An examination of the bodyweight of leading jockeys in Trinidad and Tobago reveals a tale of starvation: One that has left many prospective jockeys in shambles and explains why there are no lady jockeys in this country at present.
Champion jockey Brian Harding has a bodyweight of 52.5 kg, Ricardo Jadoo 49 kg, Rajpaul Rajkumar 50.5Kg , Nobel Abrego 53.5Kg, Garl Laban 48.5kg, Neela Mohammed 49kg, and Hanif Emamalie 53 kg. The average man weighs 70-75 kg.
These top jockeys will get a ride on most days based on reputation and their riding records, but when the allotted weight of the horse (46-50 kg) is below their weights, most trainers will choose one of the apprentice jockeys.
An example of the problems of weight can be seen when comparing two apprentices: One is perhaps more talented than the other. Unfortunately, Apprentice A ‘s bodyweight is 52 kg, while Apprentice B’s weight is 46 kg - which has resulted in Apprentice B earning more bookings and ultimately more winners.
There is a need for some proper monitoring of a jockey's best weight that gives him the best health and will also allow him to ride at his best.
If we continue to ignore this plight in our racing, then very soon we will face the day when one of our jockeys/apprentices simply falls off a horse out of dehydration. And this, certainly, nobody who lives horseracing wants to witness.
Racing associations in the United States are not sitting idle. As the rest of this article reveals, we need to be equally vigilant in Trinidad and Tobago because jockeys are people too.
Dr. Ira Sacker, an expert on eating disorders at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, learned while researching his book Dying to the Thin that "one (toilet) stall in the jockeys' room was marked "heavers". There used to be a competition over who could eat the most and who could throw up the most."
Of the jockeys' weight-loss methods, Sacker remarked. "This is scary stuff. You've got to feel bad for them because there's no easy answer."
McCauley, 42, began when he was 18, rode more than 20,000 races, won more than 3,000 and earned $70 million in purses. During that time he broke his foot, collarbone, shoulder, ribs and wrist and punctured his lungs - retiring in 1998 after a spill in which he fractured his leg in five places from the knee to ankle. A titanium rod now holds it together.
But McCauley's injuries paled in comparison to the bulimia that made his life hell. From a high of 128 pounds, McCauley had to get down to 107, to make a tack of 112.
"I tried everything. I took so many slabs of Ex Lax, to this day I can't eat a chocolate bar," he said.
At times, McCauley resorted to Lasix, a diuretic used by many jockeys that causes excessive urination.
"That takes five to six pounds off, but it also takes all the fluids electrolytes and minerals out of your body," he said. "All of a sudden your body cramps up and you're not the jockey you're supposed to be. You come down the stretch and think a hot poker is going through your hips."
Then, he said, you become a "sponge" - soaking up fluid and gaining even more weight. McCauley was bulimic for more than 20 years.
"Sooner or later your body adjusts. It's mind over matter. You just turn it into part of your job - eat and get rid of it. When you go in the bathroom, gross as it might be, you just lean over, relax and tighten your stomach muscles, and flush the toilet."
When he stopped riding, McCauley finally came to grips with his disease.
"After my accident, the day my five-year-old daughter started school, she and I took a photo. When the picture came back, I started crying. Here I was, a man of 41, and there wasn't a heck of a difference in the size of my legs and hers. It scared me to death."
Other former star riders have similar cautionary tales.
Hall of Famer Steve "The Kid" Cauthen was Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year as a 17-year-old apprentice in 1977 and the following year won the Triple Crown on Affirmed. But it wasn't long before the weight battle took its toll.
In 1979, Cauthen moved overseas, where the weights are higher and he soon became the top rider in England. Eventually, meeting even the higher weight - three or four pounds, in general - was too hard to struggle, and he quit riding.
"That was the toughest thing about racing for me," he said. "I wasn't afraid of getting hurt. I loved the thrill, the competition, the glory and glamour. But weight was the most negative side of my whole career."
Retired Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr., winner of more than 7,000 races and three Kentucky Derby features, subsisted on a starvation diet.
"I only ate one meal a day for 34 years," he said. "It's very uncomfortable when you make all that money and can't eat like a person. Sometimes you let yourself go and have a pizza, but I had to pay the price the next day and I'd hate everybody who was with me."
Cordero was so thin, when his spleen was removed after a riding accident that ended his career; the stitches couldn't hold the wound together.
"I didn't have any fat," he said. "They kept coming out of my skin."
One practical reason for raising the scale of weights, advocates argue, is that without going to extremes to reduce, jockeys could ride to their best ability.
"Anything you do to put yourself in a weakened condition has to affect your performance," Giovanni said. "I don't know of anybody who's ever passed out on a horse, but I've seen guys come back and pass out after they rode."
"The scale of weights is killing a lot of kids," Cordero said. "You sacrifice so much it makes you weak. First you work in the morning, exercising horses. Then you have to pull weight without eating. Then you ride all day. Then you come home and can only eat a little bit. Then the next morning you do the same routine. It wears you out, mentally and physically."
But many oppose increasing riders' weights.
"Personally, I'm against it," said one veteran New York rider. "I ride light and don't have to reduce. Changing the scale would be like lowering the net in basketball. Then anyone could be a basketball player. I think jockeys should be small."
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas agrees: "Granted, some riders have had problems," he said. Maybe they're not cut out for the profession. You have to have parameters. Some people will meet them, some won't. If it's not broke, don't fix it. Weight on horses is obviously detrimental to soundness and I don't think we should fool with it."
McCauley counters: "In this case, it is broken and needs to be fixed. It's worth fighting for. I hope it happens for the guys out there."
Trinidad and Tobago Racing Authority (TTRA) are responsible for local jockeys / apprentices' welfare. One can only hope they are not turning a blind eye to the needs and necessities of a profession that is equally as important as owners and trainers. Without riders, there would be NO RACING.
:: AB
