LARRY’S VIEW - GEARING UP FOR SUCCESS

By Larry Cassidy | Friday, April 29, 2011

Larry Cassidy currently has forty-two Group 1 successes behind his name. He is a multiple Premiership winning jockey having taken out three titles in Sydney and one in Brisbane. Larry’s View, the personal blog of this top class rider will appear on horseracingonly.com.au every Friday, workload permitting.

Many race-goers heads turn to see which jockey is arriving or leaving when they hear the sound of the wheels of the kit-bag the rider is pulling behind him on the concrete walkway.

They recognize the rider, but I suggest they seldom give any thought into what is in the gear bag or how important the individual items he or she carries are in terms allowing the jockey to settle into a comfort zone where he or she can perform to their full potential.

Here is some insight into the gear involved in the everyday life of a jockey.

I usually take three saddles to the races depending on what weight I have to ride that day.

I know we deal in kilos these days, but I still relate to saddles in pounds and ounces. I have a two pound saddle, a pound saddle and a saddle that weighs six ounces, which I obviously use when I ride 54 and under.

My two pound saddle I’ll ride anywhere from 55 to 57 … maybe even 58 depending on how heavy I am.

I also have a heavier saddle which is a five pound saddle which I’ll bring if I’ve got a ride at 59 or 60.

With regard to the design of the saddles, in my career I’ve used about five different designs of saddles.

The design that I use now is a French saddle. I tried one out and I think they sit very well on horses … they sort of mould into their withers, which I think is quite important, and, most importantly, I feel comfortable riding on them.

I bought a whole set of them. To buy a whole set of saddles like that … for the three saddles … it costs you about $5000. So they are not cheap. A lot of jockeys use this brand of saddle.

Obviously I tried to get them so they all looked alike. With one of them … one day I had a horse in Sydney flip over and it absolutely just bent the saddle in half. It was unfixable. I hadn’t paid for it yet. That hurt quite a lot, as I had to go and buy a whole new one and now I don't have a matching set.

Luckily I wasn’t hurt in the incident. It just hurt my pocket!

Saddle styles have varied a lot over the years. When I first started riding I think the smallest saddle I could get was about a pound and it was quite big. Now you are looking at about six ounces and they are tiny, which obviously is a massive help.

The reason they’ve got smaller is because of technology. The tree (the support that holds everything together) is made of carbon-fibre which is very strong and extremely light.

The rest of the saddle is made of an ultra-light vinyl which does not last very long. Jockeys usually go through two or three of these saddles a year at approximately $500 a piece.

As for the irons that we put our feet in, they used to range from steel to aluminium. I don’t think many people use aluminium anymore, because if you bang the rail it tends to bend or break.

Steel is still used because it is heavy and you use it on your heavier saddles. Now, for small saddles you use carbon-fibre, because it is strong and very lightweight.

Again, as technology moved on, we’ve been able to get the gear we weigh out with down to about half-a-kilo … that’s with all the packing … which is absolutely fantastic.

Irons have also changed in style over the years. They used to be very narrow and would actually give you sore feet.

Now most jockeys use what they call platform irons which are wider and, when you put your foot on it, it is on a platform which digs into your foot … which obviously gives you maximum grip.

I think, with the introduction of platform irons, it has made it easier for a lot of jockeys to ride with the toe in, because now you have got a wider spot to have your toe across.

I never used to use those irons until about six or seven years ago. It has only been six or seven years since I started riding with my toe.

Goggles are pretty much the same as they used to be. Now there are a couple of variances. Some goggles look a bit like sun-glasses.

I always use a brand I have been using for sixteen or seventeen years … Blue Eye … which have interchangeable lenses. They look like sun-glasses.

They fit on my face really well. I’ve got a bit of a big nose and I find they sit on my face well and I am really happy using them.

You’ve also have your throw away goggles which, I think, are about ten, twelve dollars each.

You might get probably three race meetings out of them, but they scratch up pretty bad and you just chuck them away. I have a couple of chuck away pairs in my bag for wet days.

Boots … when I first started riding you used to wear leather boots. Now, with the expense of leather I guess it’s just easier to have a vinyl type boot. They are easy to clean … good for wet weather.

Again I have a three set of boots with me at the track. I have heavy boots, light boots and ultra-light boots, used along the same principle as the different saddles.

At home I’ve got another six or seven boots, because with our climate I tend to go through a few boots because you sweat a lot … and, of course, sometimes they get ripped.

Helmets and the vests have probably seen the biggest change.

Obviously the introduction of vests have, I suppose, been the biggest change for jockeys in terms of safety. There are very strict criteria that they have to pass and you have to wear them track-work, trials and race-day.

I have two vests … two that I feel comfortable in. I’ve got a heavy vest and a light vest. There are 4-5 brands of vest on the market.

The helmet itself … they’ve changed as well. The helmets I used to wear were American Caliente. Compared to helmets today it was like wearing an eggshell.

So helmets have changed and they are still changing as we look to improve safety.

I’ve always struggled to find a helmet that fits me well. I like my helmet really tight and my chin strap tight.

A lot of jockeys don’t like their helmets that tight. I like mine tight so I can feel it on my head.

With regard to whips … realistically, I had no problem adapting to the change in the whip rule.

Weight-wise they can still be heavy enough so you can feel them in your hand. Obviously, now, the biggest thing is the noise that it makes.

I used to use Peter Baker’s whips. His son has now taken over. I use a certain finger grip. I think there are only probably about half-a-dozen jockeys in Australia that still use it, but I’ve used it all my life, so I actually buy Persuader whips, because they make the whip you are allowed to use, and I send them to Mark Baker to put the handle on for me.

Every jockey likes their own style of whip. I like mine quite heavy and not so flexible.

A lot of jockeys pick my whip up and say, ‘jeez, that feels like a fence post.’ A lot of jockeys like it light and really flexible. I myself can’t use a whip like that.

Other gear we carry … girths (large, medium and small) … breastplates, lead bags, packing for under saddles, cleaning rag and shower towel.

As far as my riding style changing over the years, I wouldn’t put that down too much to the evolution of the gear, although I have made some changes because of that.

I think any riding style change I have made has come about more because of the fact that it’s easier to travel overseas now and see the way other top riders ride and ride against them.

If you look at their styles … you might only change something ever so slightly, but you start tweaking your style to combine a little bit of what they do into your own style.

You find jockeys that come back from Hong Kong, for example … their riding style has changed a little bit and they are better for the experience.

I have changed my style slightly and other factors come into that. The majority of jockeys now ride with their toes in the iron. I never used to.

The reason I do now is that I had my knee operated on in Singapore. I have found that riding with my toe in the iron puts less pressure on my knees.

It took me half-a-dozen race meetings to get used to it, because when you go from your foot into the iron to your toe in the iron … it feels like you are not on the horse.

I had the experience to be able to adapt to it.

It’s been a big argument whether young riders should ride that way. I think it is an individual thing. I don’t think someway should be told, look you have to ride his way.

It’s the way you’ve been brought up to ride that is important and if you are comfortable riding that way … so be it.

It’s the same … some people say that some jockeys should put their irons down. I don’t ride very high. I ride at a length I feel comfortable with and I think it is everyone to himself.

A lot of kids nowadays come through pony-clubs. They all ride with their toe in the iron … so, if they are brought up like that, let them do it. It is not foreign to them.

Personally, I think you can never stop improving yourself. I turn forty-one this year and if I can improve myself again, I’ll be more than happy to do so.

Till next week.
Larry

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