Smullen: Why the Weight?

[Wandering Eyes]

   Nine-time Irish champion jockey Pat Smullen has joined the TDN team as our new weekly columnist to bring us invaluable insight on the racing and breeding scene as he continues his recovery from illness.

The time has come now for the authorities to look at the weights for jockeys in order to accommodate the next generation of riders. The human race is getting bigger and the general health of riders is something that we can’t just keep ignoring.

Dr. Adrian McGoldrick has done extensive research into this issue and we now know that depression is very much connected to wasting, and there are various other issues that go along with that, such as substance abuse. I think it’s time that all the different racing jurisdictions around the world sit down together to address this.

All my life in racing I’ve had to battle with the scales. I had 20 rides over hurdles when I was about 18 as it looked like I wouldn’t be able to hold my weight as a Flat jockey. I toyed with the idea of going jumping but my first love was Flat racing, it always has been, and my dream as a kid was always to ride in the Epsom Derby, not the Grand National. I had to fight hard in my late teenage years and into my early 20s and that is a very difficult time as a rider as you’re physically changing and maturing.

When I first started I was big for a Flat jockey but now over the last 20 years I’ve gone from being the biggest jockey in the weighing-room to having the younger kids towering over me.

That just shows that people are getting bigger all the time thanks to better nutrition and, as a result, they are healthier and bigger, which is a good thing. But in regard to the life of a jockey it brings around the problem of maintaining weight. These younger kids in the weighing-room have the same desire and ambition as I had at their age—they want to be professional jockeys and to try to keep their bodies in check to allow them to do that.

What comes about then is that they may try various ways of taking off weight—whether it’s sweating in saunas, as I did all my life, or not having a good diet, or flipping. These are all the things that still go on and we can’t turn a blind eye to that.

I know it’s not easy with the weight scale for races, but I think it could be looked at and changed for the better for the riders coming through now. At this time of year when you have 3-year-old maidens carrying 8st 6lbs, that’s unacceptable in this day and age to ask jockeys to ride at that weight—the majority of them can’t do that.

I know people say it gives an opportunity to the lighter riders but I don’t really buy into that and those riders are becoming few and far between now—there are hardly any out there in the mould of, say, Franny Norton these days. There are not many now that can make that sort of weight and the ones that can do it are usually absolutely killing themselves to do it.

In my view, there is a happy medium that can be achieved. There have been great improvements in nutrition and physical training and that is all very positive. A lot of the younger riders are educating themselves and going about it the right way. Equally though, there are some riders that are pushing themselves to limits that are unhealthy. By raising the weights it will give jockeys the chance of having some sort of balanced lifestyle that allows them to do the job. I think that would be very much appreciated by all.

A lot of the younger riders, in my opinion, are not strong enough because of extreme wasting and that brings an extra element of danger, when you’re not strong enough to control and ride a horse to its maximum ability. As you get on in life, you start to strike that balance and thankfully I had a good job which didn’t force me to do light weights. I didn’t ride light on a regular basis because I knew it wasn’t good for me, and it was also because Dermot Weld wanted me to be strong to ride the better class horses.

I was in a privileged position but when you’ve got jockeys riding just for riding fees, they are going to push themselves to the limit to do that and that in turn can bring on depression. Constant dehydration is also detrimental to your health.

There is always the argument about horse welfare, of course. But horses are carrying heavier weights on any given morning in regular exercise and if they are healthy and sound that is not a problem. The important thing is to have good riders who distribute their weight evenly across a horse’s back. From a racing perspective, having four or five pounds more on their back will make no difference on the welfare front. In my mind there is no chance of causing any increase in risk of injury to horses, all that would change is that races may slow down by a second.

I’m sure some people won’t agree with what I’m saying but on the whole we’ve had a lot of agreement from those in the trainers’ association who feel that what Adrian McGoldrick is saying is right and that we should look at raising the weights. But still nothing has happened and that’s quite frustrating when I’ve seen at first hand the damage it has done to riders.

When you have a man like Aidan O’Brien training some of the best horses in the world from the best operation in the world and he’s happy that there will be no ill-effect on those horses from carrying six pounds more in maidens or handicaps, or even listed or group races, then it’s worth taking into account. People may dismiss what he says about weight because his sons Joseph and Donnacha are both tall and Joseph has already retired from riding because of his size, but Aidan has seen as a parent the effect of wasting and that means he’s speaking from a unique perspective.

There’s always going to be an element of dedication and sacrifice to be a jockey. That’s part and parcel of the job and I accept that 100%. But there has to be some sort of happy medium that we can strike to give riders a bit more leeway to ensure a full and healthy career.

Don’t get me wrong—when I was riding and in that frame of mind I thought, well if you can’t do nine stone you shouldn’t be a Flat jockey, but it’s amazing when you sit back and you see it from a different angle, which I have done for the last year, and it’s quite frightening really.

Old Rival Has Been a Friend

It was great to see Johnny Murtagh have a listed winner on Monday and I feel that Johnny is a trainer really on the up. No disrespect to his horses of last year but I thought he put in a great season given the horses he had in his stable. He’s very good at placing his horses and last year showed that he is a very capable trainer. It’s great to see him up and going again this season with his listed winner and I think he’s a trainer to follow.

We had a lot of rivalry on the track with a lot of fall-outs and I think that happened because we were very much in the same mindset. He was a very determined rider and I think I was the same, and we probably had a clash of personalities. And of course he was riding for the main outfit here and so was I, so we were constantly in battle.

We were never really close but the last year or so has shown the quality of the man he is. He was one of the first to ring me after I had my diagnosis and his wife Orla sent cakes and flowers. Johnny has been very much in contact with me over the last year and wishing me well and that’s the measure of the man.

I think our relationship is a lot better since both of us have not been riding. I genuinely feel that his ability to train horses is unquestionable and I wish him the best of luck.

Another Staying Star for Joseph

At Navan on Sunday, Master Of Reality (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) really announced himself on the staying front winning the Vintage Crop. He was 33-1 and perhaps sprung a little bit of a surprise but he was up on the pace and staying won the day. He’s a horse that I’m sure Joseph O’Brien will be aiming him towards the Ascot Gold Cup. It was a very determined staying performance and it will be interesting to see how he progresses from Navan.

Pink Dogwood (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) put up a good performance in the Salsabil and Dermot Weld’s filly who was third, Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal), is a very decent filly. I suppose the surprise of the race was Noel Meade’s filly Encapsulation (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), who finished second after winning a maiden in Clonmel. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is still a lot of improvement to come from Pink Dogwood and I’m sure she’ll go to Epsom as one of the main contenders.

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