jockey importance?

[harrisman]

This is something I'm increasingly interested in-How much importance when looking at value do you consider a jockey booking+/- % wise may have on the benefit or otherwise? And I'm not talking here purely about trainer/jockey stats which can be a bit misleading I think. I'm thinking here more about the suitablility of particular jockeys for particular types of horses in particular races.(and possibly particular courses as well!) A couple of examples spring to mind straight away-comparing Hayley turner and cathy gannon for example-both quite different in style and suited I think to quite different types of horses. likewise AP and Paul (and NIna!) Carberry. I may be barking up the wrong tree here but if you consider even a 5% difference in effect in the race with a particular Jockey booking positive or negative regarding a horse is that enough to effect the result especially if it looks like a closely run race. I'm interested particularly here in horses that perhaps didn't run quite as well as expected under a particular jockey and wonder if they may have done better under a different type of rider more suited to the personality of the horse? It may only appear a little thing but if you look how close some handicaps finish, even on the jumps those little things could make the difference between even a head for example. Interested to know others thoughts if at all!

[Trotter]

Re: jockey importance? My view is that there are dozens of competant jockeys out there - if they're on the right horse they'll win. I just don't think there's enough difference between the top few dozen jockeys (basically the ones who ride every day) to make it worthwhile spending time on. And whatever differences there are can't be quantified in advance of the race. Good jockeys do bad rides and bad jockeys do good rides. You don't know in advance which it's going to be so it's just part of the randomness having said that I do have a quick look to see who's won on the horse before and it adds confidence to my selection if todays rider has ..........whoever he/she is