Yendall sheds the kilos for Cox Plate ride
No doubt Nick Hall envies Dean Yendall.
Hall endured a week from hell to ride Caulfield Cup winner Jameka at 52.5kg last Saturday.
A week later and Yendall has to strip down to 47.5kg to ride three-year-old filly Yankee Rose in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.
While Hall’s food intact was minimal, Yendall has simply reverted to healthy eating to lose the kilograms.
Yankee Rose gave Yendall his first Group One win in the Spring Champion Stakes on October 8 and he has partnered the filly in gallops at Moonee Valley in preparation for Saturday’s race.
Yendall’s wife Christine Puls, a fellow jockey, says her husband has been dedicated in his effort to ride the filly at the correct weight.
Puls, and the couple’s daughter Mia, were at Moonee Valley for Yankee Rose’s final hit-out on Tuesday morning and she said Yendall has shed the weight fairly easily.
“We’ve cut out the junk food and really he’s eating nice meals,” Puls said.
“Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between.
“He was standing at 47.6 kilograms on Sunday and that was stripped after a breakfast of bacon and eggs.
“So he’s doing it pretty easy, but he is dedicated to it.”
Puls said the long hours travelling the state from their home in Horsham in country Victoria takes a toll, especially on their eating habits where truck stops can be the scene of an evening meal.
She said city living would make life easier but that would mean having to give up their favoured country lifestyle.
After Yendall worked Yankee Rose at Moonee Valley the family headed to the car for the journey home to Horsham, a drive of around 3-1/2 hours.
But along the way they stopped over for work at Tuesday’s Stawell meeting where Yendall and Puls finished one-two respectively in the fourth race of the day.
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