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| |  Saturday, 2 June, 2001, 10:42 GMT 11:42 UK Age shall not weary them Kevin Darley: no intention of easing down in his forties By BBC Sport Online's Sophie Brown Apart from bowls - not the most strenuous of events - Flat racing is probably the only sport whose champions are regularly older than 40. For unlike the majority of sportsmen and women - including jump jockeys - a significant proportion of top Flat jockeys are in their 40s and 50s. Last year Kevin Darley discovered life began at 40 when he won his first jockey's title. So how do these jockeys manage to stay at the top of the game? Life in the fast lane Are they addicted to the glamour of the jockey's life - lying around in saunas, regularly bumping into the Queen at work, enjoying the cigar and champagne diet that Lester Piggott was reputed to employ.
Unlikely because the other side of the coin is living off black coffee and dry toast, getting up at dawn to ride out and sweating the pounds off to the point of dizziness. Even if they have the mental desire to keep going, how is it physically possible when most other sportsmen are forced to call it a day at a much younger age? "Despite the strict regimes they have to follow, a jockey's activity is not as stressful on the body as say, a footballer's," says fitness trainer Tania Fernandes. "Footballers need cardiovascular fitness and endurance whereas a jockey needs strength rather than stamina." This partly explains why jump jockeys usually retire no later than their mid-30s.
For they have the additional wear-and-tear of the act of getting the horse over a fence, not to mention the - on average - one ride in 10 or 12 that ends in a fall. Mental strength "I think the closest sports analogy to flat racing is motor racing," says John Maxse of the Jockey Club. "Mind and speed of thought are as vital as fitness in flat racing. "There is quite a physical strain on motor racing drivers as there is on jockeys but it is a case of maintaining body strength rather than sprinting faster.
"Experience is such an important part of flat racing," he adds. "The ability to read a race tactically requires experience and a knowledge of tracks is essential." The years of self-starvation do take their toll - an Observer journalist once remarked that Lester Piggott had a face "like a well kept grave". But after such a long working life, these Flat jockeys should have their pensions nicely built up and are probably not too worried about losing out on modelling opportunities. The oldest jockey to ride a Derby winner was John Forth, who was in his sixties when he rode Frederick to win in 1829. His record is unlikely to be beaten but Flat jockeys remain the one group of sportsmen who can retire at an age that those of us in normal jobs can identify with. | |
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