Professional jockeys – Flat or National Hunt – must have balance, coordination, incredible core strength and endurance, but the nature of horse racing dictates that they are often put under pressure to make racing weights. In Britain, the minimum riding weight for Flat racing was raised from 7 stone 10lb to 7 stone 12lb in 2002 and again from 7 stone 12lb to 8 stone in 2013. Even so, according to the National Health Service, 8 stone is underweight for any adult, man or woman, taller than 5’ 5” and is, in fact, the ideal weight for an adult man who stands just 4’ 11” or 5’ 0” tall. National Hunt jockeys, for whom the minimum riding weight is 10 stone, fare a little better, but still weigh, on average, a stone less than their natural weight.

Of course, the ongoing battle with the scales is nothing new; some of the best jockeys in history have undergone, quite literally, decades of self-denial at the dinner table to remain at the top of their profession. Lester Piggott, who routinely rode at a little over 8 stone for most of his career, reputedly subsisted on a diet of champagne and cigars to keep his relatively tall, 5’8” frame the best part of two stone below its ideal weight.

Ian Watkinson, a National Hunt jockey who rode at the same time as Piggott, long before the advent of so-called ‘summer jumping’, struggled with his weight so much that he had two sets of clothes. A tall, robust individual, Watkinson rode at 10 stone, or less, during the season, but by June or July his weight would skyrocket to 12 stone 7lb or even 13 stone.

More recently, Sir Anthony McCoy, who was Champion Jockey for 20 years in a row, had the summer jumping programme to keep him ‘on the go’ but, nevertheless, subjected himself to a punishing regime of abstinence and hot baths to keep his weight in check. He once revealed that, in 2010 – the year he won the Grand National on Don’t Push It – his Christmas dinner consisted of less than 600 calories. McCoy rode at, or around, 10 stone 3lb for most of his career but, within eighteen months of his retirement, in April, 2015, gained two stone in weight.

Thankfully, nowadays, low-fat, high-protein diets, which do not involve starvation rations, coupled with cardiovascular and strength training, have largely replaced the more extreme methods of weight loss employed by yesteryear, such as self-induced vomiting, or ‘flipping’. Nevertheless, in an unforgiving industry, mental and physical suffering among jockeys is still commonplace.

According to trainer Conor O’Dwyer, the Hurley Family Kilbeggan Handicap Hurdle, run at Kilbeggan, in Co. Meath, on the evening of June 21, 2010, was a ‘bad race’ that would not take much winning. So it transpired, with his six-year-old D Four Dave – a maiden after eight starts in point-to-points and over hurdles – sauntering to an easy, seven-length win under jockey Mark Walsh.

Available at 14/1 earlier in the day – after finishing only ninth of sixteen, beaten 41 lengths, in a similar race, albeit over two furlongs shorter, at the same course just over two weeks earlier – D Four Dave was returned at 5/1, suggesting that improvement was expected. Indeed, it was. Owner Douglas Taylor had, in fact, cleverly orchestrated and executed a massive gamble which, notwithstanding one or two minor setbacks, netted the best part of €200,000 from betting shops throughout Dublin and Kildare.

In a plot borrowed, almost directly, from Dick Francis’ novel, ‘Even Money’ – which had been published less than a year previously – Taylor recruited hundreds of ‘couriers’, to each of whom he supplied an envelope containing a completed betting slip, €200 in cash and explicit, printed instructions. Each of his employees was also provided with a cheap wristwatch, with an alarm set to 18.55 – five minutes before the ‘off’ of the race in question – at which point they were to hand the slip and cash to the betting shop cashier, taking the current odds available on D Four Dave. On completion of the transaction, they were to hand over the betting slip counterfoil to a supervisor, who would drive them to the offices of MCR Recruitment, of which Taylor was managing director, to collect a fee of €30.

Many of the couriers were foreign nationals with, at best, a limited knowledge of English, so misunderstanding inevitably led to bets being placed too late, or not at all, and printed instructions being handed to betting shop staff. Betting shop staff also noted that, in some cases, the ‘runners’ wore two wristwatches, which was an indication that something unusual was occurring. Nevertheless, the timing and synchronisation of placing the bets left them powerless to react in any meaningful way.Taylor later said the coup ‘was just for fun’ but, even so, Paddy Power reported losses of up to €50,000 and Boylesports claimed to have lost ‘a five-figure sum’, so it was, as Boyelsports spokesman put it, ‘a really good punt landed.’

So do I play Enya or Firestart by Prodigy to get  horse in a winning mindset!?

When you consider how many races take place all over the country each year, it’s surprising how little actually goes wrong. The mechanics of racing are in fact what the tango tanned US president might call a ‘well oiled machine’, but much in the same way that such proclamations can immediately be followed by disaster (via tempting fate), in racing things don’t always go entirely to plan.

‘Bring a Horse’

When many of us head to a party we tend to bring a bottle. One inebriated racing fan in Kentucky though, instead decided to bring a horse instead – or at least steal a ride on one. Filled with dutch courage (and beer) a tipsy 24 year old Michael Wells-Rody, decided to get in on the action at the exciting, big money, Breeder’s cup event at Chuchill Downs. He grabbed a horse and made it all the way through restricted areas and to the track entrance. He was arrested soon after. I tend to be happy with a welcome bonus – you can find the best horse racing offer on horseracingbetting.co.uk –  when I’m having a dabble on a race, whereas this guy apparently wanted to personally ride the winner.

He was described by Kentucky police as “manifestly under the influence of alcoholic beverages”which makes it sound like they were busy leafing through their thesaurus while we was sleeping off his hangover in a cell.

 

‘The Wrong Horse’

While a drunken reveller deciding he’s a champion jockey and deciding to climb onboard a horse is unusual, finding out the horse itself is an imposter is a real headscratcher. In July of last year gleeful on course punters at Great Yarmouth were happily collecting their winnings when 50-1 shot Mandarin Princess breezed to victory in the 6 furlong novice auction stakes for juveniles (beating the 4-6 favourite, Fyre Cay, in the process). However, after the weigh in, it became clear that the two year old horse was in fact it’s three year old stablemate Millie’s Kiss, who was due to run later that day. Both of the horses are brown fillies, and Trainer Charlie McBridge, who had placed a ‘fun bet’ of £10 each way described the event as ‘a genuine mistake’. As it occured after the weigh in, the result on course couldn’t be ammended. McBride was fined £1500.

Bizarrely a similar incident happened in Southwell in January of this year, when the Ivan Furtado (no relation to Nelly) trained African Trader was discovered to be stablemate Scribner Creek. This wasn’t discovered until days later! Take your time.

 

‘Man vs Horse’

Hot off the press, and touched on recently (via the twitter video posted previously!), is the story of young jockey Evan Daley, who earlier this month decided to go for an on-course jog at the the Navan, Republic of Ireland racecourse to ‘loosen up’. He certainly almost got his wish, in that a veritable stampede of horses launched over a fench just centimeters away from him. He had overlooked the fact that a two mile novice hurdle race was currently underway, something that had escaped his notice as he was listenign to music on his earphones.  Thankfully for him (and his last second swerve) he was entirely unscathed, but this was certainly a dangerous situation. A lesson learned perhaps?