Читать книгу Bushell's Best Bits - Everything You Needed To Know About The World's Craziest Sports - Mike Bushell - Страница 17

This section is all about how we harness the power of horses, whether it be to chase a ball, ride a board, or simply race and jump. The top jockeys have to among the toughest, most disciplined athletes in any world sport, whether it’s the diets they have to stick to, or the pain they suffer when they fall.

Think of the Christmas dinner you enjoy every year. Most people consume up to 6000 calories on 25 December. Top jockey Tony McCoy has revealed he has taken on board just 597 calories even on Christmas Day to keep himself in peak condition. It starts with tea and two slices of toast. Then it’s a hot bath to sweat out four pounds, followed by the main feast, which is often just three thinly-sliced pieces of turkey, a spoonful of cabbage, three Brussels sprouts and a splash of gravy. It’s important when you’re racing at Kempton Park on Boxing Day. I met Tony once at Ludlow racecourse. He had just arrived by car from Wiltshire and for him this was another day at the office, and I was amazed how they take this sport of extremes in their stride.

Horse racing provides excitement for millions of people every week, whether on a day out or just trying to pick a winner at home, but it’s not one of those activities which we can personally understand what the jockeys go through. To get anywhere near the saddle on a racehorse takes a lifetime of dedication and hard work.

I did get a taste myself of what the Grand National riders experience, when I rode the course – albeit a virtual one, a wooden horse simulator, known as an Equiciser, in the jockeys’ changing room at Aintree, alongside former winner Richard Dunwoody. I couldn’t believe how demanding it was on my legs as I crouched over my mount’s ears, trying to keep my bottom low as the excruciating pain seized hold of my knees. All the time, I was having to move the reins up the horse’s mane, pushing with each stride along the wooden neck.

‘Remember to keep your head still, that’s crucial!’ shouted Richard, who wasn’t even out of breath.

‘What do I do when I come up to the fence?’ I panted.

‘In your case, Mike, I would just close your eyes,’ was his reply.

So I did and imagined what it must be like sandwiched between other flying mountains of muscles all striving to get over The Chair or Becher’s Brook. My eyes were fully open again, eyelids propped up by nerves, as I paraded on a real racehorse, Ryes-dale Lad, later that day. He was different from any horse I had ever been on: his back was so hard, and I was told not to squeeze with my legs, as this would be like pulling a trigger. As I got used to holding the reins in a different way, I could feel how the slightest of twitches would cue the explosion of speed poised between my thighs to take off.

It was like sitting on a giant firework. If he went I would have no hope of gripping with my legs like the professionals and trainer Oliver Grennall was taking no chances, tightening his grip on the reins as we walked around the training track.

This was as far as I went on a racehorse, but for more information on all horse racing matters go to the website of the British Horseracing Authority, www.britishhorseracing.com