Horse Racing Fans - Don't Miss Special on HBO Monday Night.

Monday night at 8PM EDT. on HBO be sure to catch America Undercover special "Jockey".

It is known as "the sport of kings," but for many of the jockeys who risk their short- and long-term health in the saddle, thoroughbred horse racing is the sport of owners and trainers. This film from director Kate Davis (HBO's Southern Comfort) reveals the stories of three jockeys: injured rider Shane Sellers who is attempting a comeback, young apprentice Chris Rosier who is trying to make his mark, and once-invincible jockey Randy Romero who is fighting for his life due to kidney and liver failure. Shot over the course of two years, the film details the sacrifices they've made to make it in this high-stakes, high-risk business--including forced starvation due to the impossibly low weight limits imposed at many top tracks.

wil.

Thanks for the heads up.

This show is the anti-Seabiscuit type of program. SBiscuit was a good movie but mostly feel good stuff. "Jockey" is supposed to be a real (at times brutal) look into a jockey's day to day life.


wil.

Sounds like a good show. I dont have HBO though. Poor is a way of life.

bump - for racing fans - show airs in an hour.


wil.

Thanks Wil,will def check out.

Very good documentary.What a tough way to earn a living.People have no clue how dangerous a job it is.

shit. i missed it.

If anyone cares the show will air several more times.

HBO - Schedule



wil.

Outstanding
AS Good As Any Show About Pro Atheltes AS One
Will Ever See. It Makes One Really Realize How Spoiled The Atheletes From All Other Sports Really Are.
Will Watch Again

Shane Sellars is one tough athelete. You have to admire his tenacity. While a little boring in stretches (duck hunting ??) excellent documentary overall.


wil.

Tough way to make a living.
I do not understand why the weight minimums aren't raised. It would make the sport easier on the riders and remove a black eye to the sport.
I guess the blueblooded assholes that run the game want it this way.

so it was good?

Very good!

I can only imagine what bad money even the top riders make at the shittier tracks, Fairmount park or detroit or places like this. Its tough enough to make a living at Churchill, but those places it must be downright impossible with the meagers purses they give away.

NOT a good way to make a living thats for sure.

Why is the dumbass "sport" legal and sports betting isn't?
If sports betting were legal in the entire 50 states I would guarantee that horse racing would fade faster than ....something that fades really fast.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Rider Shane Sellers and trainer D. Wayne Lukas squared off separately on the issue of minimum weight limits for jockeys Tuesday, a day after a cable television documentary aired about the damaging weight-loss habits of jockeys.

Sellers was one of three riders featured in the HBO film ''Jockey,'' which detailed the effects of self-induced vomiting, lengthy sauna sessions and use of diuretics, laxatives and stimulants by the riders.

Lukas didn't appear in the documentary, but he was critical of Sellers' efforts to get racetracks to raise the minimum weight limits for riders. They vary from track to track.

''If you're a jockey, you should be small,'' said Lukas, who doesn't have a horse in Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

''Anything Shane Sellers says, I wouldn't take too seriously,'' he said, declining to elaborate outside his barn at Churchill Downs.

The Hall of Fame trainer suggested the racing industry has enough trouble filling races and keeping thoroughbreds physically sound as it is.

''If we started adding weight to them every day, we'll have more problems,'' Lukas said.

Sellers, who will ride The Cliff's Edge in the Derby, took issue with an interview he said Lukas did in which the trainer said he didn't care what riders do to maintain their weight.

''He showed he never had any compassion for riders and he never will,'' said Sellers, who spoke separately from Lukas. ''Wayne says if you don't have the body to do it, then you shouldn't do it. Well, there wouldn't be enough riders to make one racetrack.''

Sellers agreed to participate in the HBO film to show the private struggle many jockeys endure to maintain riding weights of 110 to 117 pounds.

''We're not asking them to raise the top, we're asking them to raise the bottom and be healthy,'' he said. ''The majority of us riders have 2 or 3 percent body fat. Any doctor will tell you that's cannibalizing your body. We just want to be healthy.''

Sellers said he informally polled the jockeys at Churchill Downs recently to see who favors increasing the minimum weight limit.

''There's not one who's not in favor of raising the weights,'' he said.

However, Lukas said raising the minimum would not stop riders from abusing their bodies by vomiting and spending hours in a sauna. He suggested exercise riders, some of whom weigh up to 150 pounds, would then start reducing in the hopes of becoming jockeys if the weight limits are increased.

''There's no common sense in that logic at all,'' he said, referring to Sellers' proposal.

Lukas said he employs exercise riders who weigh 105 to 120 pounds.

Sellers rides at 117 pounds four more than he used to. However, he said he doesn't vomit anymore nor does he use diuretics or Lasix, which causes riders to urinate as a way to drop water weight.

''I do hit the (sweat) box every day, but at least I can eat something in the morning,'' he said.

Sellers wants to see jockeys be able to weigh no less than 116 or 117 pounds.

''If that's detrimental to horses, why do they put 126 pounds on the horses in the Derby and the Preakness and the Belmont?'' he said. ''It's time to stop listening to guys like Wayne Lukas.''


wil.

What a complete asshole Wayne Lukas is, if you watched that show last night you could only agree. The guy couldn't give a shit about the jockeys

The show (Jockey) really should open some eyes. Most Racing insiders were aware of the problem already, but have said nothing, now the average fan has some idea what goes on behind the scene. IMO. Sellers is right about 3 pounds at the bottom not making any difference to the overall health of throughbreds. Lucas the multi-millionaire is in part where he is because of great riders. I can't believe he would be opposed to anything that would make life a bit easier for any jockey.


wil.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brock Landers:
Very good!

I can only imagine what bad money even the top riders make at the shittier tracks, Fairmount park or detroit or places like this. Its tough enough to make a living at Churchill, but those places it must be downright impossible with the meagers purses they give away.

NOT a good way to make a living thats for sure.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
No wonder we hear about "BOAT" races. These guys need to feed their families.