(Source: The Guardian)
By Hans Ebert Chairman and CEO Fast Track Global and WE-Enhance Inc
A friend and I were talking about how little many people know about athletes and also how some sponsors and marketing people expect them to drop everything and pop over for rehearsals, for events, for a photo opp, to dunk a Dunkin Donut etc.
(Source: Sports Inquirer)
It also made me think of how little people, especially precious owners and punters, know about the schedules and fitness regimes of jockeys.
I was reminded of this when speaking to Zac Purton.
Let’s give all this nicknaming stuff a rest for a sec and think of what these athletes go through to be the best they can in the most dangerous sport in the world.
(Source: Guardian)
This is a sport that has robbed us of great people, friends and riders like Noel Barker, the gentleman that was Brian Taylor and so many more while leaving other champions like top bloke Wayne Harris, battered and bruised.
(Source: Holistic Page)
Getting back to Zac, he had been “wasting”- losing weight- to ride one horse at a lightweight and was explaining how much it had taken out of him and how quiet he becomes after all that work.
(Source: The Telegraph)
Way too often, punters who talk through their pockets forget or have never understood just what great athletes jockeys are- and this MUST be part of all those predictable promo plans for racing. After all, without these stars of the turf, the show won’t go on.
(Source: Daily Mail)
All those highly paid NBA basketball players with their billion dollar sponsorship deals can learn much from the strict lifestyles and exercise regimes of jockeys.
(Source: Loyal KNG)
Apart from Zac Purton, think of a tall jockey like Tye Angland who is almost always wasting to ride light. As he has openly admitted, it drains him and leaves him not exactly in the greatest of moods.
(Source: Tye Angland)
On top of all this, there are the schedules and here, I have not come across anyone more professional in ANY business than Dougie Whyte.
Dougie manages to devote quality time to his priority- his family- especially spending time with his young son- and then meet up with owners, trainers, answer calls, fulfill his commitments to the HKJC, watch videos, do his homework and find time to hook up with mates. Not easy- and he makes it look so easy.
(Source: Thorough Breds)
I remember him sitting with me over a year ago and him asking me to join him one day for a workout.
Some of it, I could have taken on- maybe- until it came to doing sit-ups and pushups- in the sauna.
(Souce: Climate 4 All)
Hell, I would have been a goner. So would most people. And when he described his diet of a hard-boiled egg and some fruit with honey and the day- one day- when he could have a real meal, I was thinking why the hell he didn’t make a Keep Fit video and become the new Jane Fonda of workouts for men and women.
It’s still a good idea, Dougie, and one day soon, I’ll produce a series before David Beckham or Messi beat me to it.
(Source: Ennvy)
I am dead serious here: it’s time there was a dedicated television or online series about what jockeys go through so that the next generation of race-goers grow up understanding what type of discipline it takes to be the great athletes that they are.
They deserve this respect.
Respect, guys.
(Source: Karen Keller)
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