Jockeys do it ‘tough’ to hit race weights
JOCKEY Jimmy Orman has boxed, run and lifted his way to his lightest weight in years in a bid to be fit to ride Niccanova at 53.5kg in tomorrow’s Stradbroke at Eagle Farm.
Justin Huxtable is also on a strict regimen, as he aims to ride Crack Me Up at 53kg.
Both naturally weigh significantly more than that, but with a Group 1 carrot on offer, the incentive is worthwhile.
They are two of many jockeys having to shed kilos this week in a bid to make the weight for tomorrow in a race where just two runners were handicapped higher than 53kg.
Robbie Fradd was sporting his usual big grin on Wednesday, knowing he is doing it a whole lot more comfortably to get to 52.5kg to ride Tyzone than others in the jockey room, tipping there might be some cranky riders tomorrow.
The situation was highlighted when stewards gave permission on Tuesday for four jockeys to ride overweight in the Stradbroke, including Orman and Huxtable.
Orman engaged the services of fitness guru Ron Johnson, who has decades of experience getting jockeys’ weight down for big races.
“Jimmy Orman is very fit, focused, healthy and will be bang on for Saturday,” Johnson said.
Orman said it was normal for him to walk around at 57-58kg and then sweat the weight off to ride 55kg on race days. This time he’s done it differently – and he feels better for it, employing Johnson’s fitness regimen and famous soup diet.
“I got down to 54.3kg (on Wednesday). I will get down a bit more and I will be closer to 53kg by (tomorrow),” he said.
“From (last) Wednesday to about Sunday was the hardest, but now it’s been a lot easier, probably because I’m a bit fitter. Ron’s pretty tough, but I know I have to do the work to make the weight. This horse is worth doing it for.”