Why do jockeys stiff horses?

Question

I thought it was illegal to cheat infront of everyone on tv. I see it all the time!

-The jockey pulls the horse behind another horse so that he can get boxed in or kill momentum.

-jockey gets high on the horse and to make the horse go back a gear or two

-jockey never urges horse he just stands up and pulls him out of contention.

-jockey swerves horse to kill momentum

-jockey fakes like he's urging the horse, I see it all the time. It's so fake and once the horse wakes up and is about to go faster he goes back to what doesn't work which is the whip or a one handed urge!

They cheat every d**n race! Why are they allowed to do this? I would hate to be a trainer or an owner and watch on tv my horse getting stiffed, pulled, or forced wide for no reason. I don't get it.. what is the point of a program if they're not even going to try?

Stiffing Tracks. Calder, Golden Gate, Penn National, Indiana Downs, Prairie Meadows, Woodbine, Philadelphia, Arlington Park, Thistledown

Answer 1

maybe they aren't stiffing them looking at the tracks you've listed the quality of rider there are not that of your top tier tracks so maybe its just bad race riding. Because if you can see them fixing a race so could the stewards who are paid to keep the the sport fair just remember race fixing is a federal crime, not to mention a career ending thing. not a big deal if you have another profession to fall back on but most jocks don't.

Answer 2

You obviously don't know much about horses and horse racing!!

The object of racing is not to run the horse as fast as possible right out of the gate, but to work for position, take your time, and ask the horse to run when conditions are right for THAT PARTICULAR HORSE.  Everything you think is 'cheating' is perfectly normal behavior in racing.  If the horse is tired and has nothing left, the jockey will often let the horse ease off. There's no use whipping a horse that has already given all he has.  If the jockey has asked the horse for more speed, then the pace slows or he feels the horse will 'run out of gas' if kept at that speed, he'll slow down until later in the race.  If the jockey shows the whip to the horse and the horse responds, there's no need to whip him.  If the horse usually responds, but doesn't on a particular day, the horse is usually tired or injured and will not be forced unmercilessly.

Jockies get paid when they win.  If cheating were as widespread as you claim, nobody would be racing their horses.

Answer 3

Well, they do the same with WWF, so what else is new?

Answer 4

i will answer all of your question 1 at a time.

1. somtimes in a race you have more than 1 speed horse so you the handicapper expects your horse to go to the front, but if he dose he will be involved in a speed duel and end up almost dead last, so the jockey with the trainer has decided to tuck in behind the 2 other speed horses and hope that he gets through on the rail, when a horse gets tired 99% of the time they drift out, and a horse waiting should be able to go through, sometimes they get boxed or traped down on the rail with a 8th of a mile to go, and you get butt-sore when your jockey takes up.

2. jockeys that ride high, always ride high, just make a notation and don't play the ones who ride with their asses to hight in the air for you.

3.under instructions from a trainer, a horse might need a outing or two, so the connections will you a race in stead of a work out, then 3 races back from the lay-off it's go time, and you will see a better jockey take over the mount, take jerry holendorfer/r. baze, baze gets 1st call of all of his mounts, sometimes he rides against his 1st call stable, but then bext time out he ride the horse he just beat 3 week ago, and now it's go time, and r. baze is in the winning circle again...

4. the jockeys lives are on the line each race, they have no time to be swerving around taking chances, on the turn you come off the fence to make a out-side run, and the horse gets away from the jockey coming into the stretch, that's all.

5. the great bill shoemaker once said after someone stated" in race 5 you were whipping a horse that was dead last, and in race 7 your horse was in 6th place and you put your whip away. bill shoemaker stated" the horse in race 5, both parents were track record holders, he has it, but he is just lazy,the horse in race 7, had lead the whole race and was dropping out of the race, once the barn and i and the fans could not make any money, why keep whipping, the horse have given it's all.

in a final statement i have study all types of racing, and if i felt the same way you do, i would never put in a wager, i will e-mail anyone out there my picks for sunday's races. just e-mail me at [e-mail] and put free picks for sunday what track, and i will shoot you some winers, no charge...talking about fixed.....the spurs lost to the jazz tonight

but only horseracing is fixed,,,,,b4...real

Answer 5

you sound like an arm-chair quarterback.  I didnt know their were armchair jockies...

