Murtagh, Manning, Moore and Mackay

[billy the punter]

Been reading the Goodwood thread (Saturday) regarding some of our top jocks. Up until a couple of months ago I was singing Ryan Moore's praising louder than most - as I had been since he was a 7lb claimer. However, over those last two months he has been riding terrible. He definitely has a "touch of the Spencers". I mentioned it on here a while back. He is constantly overdoing the hold up tactics and leaving a lot of horses too much too do. Everyone spoke in the past about how he gets horses home from impossible positions (me included) - I really think it has gone to his head. I've lost count how many poor rides he has given in this time - I will list a few if required - he is much better than this and the reasoning behind it has to stop. Jim McGrath (Ch4) said he has been riding "atrocious". I agree. Howver over the past fortnight he showed glimpses of the 'old' Ryan Moore. He has the potential to be the best for a long time, let's hope he doesn't blow it. As for Manning, well sorry to anyone who backed it but it couldn't happen to a nicer jock/trainer. As for Murtagh, I know he is riding for the best yard but he really is riding out of his skin. You just don't notice him as such - always a sign of a great jockey, he gets the job done. He mentioned last week that if he is on the best horse he doesn't want to take chances by coming up the rails or leaving it late - TAKE NOTE OTHERS. He really has sorted himself out - when he was riding for Fanshawe a few years ago he was embarrassing himself. Deserves his 2nd chance and has grasped it with both hands. I've got nothing to say about Nicky Mackay, it was just than his name started with an 'M'. He has lost his job with Cumani though - no surprise, he really has gone off the boil, exactly like his bother did. Shame. I did have something to say about him after all. Be lucky. :hope

[bowles10]

Re: Murtagh, Manning, Moore and Mackay Its a pity about Mackay, i was really enjoying watching him ride for cumani 2 years ago & couldnt quite work out what went wrong. he seemed to have great timing & i thought he would turn out to be one of the best. Moore & Murtagh are both great jocks IMO, now take dettori, dont get me started on him, how many good things did he lose on last week!!