Shaun McGruddy aboard Watch Me Dance at Ascot Racecourse, 21 November 2020
Popular local jockey Shaun McGruddy faces the unenviable mission of bringing his weight down to a remarkable 50kg to ride 3-year-old filly Watch Me Dance in the 2020 PeopleStart-Kingston Town Classic.
As someone who is naturally light, Shaun describes the task as “a challenge that will get harder towards the end of the week”, as he pushes his body to its limit and drops his weight to rock bottom.
McGruddy, who tips the scales at an average of 55kg throughout the year, will have to shed over 9% of his body weight in the next 5 days to take the ride.
So, we asked, ‘what’s on the menu?’
The answer – “No bread, no pasta, mainly small portions of fish for dinner this week and a little bit of chicken; basically, just eat and drink less and sweat a bit more than normal.”
The last two editions of the Kingston Town Classic have been won by 3 year old fillies, Arcadia Queen (2018) and Kay Cee (2019), and Shaun McGruddy this week makes the same sacrifices as William Pike and Steven Parnham in recent years as he chases Group One Glory aboard Watch Me Dance, the all ladies owned filly, taking Perth Racing by storm.