Jockey bating

Never having sat on a horse is no obstacle whatsoever to having a very valid viewpoint when considering a race, how the race rode and whether a jockey made an error. The reasoned eye will become very good at race watching and analysing race riding and the individual certainly does not have to be an ex-jock be qualified to express a view.

It is the type of rubbish that you constantly hear from those in the industry and is completely incorrect. I suspect that you yourself would respect the views of Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho concerning players and matches and would not dismiss them due to the fact that they never played football at a top level?

There is a big difference between valid reasoned views and a lot of the rubbish that does be spouted about rides and it would be rather a small minority of opinions that are rationally thought out and balanced, but they do exist and are worth heeding. The term pocket talk is also rubbish and too general.

There will be loads of reactionary posts about a race when someone has done their money and they should be ignored, but posters like that should be ignored full stop and not just in the aftermath of a losing or indeed winning bet. However the pocket talker tag is also labelled to very good punters who will have backed a loser and then comment on the race afterwards.

Very often this type of person has put in a lot of work before the race, studied form, watched videos etc and formed a view as to how a race should unfold and how a horse should be ridden. If he speaks afterwards and is critical about aspects of a ride, then the view is worth heeding a lot more than some lazy journalist that is paid to put a few words down before a specified deadline. The punters view if dispassionate, should be heeded if he is a good judge as he has positioned himself better than most to express a view.

Regarding Joseph, he looked to be beaten by the better horse in the Leger and Camelot is simply not that good. Regarding the jockeys title, winning it will shut nobody up as he will simply have taken advantage of the fact that he is riding for the best stable in the country and therefore riding the best horses.

Sorry never was the wrong word and should have been that they were never top flight footballers.

I knew Mourinho played semi-professionally but was not aware that he played top flight football.

I was also not aware that Wenger played top flight football but it appears that he played in about as many matches at that level as JP Magnier rode on Rhinestone Cowboy, so I was wrong.

Winning the jockey's title is no guarantee of greatness. I wouldn't consider Paul Hanagan one of top 10 Flat jockeys in England but he has won it the last 2 years.

I agree that JOB gets more flak than he deserves though