Wednesday, 27 July 2011

Jockey Hayley Turner's recipe for success

On race days, she rarely has lunch: "I'm usually racing and you can't ride on a full stomach."

Some days she just goes without; otherwise she will nibble at small quantities of food provided by the racecourse during the day, consuming "little and often".

The frantic pace of the summer season, when jockeys can find themselves racing nearly every day and driving for miles to meetings, also takes its toll on supper. During the season, Turner often gets home so late from meetings that she doesn't feel like an evening meal.

"I might have a piece of fruit," she said.

She added, however, that even on the rare days of the season when jockeys are not racing, "We don't really stuff ourselves, because if we are not riding one day, we will be the next.

"We just don't have huge appetites. We are small people."

Often called 'the pin-up of UK racing', Turner rode Dream Ahead to her first Group One victory at Newmarket on July 9. Her outright win went one better than the feat of Alex Greaves who shared the victory honours in a dead heat in a Group One race in 1997.

Turner, who grew up in Nottinghamshire, was already hugely respected for her success in 2008 when she became the first female jockey to ride 100 winners in a calendar year.

She insisted she got to eat more than some of her bigger male rivals: "I'm lucky with my weight. I stick at 8st 2oz without any effort. A lot of the taller male jockeys have to diet and eat nothing and spend half their lives in a sauna."

She was also strong enough to take on the boys, despite some owners' initial fears.

"They thought I'd be weaker than the male jockeys and at first I was, but I'm not now. I'm really tough."

Male jockeys, she added, didn't treat her any differently because she was a woman.

"I'm just one of the lads. I just think, 'If they can do it why can't I?'"

Turner's race day eating habits, however, did not meet with the approval of Azmina Govindji, a dietitian and spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, who said: "This menu appears to be far too low in calories, fibre and all-round nutrients. The range of foods is very limited, making it even more difficult to achieve a balanced nutritional intake.

"I can only assume ? and hope ? that on non-race days she enjoys some substantial and varied meals. I would recommend fruit and vegetables and enough proteins to build muscle mass."

Turner's minimal diet is dwarfed by the 6,000-Calorie daily intake of Andy Murray, the British tennis star, who enjoys sushi, and the 9,000-Calorie daily consumption ? dominated by pasta - required to get cyclists like Mark Cavendish through the more mountainous stages of the Tour de France.

In one respect, however, her diet is more luxurious than that of John Terry, the England captain, and his international team-mates. Fabio Capello, England's disciplinarian manager, has banned them from having margarine with their bread.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/569020/s/16b74c02/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Chealth0Chealthnews0C86421220CJockey0EHayley0ETurners0Erecipe0Efor0Esuccess0Bhtml/story01.htm

diet exercise wellbeing women’s health

No comments:

Post a Comment