1's, 8 Grp 1 seconds. Now that is truly elite. Via Sistina 8 Grp 1's, 3 Grp 1 seconds. That is elite too. Pride of Jenni 3 Grp 1's. The QE2 win blinds people a bit because it was spectacular. Arguably the Jockeys chasing seriously misjudged the pace. They let her get over 5 seconds in front and as many better analysts than you or I have said JMac and Willo were looking at each other. Mr Brightside ran a huge race doing the chasing and Via Sistina came home 4.3 seconds quicker than Pride of Jenni. Spectacular yes but has been able to replicate it before or after - no.

As I said not a 2000m horse. As for a legacy she was never at the top elite.

A toss up between Kyle Williams or Leah Hemi. I'll go Hemi even though Williams was my first guess.

@Comic Dog aka Leigh MacKenzie. I'm still waiting for the legal action you have threatened against me personally. Not to mention the debt owed.

I agree but no one has posted what Hassman should have done and when. Even @nomates (short for Bob) and @Comic Dog the self proclaimed experts who are too gutless to debate anything head to head.

Yes not that it would have made any difference if I did or didn't own it. I've seen some really bad rides and that wasn't one of them. Yes - yesterday the horse wasn't good enough. If it wasn't going good enough why would I wonder if "it had been put into the race at any stage"? You haven't actually told us HOW it should have been ridden in your expert opinion. For that matter nor as your hypocrite friend the @Comic Dog !!!! I certainly wouldn't have punted on it on a Heavy 10 when drawn 1 especially given its normal racing pattern. It would have had to lose another couple of lengths to get wide and it had already drifted 3 lengths off the pace (with nowhere to go) soon after the start. So that's 5 lengths it had to make up by traversing across what you say was the worst part of the ground to get to the good stuff. But alledgedly the Trainer (which I don't believe), the owners, the average ex-jockey and you are bagging the ride so I must be wrong.

I see the @Comic Dog wrote this in response to @curious saying the Jockey DID walk the track prior to the meeting: @Comic Dog Do you know she did???Leggy I know the some owners and they are filthy and so was the trainer afterwards...she did not give the horse a single chance no matter where it was drawn, she made NO effort to ever try to get out off the fence, worst part of the track....she can ride ok but in this particular ride she cocked it up...I am sure her ears were still ringing last night. I find that hard to believe.

You wrote this comment elsewhere: There was no effort made to get the horse involved in the race. I'm not bagging the jockey, I'm just hoping that, with time, her in-race skills improve. She rode the next winner much better, and that's the type of riding she should at least attempt every ride. FFS the horse Hassman rode in race 7 drew TWELVE not ONE!!!! Of course it was going to get a decent run if you are correct in your assertion that the inside was a Heavy 20 and the outside was a Heavy 10!

Some are some aren't. Some were never very good in the first place so how could they spot a good or bad ride when the only time they rode a good ride was when they were on a good horse! What was she supposed to do to get in the first 3? Your suggestion is that she should have followed the other horses out into the middle of the track and whipped the shyte out of it. Well there are rules against doing the latter. Have you reviewed the race again? The first four horses drew 8, 7, 10 and 6. They ALL travelled wide the trip. Those that were on the immediate outside of Bello Mio turning for home didn't do much better than Bello Mio. The horse wasn't going well enough.

The horse couldn't keep up early with the field and it had no chance of moving out. She gave the horse 5 clips with the whip up the straight and the horse barely held its ground. She had two choices tactically - ride the shyte out of it at the start and hold its position or ride for luck and move off the fence if the opportunity arose AND the horse was good enough. The first option wasn't an option for that horse. Simply on the day the horse wasn't good enough and when it drew one well it was all over.

Come on @SLB2.0 you are bagging the Jockey don't try and draw a distinction. You are being hyper-critical of her ride i.e. the decisions she made. The difference is I don't see did as wrong. The horse wasn't up to it on the day. Didn't you read my comment about the competition proposal? Hardly hypocritical - it was my comment in response to the proposal that probably kiboshed the idea. As for having no time for hypocrites haven't you just kissed and made up to one so you can post in the echo chamber? Yes I will critique a bad ride if a horse wasn't given every chance and/or decisions were made that eliminated its chances but that wasn't the case in my opinion with Bello Mio. I'd say Hassman has more talent than some of the ex-Jockeys bagging her ride.

It couldn't hold its position in the first instance even when those drawn to its immediate outside could. It had no chance to get off the rail until turning for home. How do you know the inside was "much deeper" leading up to the home turn? Hassman didn't have an opportunity to do that until turning for home. It would have lost lengths even if it was going good enough to get to allegedly better ground. Which by the look of it was in the car park! The horse hadn't been going very well the whole trip. I can't understand why it was favourite. Its best races of late have been on Good tracks and it has only been able to manage one race a month. Sure it won on a Heavy 10 at Matamata but that was 2 years and 4 months ago. Yes it ran second over 1000m at its previous start at Riccarton but one could argue that wasn't a Heavy 10. The horse wasn't going well enough. I'd argue that the fact Hassman didn't ride the crap out of it shows she has some horsemanship skills. If the horse felt flat and wasn't responding to her urgings then why flog it just to satisfy the grandstand critics?

I've looked at the race again. Bello Mio was going that well from the get go. It had no opportunity to get off the fence until turning for home and even then it was going well enough to move out. It would have lost a couple of lengths doing so before it got to better ground and would have had not chance of getting to the ground that the winner finished on. Nothing worse than average ex-Jockeys bagging an apprentice for no reason. From my observation the horse was only plugging the whole way! In the next race Hayley Hassman's mount draw 12 and she rode it perfectly.

That's how it looked to me. If a horse draws one on a Heavy 10 then at some stage you need to use some energy to get off the fence and find better ground (assuming the inside is off). The horse didn't look to be travelling well enough to do that at any stage. LOL if the Jockey had starting riding hard a long way out @SLB2.0 might have been happier!

Basically if you draw 1 on a rated heavy 10 track you have zero options if the inside is a heavy 12.

A very good point @jess . My understanding is that it is so important that the sand for the AWT's was imported. I might be wrong on that but can you imagine rocks in a Poly track fill?

Sure it does but if your horse is aiming for a BM65 or even a maiden does the extra cost to travel to Hawera instead of Woodville really matter? Some owners gain some lose. Swings and roundabouts. The point is everyone is looking for flexibility in shifting meetings to avoid abandoments and when NZTR is proactive in doing so you all still complain!

Spot the Clegg hammer! Where are the stones! If you want to comment please comment on this thread: