New Jockey - Better or Worse?
We've added a new stat to the main horse table in BirdDog.
Next to the Jockey name you can see the win % for that jockey over the last year. If this is a new rider compared to last race you will also see how much better or worse this new jockey is.
The horse above (#10) is being ridded by Santana, same as last race, so all you see is Santana's win % over the last year.
#6 - Spokane Eagle is being ridden by Rosario, which is a different jockey than last race. Rosario's 1 year win % is 4.19% better than the previous jockey that rode this horse.
If the new jockey has a lower win % than the previous jockey it will show up as a red number:
Getting a better jockey does not always mean the horse is going to run better than it did in its previous start - remember, the horse is carrying the jockey, not the other way around.
The big stand out statistically is when a horse is getting a worse jockey, and that jockey is worse by 7% or more. Those types of horses will usually underperform.
So far this year there have been 5,541 horses getting new riders that are at least 7% WORSE than the previous jockey. Of those 5,540 horses only 496 won (8.95%).
This new stat is an easy thing to keep an eye on and hopefully it helps point you towards a few more winners.