I've come across a few webpages about jockeys, in the US and maybe England, vomiting to lose weight, or using stringent dieting.
I thought that the jockey and his saddle were weighed before the race, and if any pair of them was below some fixed weight, weights were put in bags attached to the saddle to make the load on each horse the same.
So that the horses were compared fairly and no horse had an advantage because its jockey or saddle weighed less than some other horse's.
And that this was a meaning of, or even the original meaning of, handicapping.
Am I totally wrong? If this used to be the system, when did they switch to having jockeys starve themselves so they could weigh less than other jockeys? Besides the health question, it doesn't seem like a fair comparison of the horses.
Under my system, there's no reason for jockeys to starve, sweat, or purge, because if they lose weight it just gets added as a steel weight.
But so far, no evidence they've ever used my system, even though I doubt that I made it up out of nothing.
I googled some more, using Why do they weight jockeys and found some evidence that part of what I said is true Best Answer, to why is the jockey weighed after the race:
" To make sure the horse carried its assigned weight during the race and wasnt tampered with between weigh in and the finish line* The saddles have weights put in them to make up the difference in jockey weight and the weight assigned to the horse- they are checking these weights havent been tampered with. Source(s): been to the races lol Michelle S · 6 years ago
To make the race fair, the horses are all assigned weights. For instance, all Kentucky Derby colts must carry 126 pounds. If one horse gets to carry much less weight, they have an advantage. So the jockeys weigh in with all their equipment before the race and right after the race to make sure the jockey was at the proper weight for the entire race. In the old days, the saddle pads had pockets on the sides where they'd put actual weights in the pockets to make the right weight... riders would reach down during the race, pull out the weight and throw them on the ground so their horse was carrying less! Nowadays, the pads themselves are weighted so you can't do that. But to be fair, they want to weigh the jockeys just to make sure no crafty jock ditched some weight along the way! kmnmiamisax · 6 years ago "
So if these two people are right, once the jockey is below 119 (126 minus the 7 pounds of gear) why bother losing weight!
And if they have to kill themselves to get to 119, just raise the 126 limit and put more weight in the saddles of those who do weigh that little.
I'm sure the horses can carry a few more pounds. After all, full size men who weight 200 pounds ride those horses or similar ones.
This looks like a problem of the racing business's making.
This comment, centered around Australia, NZ, and the UK, goes further
This I didn't know, but it makes sense. That's the same meaning handicap is used with in golf**.
That woudl make for an exciting race, when each horse has a chance to finish at the same time.
How common are handicap raices? They probably aren't for big money.
I've been saying for years that it's a shame handicapped people stopped using a word which meant they would finish but would take a little longer (which is true for most of them, for more and more actually), and now seem to prefer disabled, which to me means, Once able, then disabled, now unable. can't do it. A terrible choice of words.
Back to the topic. This might explain it: "As for jockeys - different horses and different races will require different weights. It's in their best interest to be as small as possible to get the most potential rides, since a trainer isn't likely to put a jockey up who is carrying more weight than is required. So you and your saddle weigh 115 lb. The first race requires your mount to carry 120 lbs - you get weights totalling 2 1/2 lbs for each side of your saddle. For the next race your mount has to carry 127 lbs - so you get different weights." So if you and the saddle weighed 124, you could run the second race with 3 lbs added, but even with no weight added, you'd be 4 pounds heaviier than required for the 120 race, and you wouldn't get hired for that.
**(Well, at least they talk that way in golf. But if someone with a handicap of 4 strokes plays a 75, 3 over par, and a guy with a handicap of 2 plays a 74, 2 over par, I've never heard of them subtracting the handicaps and declaring the first one the winner. And it certainly doesn't work that way in tournaments either.
So if one jockey comes in at 160, they just add weight to the others? As long as the maximum is ridiculously low, there will be purging. Maybe a little less for a few, but you'll never see a pot bellied jockey.
Nor did I finf it, but it seems like a way to make thing even.
Logical, but won't happen. If you add 5 or 10 pounds to the max, race times won't be the same, records cannot be compared, etc. Trivial to us, major to the horsie set.
Just like comparing baseball stats with pre-steroid records.
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