Piss pills, champagne, cigars and hot boxes’: exploring the culture of horseracing and its impact on attitudes towards extreme weight loss techniques

This study looked to explore horseracing culture and its relationship with attitudes towards extreme weight loss techniques within the horseracing industry. Of interest was the history of extreme weight loss methods and also the cultural factors which may influence a jockey in choosing to use them. A thematic, narrative analysis was conducted on two autobiographies of professional flat jockeys, Richard Hughes and Frankie Dettori. Relevant data extracted from the autobiographies was analysed and categorised into higher-order themes. Analysis revealed that both jockeys held a strongly negative view regarding their weight loss experiences and appeared to attribute these feelings to 5 main factors; addiction (drugs and alcohol vs sport), external pressure, follow the leader, media influence, internal battle. Within each of these factors came a strong presence of a cultural influence on the jockey’s attitudes towards weight loss. As a result of the present findings, it is recommended that the governing bodies of horseracing provide more support to jockeys through the monitoring of the use of extreme weight loss techniques and education on how to make weight safely. Introduction an