Jockey bookings: the eyecatching smaller yard link-ups worth noting

Betting on Racing is an app-exclusive daily punting guide from three of the Racing Post's most renowned experts: Tom Segal, Paul Kealy and David Jennings. A new instalment will be published every weekday for the next three weeks.

Punters place varying levels of importance on jockeys and how crucial they are on a horse you may fancy, but the booking process intrigues me more. Who books who and for what.

Take Colin Keane, for instance. He is attached to the Ger Lyons stable and will be riding for him whenever he has a runner in a race but, when he doesn't, it is always worth checking who has snapped him up. This, in particular, applies to the smaller yards.

Keane has ridden 20 times for Matty Tynan and the pair have a tasty €26.68 level-stakes profit together for every €1 staked. Other jockeys have ridden a lot more for the trainer over the years but you get the impression Keane is his go-to man when he really fancies one. This is the case for Sabrina Harty, John Kiely, Gerard O'Leary and many more.

The smaller stables don't have many darts to throw so when they think they can hit the bullseye with something that is potentially well handicapped they book the best thrower they can.

Seamie Heffernan is obviously attached to Ballydoyle but is another rider who smaller trainers like to snap up whenever they can. If you had a tenner on each of his mounts for Cork-based John Murphy over the years, you would be €600.50 better off now.

Shane Foley: mounts of interest when he picks up rides outside of the Jessica Harrington yardCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Shane Foley is another man I always have my eye on when he picks up rides outside of the Jessica Harrington yard. He is showing a €92.50 level-stakes profit for Bill Farrell in his career and take note when Augustine Leahy books him. They have teamed up for seven winners and nine placings together over the years.

Gary Carroll is enjoying a decent season in Ireland and his relationship with Joe Murphy is one I cling on to.

You can follow the top stables blind and generally know what is going on. It doesn't take any extra work. We all know Ryan Moore is Aidan O'Brien's number one, and he will be on the best fancied one from the yard when there are multiple Ballydoyle-based runners in a race, but it is certainly worth doing your homework on the smaller yards and when they are planning to strike.

Over jumps, Darragh O'Keeffe has become popular with some of the lesser established stables. He has ridden four winners from just 11 rides for Ballinahinch-based Victor Wilson, yielding a tasty €36.50 level-stakes profit for every €1 staked, while his record for Gavin Cromwell is also very impressive.

He has ridden eight winners for Cromwell from just 35 rides, a 23 per cent strike-rate, while it is also worth taking note when he is booked by Patrick Cronin and Andrew McNamara.

Tomorrow: Tom Segal on ante-post betting

Read more in our Betting on Racing series:

Paul Kealy: multiple accounts are a must: why you need to be price sensitive  

Tom Segal: my overrated angles and what I focus on when trying to find winners 

David Jennings: the might of Elliott and Mullins - and where they run their best horses