Hi all!
I spend a fair amount of time watching the TVG racing channel. In watching the the TB racing, I note maybe a couple times a month a late jockey change, wherein a horse post parades with a jockey, but sometime in the course of the post parade, I guess the jockey opts off.
I don’t know a ton about TB racing (other than my lovely OTTB of course 
) but coming from STB-racing land I have literally never, ever seen this. What precipitates this? I am assuming in most cases the jockey somehow doesn’t like what he/she feels underneath, but from that standpoint, how is it not a scratch? I know there is a trackside vet. So, I am assuming if they run with a new jockey because of voluntary jockey scratch, the horse is checked out, and there’s nothing perceivably wrong. Is there anything other than “this horse doesn’t feel right; I’m not comfortable riding it through a race” that would prompt a jockey to say “I’m not riding this horse”? To that end, if there’s no vet-supported reason to switch jockeys, is the jockey fined for late decisions like that?
I’ve noticed that as well, and would like to know, too.
The jockeys are allowed to take off if they want. It’s the state vet’s decision as to whether or not the horse is OK to start. Exact procedures vary state to state, since states oversee racing rules and regulations.
OP is asking a very good question. If a Jockey wants to get off, which means losing some amount of money, its hard to believe the vet wouldn’t want to scratch the horse. Could there be another reason, for example the jockey just has a headache and suddenly isn’t feeling good? I guess if an automatic scratch happened in those cases, a Jockey who got mad at a trainer would have the power to get his horse scratched.
I’ve seen last-minute jock changes, and only once was the horse in question scratched (as if they couldn’t find another rider). Makes me wonder. Jockeys are fairly tough, so how bad would one have to feel to refuse a mount at the last moment?
Keep in mind many times, a jock’s first experience on the horse is the post parade
Sometimes they’ll just break from the gate and pull up, which IMHO would be a relationship ender. They are hired to ride the race. If they don’t like how the horse feels, fine, take off.
It happens. My bf once had to ride the last race at Santa Anita and the first at Los Al with barely enough time to get there but his agent thought he could do it. He got there just as they were getting on in the post parade. Very disappointing! The horse won and the whole time they thought my bf was on and until they got inthe winner circle they were saying my bf name until they saw the jockey up close and were like, “wait that’s Vinnie Bednar! So late Jockey change to Vinnie B!”
So sometimes when they tell you there’s a jockey change its actually not when it happened.
Other times yes, a jockey can take off if he feels unsafe. The horse is too naughty, or tires too quickly while warming up and he knows it’s unfit. I’ve seen that happen. Then another jockey took up the mount for the jocks fee and the horse ran last by 70 lengths! Trainer/owner lost his license after his horses did that a few times.
If the announced rider actually comes out of the room and gets legged up on to the horse before a change is announced, it usually means s/he did not like how the horse feels.
Occasionally a rider gets hurt between the paddock and the gate, requiring a change.
I’ve heard serious horseplayers grumble about horses who are not scratched when a certain rider deemed the animal unfit to ride. How do you bet a horse after the rider rejects it? So it’s bad for handle to have a jock get off late.
It’s also really good way for a jockey to burn a bridge with a trainer/owner to take off the horse in the post parade, essentially calling the horse unfit to ride in a public fashion if you’re a thin-skinned type of trainer. (It’s also calling into question the judgment of the state vet, who is responsible for evaluating the horses on their way to the gate.) So typically it takes a rider who is either pretty high in the standings to hop off and a rider who is pretty low in the standings to be unengaged for the race and willing to run out and accept the mount. And even a top rider would think very hard before getting off a horse for a top barn.
Ive heard a heart-breaking story from the vet about watching the riders to see if any of them were trying to deliberately show off a limping horse, silently begging the state vet to scratch the horse – potentially relieving the jockey of the responsibility of choosing his life while risking his career.
Of course, trainers and owners will get cranky fast if they perceive a vet as being overzealous in his or her efforts to prevent lame horses from going in the gate. As a state employee, the vet could certainly be pressured out of a job for scratching too many.
That said, there are plenty of horses with a little what have you that are perfectly capable of running. Imho, a responsible trainer knows the horse has a peculiar way of going and makes sure the jockey has worked it in advance to feel comfortable following through in the afternoon. And the vet has presumably seen the horse in the morning at most tracks and already formed an opinion.
