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Old 3rd May 2003, 01:25 PM
xanadu xanadu is offline
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Location: Newcastle, NSW
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Today, in Australia, most jockeys are Anglo-Saxon and most are finding it increasingly difficult to survive in the very competitive racing industry.
Weight constraints mean that these riders, some of whom are quite tall, have to put themselves through "torture," starving and wasting their bodies in steam-rooms to remain at a competitive weight and get those important lucrative rides.
However, with the Australian population gradually getting bigger what does the future hold for these riders. We already have a number of Japanese jockeys riding in Australia and learning the skills and this may be the way of the future-I'm suggesting less than 10-15 years. Natural lightweights from Asia will have many advantages over local riders if they can attain a similar level of skills. In the USA most of their top hoops are Puerto Rican or one of the races which is genetically smaller.
A lot of todays jockeys cannot tolerate the constant battle with keeping their weight down, but, to increase weight limits in races would place too much pressure on finely tuned thoroughbreds and detract from the spectacle of racing.
There is no easy answer to this looming problem. I suppose there would be no major problem if our current top echelon of riders was gradually replaced by natural lightweight from other regions of the world. As long as they can ride properly, I suppose it does not matter to the punter.
If you have any thoughts on this matter please share them.

Cheers.
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