Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem Aug. 27, 2026

A good Thursday morning to you all! I saw a post on social media the other day that contained a video of a stretch run of a race. The leader early in the race was a big long shot and that horse led every jump until the last one where the odds-on favorite got up in the final jump to put a nose down and win. It was a very close finish and on the gallop out, the rider of the long shot patted the winning jock on the back pretty vigorously in congratulations. 

Worth noting before we go on with the story is that the rider who got beat and congratulated his rival is an apprentice and still very new to horse racing. Also, I’m not entirely sure he knew whether he lost or not as it was a very close photo. But he did and finished second, which for a long shot is a generally good result.

In the video that was posted, the social media user made a comment about how he’d never seen a rider so excited to get beat. Now he wasn’t explicitly saying anything other than what he said, but I think more than a few people probably took it as accusatory or questioning or something like that. I replied to him that since that race was a claiming crown qualifying race, the top two both get berths into the finals at Churchill Downs, so maybe that was the reason for the public display of jubilation? I got a couple of responses saying they didn’t think that was the reason. 

I do think it was a young rider who was just excited about a good finish and a thrilling photo. But it begs the question, should jockeys be celebrating with one another after the finish of races? It’s not something that’s all too uncommon, but I think the practice invokes some anger or distrust from the betting public. So, let’s talk about it. 

For many in this debate, I think the inclination is to look at other sports and see how athletes congratulate their rivals after games regularly. In the NFL, after basically every game all the players and coaches take to the field to congratulate, talk, and all that after a game. In baseball, it’s not really done at the professional level much nor is it in hockey, except at the end of a playoff series. I watch a fair bit of baseball and there’s a lot of little pats on the back when a runner gets on base from the other team or the batter telling the catcher hello and stuff like that. I’ve seen some older school fans who hate any kind of friendly displays towards their rivals. But this isn’t like the 70s or 80s where most of the players didn’t know each other. Athletes now compete or read about other players all over the country while growing up. They follow each other on social media. So that “we hate this team” thing just doesn’t seem as visceral as it used to. 

Of course, the glaring difference between other sports and racing is that our game is primarily funded by and geared towards gambling. Most other professional sports revenue comes from tickets, merchandise, and big television/multimedia revenues. So certain things will be scrutinized in different ways. Many in the betting public will see a jockey lose a race and then pat another jockey on the back as a suspicious sign. And the fact that there have been jockey betting scandals in the not so recent past, only serve to keep the thoughts of that as a concern. I don’t think anyone is all that alarmed if on the gallop out of the Kentucky Derby (G1) riders are excited for their colleague. There are times and places where it makes perfect sense for celebrations between riders, and I don’t think it will stir up anything. There are many more times however when it will. 

I tend to be on the side of riders just waiting until they get back to the room to celebrate with one another. They’re competing against each other of course, but it’s perfectly normal for them to be friends and be supportive of one another along the way. I just think that with an already suspicious public, it’s sometimes not the best look, even if it is purely innocent and coming from a place of good meaning. And I’m sure that seems unfair to the jocks but as I said earlier, our game is enforced and held to a different kind of standard than some of those other sports, so some things are just going to be different. 

 Would be curious to hear your thoughts on this on social media or if I see you at the races. Have a great weekend!