“I didn’t ask Jimmy Byrne if he would take the ride in the Stradbroke. Jimmy said he wanted to ride him”, said trainer Desleigh Forster, the trainer of Apache Chase who earned a golden ticket into the Stradbroke Handicap with his win in the Fred Best.
That choice took Byrne on an immediate, hard and fast, two-week training regime to get his weight down to a light enough weight to be able to take the ride on Apache Chase, who has been allocated 49.5kg for Queensland biggest race.
The immediate target is 50.5kg where Byrne would ride 1kg overweight, an option Forster is more than happy with given the value Byrne’s knowledge of Apache Chase, his affinity with the horse and his all-around expertise brings to the ride. Byrne has ridden Apache Chase in all of his last three runs.
“I started working on my weight straight away,” said Byrne.
‘I was never going to be silly about it and think that I could lose it all in one day, but the two weeks from the Fred Best to the Stradbroke is a perfect time period to allow me to get the job done.
“As it is now, with ten days to go, I am at 52.5kg. By this Saturday I will be down to 51.5kg. That will leave me with a whole week of just doing my normal thing … and that is what I want to do
“Because I have picked up the workload … things like swimming and walking … I’m swimming 2.5km a day … that, in itself, is really good for your body.
“I just want to make sure I do it the right way.
‘I think the horse warrants it and Desleigh deserves it,” said Byrne with conviction.
Forster, for her part, never doubted Byrne’s resolve to make the weight.
“You know if Jimmy says he will do it, he will do it,” said Forster.
Game On!
