Yorkshire Jockeys Horse Racing

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Go Racing in Yorkshire’s sponsored apprentice, Kieran Schofield, updates us with life on the yard.

Although I’ve been ticking over on the all weather, the start of the turf season is fast approaching which I’m really looking forward to. We were all gutted to see Definitly Red brought down in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham – he was jumping nicely at the time and everyone in the yard shared the disappointment with Mr and Mrs Martin, the owners.

We have been busy with the two-year-olds, there are about 30 this year and I have sat on most of them as they have been broken in. I think they are all lovely and I can’t wait to see them in action. The next step is to put them through the stalls so they are prepared and ready for racing.
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I have been working on my own preparation and have started to attend the jockeys Pilates course at Jack Berry House. I have regular physio on my back but after the first Pilates session I felt a lot looser and it will definitely help me in the long run.

I have continued going to Jack Berry House and recently took part in the Jockey Physical Profile Clinic. It started with a body composition session with the nutritionist measuring height, weight and body fat before moving on to a physio stage which was a muscular skeletal screening. This looked at stability, joint motion and control, particularly in the shoulder, hip and neck area.

The final phase was a fitness test focusing on lower limb strength and power, upper limb strength, core strength and aerobic fitness.

About 24 jockeys took part and the data will be used for research and development to build a physical profile of a jockey athlete and identify areas that can help improve race-riding performance. This will then be compared with other sports too.

Jack Berry House is such a fantastic facility that is so beneficial to all of us and I am regular at the gym. The clinic identified that I have good lower limb power and strength, along with excellent upper limb strength, mainly due to me actively playing other sports, I love football and we have a regular five a side match with my weighing room colleagues. Danny, the Strength and Conditioning coach has put a programme together for me to help maintain my strength and work on my aerobic fitness, all in time for the turf season ahead.