Jockey Angle with Paddy Flood: ‘Brave, brave ride, she's a real player in an Arc’ The Moyglare ‘Jewels’ Blandford Stakes is a race that Joseph O’Brien has had a lot of success in. In the last five runnings, he has won it on three occasions. To have fillies of that calibre year on year is remarkable. With Dylan Browne McMonagle on the sidelines Ryan Moore took the ride on this year's winner, Thundering On. Race replays are FREE to watch from all Irish tracks and a selection of premier British tracks sponsored by William Hill. In the latest episode of ‘The Jockey Angle’ former rider and jockey coach Paddy Flood discusses why Ryan Moore's ride was ‘an absolute peach’ aboard the winner. Paddy Flood’s Analysis So, for me looking at the form of this race, Declan McDonagh was always going to set the pace for Ryan Moore. He was always going to make sure it was a really strongly run race because she drops in and she stays really, really well Thundering On that is whereas Declan is there probably to do one job in this to make sure there's a strong pace from start to finish in this. I would have thought number seven, Silvestre De Sousa would have been able to have the same sort of idea as myself, but Silvestre is a brilliant rider from the front and I do love him on the front end on some horses. I honestly think you could upgrade this run because I think Silvestre has kind of burnt the candle at both ends here. He's gone from sixth basically, three horses around what is essentially the pacemaker and he's got his horse really, really lit up and you can see his hands up off the horse's neck there. Silvestre rides a little bit like that anyway but for me to keep pressing the pace here, he got outside Thundering On’s pacemaker. Ryan Moore's ride is absolute peach compared to Silvestre’s. When Silvestre gets to the front, he decides, you know what, now I'll slow it down. But he's gone, three and a half furlongs at this stage. You think Declan McDonagh is going to let you get to the front and slow it down when he has a job to do? He's absolutely no chance. You can see here Silvestre actually starts looking over his left shoulder at Declan and I'd say he was probably thinking, "Oh, where are you going? What are you doing?" But I think you could upgrade it’s run because it’s done so much work early. It never spit out the bridle and when he got to the front he tried to dictate the slow fractions and Declan wasn't having it. Watch The Jockey Angle in Full I just love the ride by Ryan. It looks very, very simple, but these things are not simple, you know. You're basically praying that the horse in front has gone fast enough. So, you're probably four lengths behind them before you turn in. It could be even five lengths at the four pole in the Curragh. It's a brave man to sit back. And at this stage, nine out of ten jockeys would have started pulling the left rein to come around the field because you'd be starting to wonder, “whoa, am I a bit too far back here” and you get a little bit edgy. You want to get a feel off the horse to know that there's a bit left in the tank. But Ryan being as good as Ryan is, he just sits. He sits and waits. Now Dylan was very, very good in all her runs as well. He's given her some peaches. But even at this stage, he hasn't committed anything. You know, he's still probably four lengths, five lengths down at this stage. He's letting everybody get into top gear before he actually really starts asking this filly. Brave, brave ride. Let's highlight Silvestre De Sousa here now. The amount of work that Jennifer Jane has done. Amazing run to finish where she did. But the turn of foot of Thundering On here is unbelievably good. You can see how Ryan's body position is this. I love Ryan Moore’s style. There's no bouncing around the horse. He's able to get in behind them, make them stretch, make them pin their ears back and go to the line. I mean, she is the best filly in it. And it is a Group 2 but for me she's going to improve again. She's a real player in an Arc.
