WASTE MANAGEMENT
Challenges keep coming for jockeys
THEY’RE the last ones standing on Australia’s sporting frontier but our jockeys are not immune from the impacts of coronavirus.
Gold Coast jockey Jag Guthmann-Chester, who rode a double at Aquis Park on Saturday, said jockeys were finding inventive ways to maintain weight. With spas, saunas and gyms closed, jockeys can no longer rely on typical weight-control techniques in order to “waste” to make weight.
Guthmann-Chester has instead resorted to going for runs or bike rides in snow gear, eating and drinking less, surfing, playing tennis and cranking up the heater to help him maintain his race weight.
Racing Queensland’s decision to temporarily raise the minimum riding weight by 1kg has helped but the 21-year-old said many had been forced to adapt to the unique circumstances.
“We’re still pretty fit anyway because we obviously ride and do track work every week but doing that little bit extra on the side definitely keeps us in touch,” he said.
“At the beginning of the week after enjoying a day off and having a decent meal and drink, some of us find ourselves with anywhere up to 5kg to 6kg to take off.
“The thing that’s taking a toll is that gyms and all your facilities like spas and saunas are all shut down.
“A lot of us jockeys regularly visit those facilities to help keep our weight down and most tracks have a spa these days to help us get our weight right. We’re trying to change and adapt but it does take a bit of step out of it.”
If the industry is forced to take a break at some point, Guthmann-Chester hoped he would be able to ride out a temporary shutdown without seeking additional work.
“It’s a tough one because it would impact a lot of people in the industry but it’s also comforting because we’d all be in the same position if it happened,” he said.
“If we did do a lockdown, if it was around a month, I’d be fine but any longer than that if I wasn’t getting support, I’d start to have some concerns about paying the bills. We’re the last sport standing and we’re the limelight of the TV at the moment so hopefully we get to keep racing.”
Guthmann-Chester’s double at Aquis Park on Saturday concluded a successful fortnight for the emerging rider, who also picked up a win at Beaudesert on Friday and the weekend prior at the Gold Coast.
But all four wins have come in front of empty spectator stands.
“It’s very eerie,” he said.
BRISBANE three-year-old Eric The Eel has been given the green light to head to Sydney for the Australian Derby under revised coronavirus protocols for transporting horses.
Trainer Stuart Kendrick waited until consulting all the owners yesterday afternoon before opting to head south.
Kendrick had planned to take Eric The Eel to Sydney for the Tulloch Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
But new cross-border travel restrictions made it impossible to get him there in time.
Eric The Eel instead went to Doomben where he won over 2200m, reigniting the desire to get to Sydney.
Trainers and their staff members cannot travel with the horses and Kendrick has made arrangements for Eric The Eel to be stabled with Bjorn Baker in Sydney.
“I plan to have him on the float Monday night so he should be in Sydney early on Tuesday to settle in,” Kendrick said.
Eric The Eel ran fast final sectional times when he came from last to beat a field of older stayers on Saturday.
“He had a bit of a blow after the race and that will tighten him right up,” Kendrick said.