Rae Guest and Minalisa

Berry being very well connected is the only conclusion, seems a pleasant enough fella with it. Good combination. Jessica Harrington seems to employ a lot of that type.

Jimeen you like most here watch all the Irish racing and you have seen how poorly he is riding,Rae Guest isint.

He probably saw him ride his Royal Ascot winner this year and assumed he was in top form but I have to agree it was a major mistake,it was a listed race with 35 grand to the winner and he left it behind because of our old friend lack of attention to detail.

Fran Berry has had some major injuries which has affected him,the losing of the Oxx job was a blow to his confidence and he hasn't been able to get it back.

As they passed me frans horse went about half length up i was sure he'd hang on , but Johnny got the better of it near the line , to be fair to Fran he did little wrong on the runner up ...

I thought he was terrible Workrider,he was flapping and lacked coordination,I had no bet in the race.

He got a few bumps from johnnys mount about a furlong down tbf ..So not all down to him flapping either , I do agree with the op that rae should have booked johnny , but there again maybe he was already booked ...Johnny is now the go to man for everyone...

Murtagh is riding as good as ever and has so much experience of the big races.

The Naas six furlongs is straight forward,he should have brought over his own jockey,what was wrong with Seb Sanders he rode her perfectly at Yarmouth and knows her.

SEB has little experience of naas , i'd say that was the reason for booking fran....

the better horse won that race IMO. miss lahar has been campaigned in listed races in virtually all of those races, whereas the runner up was taking
a massive jump in class, and although well bred and bang inform, was a step too far to soon. winners 3rd behind the professor represents very strong
form in the book, so proved. sounds like the jockey done his best.

I am not a fan of Fran Berry but I am sure his instructions were to try and make all as Minalisa's last two wins were when she forcing the pace.Berry did little wrong tonight.

Jim mean, what instructions would you have given to Fran Berry?

Don't be intimidated when Murtagh comes upsides you?

Wildmanfromborneo,i myself don't think that Fran Berry is riding particularly poorly at all,in my opinion he is riding at the same level as he has been for as long as I can remember. Its just that he is at a particular level and some others are on a different one. One of the major differences between the very top brigade and some of the others and you can apply this to both codes is upper body strength. Smullen,Murtagh,Manning,Kinnane all great jockeys who wouldn't be found wanting in the last 50 yards on the flat,while Walsh,Geraghty,McCoy and even Russell who are exceptionally strong over jumps. Combine that with riding ability and a brain and then you are very close to the full package,if one or more of those attributes are missing then you will have a sub standard rider,thats it in a nutshell. Another thing Guest should have thought about was if they are riding for you then they cant beat you,and if I owned that horse of his last night i'd be saying cheerio to Rae this morning. Everybody knows who are the top riders and if Rae Guest noticed Berry at Ascot,then how did he miss Johnny Murtagh over there.
The Gotchee,i wouldn't have given him instructions if the horse was mine,because I wouldn't have had to.

Channon could have booked Murtagh first,they might also have thought Murtagh could have a runner but I agree Guest made a mistake.

There is one jockey you mention in your list that I can't agree with in terms of strength in a finish,Pat Smullen.I think he is a great judge of pace generally takes the right options but the one thing that stops him being at the very top is his prowess in a finish,this is relative as I am judging him by the highest standards.

To me Smullen is very strong and I wouldn't mind him against most going to the line,and as you rightly said he always takes the right options,he keeps things simple ,he rides uncomplicated races. Basically he gives his animal every chance,as does Kevin Manning. Some jockeys try to make things hard for themselves,they try to win races by heads and necks when they could easily have won 2 lengths,these are the jockeys who get on my goat,Paul Carberry being one of the biggest culprits. After saying all that the one type of jockey who is very dangerous is the one who thinks he is top class but isn't,or the one who thinks he is good but he is not and there are lots of those riding in both Ireland and England.

On the point about Channon booking Murtagh first,thats a non runner as firstly its up to Guest to get the best jockey for his horse and this he clearly didn't do. I would imagine that Murtagh would consider all his options before committing himself to his mount,thats what all the good jocks do. Pat Smullen clearly wasn't asked,id bet 20's on Murtagh wasn't,and its patently obvious Manning wasn't as he had no ride in the race. In flat racing the margins are small,the rewards are great but the thin line is very thin and as you quite clearly pointed out earlier,attention to detail is key.
To me Rae deserves a good kick in the bawlix.

Paul Carberry is the most natural gifted horseman I have ever seen but a nightmare from a punters point of view,he overdoes the waiting tactics and there is also the Martin Scruff aspect.

workrider was spot on ..rae guest wanted a jockey that knew the track as he and others had a punt on there horse..it was seb sanders who told them to get a irish jockey..

Well done Eddie Byrne once again

Tony57,id imagine that Murtagh,Smullen and Manning would have a fair idea of the track too.
Bleekerstreet,its Fran Berry's agent who deserves the congratulations.

I don't know jim..but i was told seb was going over but then told them to get a irish jock, i suppose they went with the best available?

Possible reason Fran was on board last night is that he rode the same connections Mirza to win a listed race in Cork last summer.

nice talkhand77,..there you go he rode a winner for them.

dont think fran done much rong to be honest..best horse won.

Whats all this cobbs about knowing the track.Its 6f uphill from 3f out and as straight as a gun barrell.You would think they needed to be chartered surveyors to ride the the track.Its called race riding not orienteering.The rider in question looks like a sean nos dancer on a horse.

Tankhand77,you are more than likely correct as to why he rode Minalisa,because he actually rode Mirza again at the Curragh next time out. So now it transpires that he has ridden 3 times for Guest,on two different horses. Theres an old saying that goes like catch me once hes the fool,catch me twice im the fool,and its crystal clear now exactly who the fool is here.

face facts. berry blew it!