Horse Betting World

Winning Teams at Fair Grounds

By Joey Adams

Anyone can walk into the racetrack, pick up a program, and instantly identify the leading trainers and jockeys at the meet. Far fewer are serious enough to do the homework required to see how the trainer and jockey information intersect. In other words, what’s better – knowing simply that a trainer leads the meet with six wins from twenty starters, or knowing that all six of those wins came with a particular jockey?

All trainers “work” jockeys in different ways. Some trainers use “stable riders,” jockeys who ride nearly every starter from that barn at a particular meet, whether they are “well meant” on a particular day or not. Other trainers will give a leg-up to a rider when their horse is not particularly well meant, then switch to their “go to” jock when they are ready to score.

Knowing how individual trainers interact with individual riders shed further insight into the handicapping process, and ultimately lead you to landing on more winners.

We’re well into the Fair Grounds meet in New Orleans, where 269 races have been run since late November. This is a more than enough information to see whether any “trainer/jockey” patterns have developed. What we find is that there are 11 different trainer/jockey duos who have already won at least four races together. There are another 13 different trainer/jockey duos who have won three races at the meet.

Taking it one step further, and analyzing the odds of these winners, we can clearly see that some trainer/jockey combinations rarely offer worthy betting value, while others continue to sneak under the radar.

Here is a closer look at the top trainer/jockey combinations at the current Fair Grounds meet (through Monday, January 3).

— Asmussen, Steve / Bridgmohan, Shaun … 11 wins together. Highest winning odds: 13/1. Lowest winning odds: 3/10. Eight of these winners were betting favorites.

— Lovell, Michelle / Eramia, Richard … 8 wins together. Highest winning odds: 7/1. Lowest winning odds: 9/10. Only three winners were betting favorites.

— Amoss, Tom / Theriot, Jamie … 6 wins together. Highest winning odds: 6/5. Lowest winning odds: 3/10. All six winners were betting favorites!

— Heitzmann, Eric / Campbell, Jesse … 6 wins together. Highest winning odds: 6/1. Lowest winning odds: 9/10. Five of these winners were betting favorites.

— Breaux, Samuel / Clark, Kerwin … 4 wins together. Highest winning odds: 10/1. Lowest winning odds: 6/5. Three of these winners were betting favorites.

— Calhoun, Bret / Theriot, Jamie … 4 wins together. Highest winning odds: 8/1. Lowest winning odds: 6/5. Three of these winners were betting favorites.

— Ducoing, Sturges / Napravnik, Anna … 4 wins together. Highest winning odds: 10/1. Lowest winning odds: 7/5. Only one winner was a betting favorite.

— Hawley, Wes / Mena, Miguel … 4 wins together. Highest winning odds: 9/1. Lowest winning odds: 1/1. Two of these winners were betting favorites.

— Hodges, James / Eramia, Richard … 4 wins together. Highest winning odds: 20/1. Lowest winning odds: 9/10. Two of these winners were betting favorites.

— Howard, Neil / Albarado, Robby … 4 wins together. Highest winning odds: 5/2. Lowest winning odds: 6/5. Three of these winners were betting favorites. * Note – Albarado was recently injured and will be undergoing surgery to repair a broken heel. He is expected to miss at least five weeks.

— Stidham, Michael / Napravnik, Anna … 4 wins together. Highest winning odds: 5/1. Lowest winning odds: 3/10. Three of these winners were betting favorites.