The jockey's career is based on winning.  The more they win, the better their career.  Unless they are taking huge bribes to subsidize their income and risk any further income no jockey is going to intentionally lose.  What you're implying is much larger than just one untalented jockey.

If it is so rampant, then I believe it would have been noticed.  Perhaps you could begin an investigation and blow the doors wide open!!

Answer 6

Being a jockey myself here in Australia,we can do any thing we like on a horse,so get a life buddy,the money we earn is fantastic.I earn more money in 3 hours,more than you earn in a week.So grow up and get some balls eh.

Answer 7

Mate wake up 2 yourself, have u ever rode in a race? i have mate and beleive me u wont find 2 many jocks that would pull a horse up for a few dollars as racing is a sport based on reputation and once u are known as dirty that kind of mud sticks and trainers will not put u on their horses for fear u will not give them every chance.

As for getting boxed in behind another horse, racing is based in nanoseconds and decisions must be made at the spur of the moment if they are the wrong decision it can cost u the race and punters think u r dirty.

As for jocks getting high up on horses making them change a gear or 2 thats not true at all as next time u watch a race if they are racing tight and the jock is easing or looking 2 make his run he must get the horse out in the open and keep momentum going as 2 lose momentum would be a disaster and give the horse no chance.

All of our biggest fears as jocks is 2 fall of midrace and be galloped on by the rest of the feild and this can easily happen when u clip the heels of the runner in front when easing out or trying to get of the rails when boxed in and is one of the most dangerous times in any race hence the jock sitting upright to try and call or look for a run without clipping heels thus keeping the horses momentum going and not changing stride.

But mate im from australia and maybe our industry is cleaner than yours as a whole, but i still find it hard to beleive as stewards scrutinise jocks hard after veiwing races and it can result in fines or bans. so if the same jock was doing it over and over he would be questioned.

Plus jockeys have off days 2 , i once had 4 rides for my master 3 were favourites and one 33-1, low and behold the favs got beat not one run a place while the longshot wins. imagine what they were saying about me that day?

Answer 8

to explain one of your "cheats" the jockey is not swerving the horse to kill momentum.  Some horses don't change leads well, so at the top of the stretch they yank on them harder to make them change leads, it appears that they are killing the horses momentum, but it is really kicking them into another gear so they are on a fresh lead coming down the lane.  As an owner I know my horses and how they run, if a jock stiffed me he wouldn't be back on the horse again.  It would also be fairly unlikely that you would get jockeys stiffing horses at Woodbine where Maidens run for $60,000 and Allowance races go from $66,000-80,000, and Arlington, where they run for $30,000-40,000 the winners share is pretty big and a payoff that large would require a bet equally large which would show throw the handle out of wack, or at least look suspicious.  There are 7 riders that are still being suspended because of 3 suspicious bet made last year.

Answer 9

And when your runner comes in, someone else is tossing tickets away and complaining.

Answer 10

A jockey rides to win unless he's getting paid on the side to cheat.  The purse money is more than the mount fee the jockey gets for getting on the horse.  I'm not saying a jockey can't cheat but a jockey would have to have a good reason to take a risk in cheating as if they are caught can result in fines and even suspension of their license.  Also a trainer and/or owner more than likely would fire the jockey for continually doing any of the things you listed above without good reason.  Maybe the jockey is not a good jockey.  There are jockeys that are talented and can ride any horse. Then there are jockeys who aren't talented or maybe inexperienced who can only fit certain types of horses if any at all.  I've seen inexperienced jockeys pull up horses because they got scared as they reached the finish line. I've also seen less talented jockeys pull up on a horse because they weren't focused on the job at hand.  A jockey has to be completely focused on riding or it causes poor judgment and poor riding.