Apprentice jockey Chris Caserta will never forget the sacrifices he has had to make to ride in his first Group 1 race, but he is confident it will be worth it when he jumps aboard 2-year-old Jedastar (I Am Invincible) at 44kg in Saturday's G1 Black Caviar Lightning S.
Caserta has been sweating and fasting for two weeks to lose the 7kg he needs to make the weight aboard the Lloyd Kennewell-trained Jedastar, who is looking to become the first 2-year-old in 43 years to win the weight-for-age sprint.
The former taekwondo national champion has harnessed the discipline of that martial art, plus some dietary tips from some fellow jockeys to make sure he gets his chance in the feature sprint.
"When I saw a few people put up on Twitter that she was going to get 44kg, I messaged Lloyd to say if he was struggling to get anyone to ride her, that I'd be able to do the weight quite comfortably," Caserta told RSN.
Chris Caserta
"I was lucky that there weren't too many riders who could do that weight and it’s been two weeks in preparation to get down and I’m still sitting at 46kg. Two more days of sweating and I should be good as gold for Saturday."
"I was lucky that there weren't too many riders who could do that weight and it’s been two weeks in preparation to get down and I’m still sitting at 46kg." - Chris Caserta
The diet has been pretty straight forward for the 23-year-old, who has been riding in career-best form since transferring to Tony McEvoy's Adelaide base six months ago.
"It’s basically been eating lettuce and celery sticks. I had a bit of kangaroo meat because it’s lean and high in protein the first week, but I've cut all that off now," he said.
"I wake up, go do trackwork. Around lunchtime, I'll have a couple of lettuce leaves, a celery stick and jump in the sauna and have the sweat gear on when I'm going for a walk."
Caserta is adamant the regime is not diminishing his strength.
"I'm doing it in a healthy way, I feel fantastic, and I'll be able to get down to the weight," he said.
"I'm going to have very little saddle, about the size of my hand that will only weigh 100 grams. I want all my gear to be between 0.5kg and 1kg that's including boots and everything, it will be interesting to see."
"I want all my gear to be between 0.5kg and 1kg that's including boots and everything, it will be interesting to see." - Chris Caserta
It’s a rarity these days to see jockeys needing to go through what Caserta is in order to get down to extreme minimum weights.
The last 2-year-olds to contest the Lightning S. were Bugatty (Dreamscape) (eighth) and Boomwaa (Mutawaajid) (tenth) in 2014, with Dean Holland and Dean Yendall, respectively having to get down to 46kg to ride.
In Zoe's footsteps
In 1993 an 18-year-old Stephen Baster got down to 44kg to ride Clever Zoe (NZ) (Pompeii Court {USA}) for John Leek Jr in the Lightning.
Reflecting on that ride a few years ago, Baster said he was faced with wasting for the first time in his life.
“I reckon I would have been walking around probably 47 kilos at the time and she had 43 kilos but I rode her one over at 44,” Baster said.
“I think I only had a week’s notice and I’d never dieted or wasted in my life, so I had to try and drop four kilos in a week, which is a hell of a lot."
Jockey Stephen Baster with Anthony Mithen
“But I did it OK. Obviously it would have dropped off me pretty quickly because I’d never done it before and I don’t remember feeling too bad.”
Baster and Clever Zoe almost pulled off the upset, leading nearly all the way before the great Schillaci (Salieri {USA}) emerged late to win the race for a second consecutive year.
“She flew along in front at a 100-miles-an-hour and the mighty Schillaci came up alongside me and got me probably at the 100m mark,” Baster said. “She did a good job."
“I haven’t seen many 2-years-olds like her. She was more like a three-year-old, she was a big strong thing and she was quite mature for a 2-year-old.”
Before Clever Zoe, you have to go back to 1980 to find a 2-year-old filly in the race, with Century Love (Century) finishing 12th.
Desirable and Miracle a Lightning combination
Four years prior, Colin Hayes' Desirable (Without Fear (Fr)) became just the third 2-year old ever to win the race, giving a young Malcolm Johnston what was then his biggest winner as a jockey.
"I could tell Colin was very, very confident,'' Johnston told Fairfax in 2014. ''And while it was a big occasion for me, I knew if she [Desirable] was as good as her record said, I would only have to steer her in the right direction, and carrying just 43 kilos, they wouldn't beat her.''
She led all the way, just holding off the late charge of Leica Show (NZ) (Showdown {GB}), ridden by Roy Higgins.
Colin and David Hayes in 1989
''We hit the line together and while we were racing head and head, I thought I had just beaten Higgins who, by the way, I had only ever read about and knew they called him the Professor,'' Johnston said.
''But once the number came up I thought, you beauty. It was my first real big race win and I was at Flemington."
But the race wasn't over just yet and Higgins took a protest to the stewards.
"Did Roy make me earn it?! I was off the scales in seconds when the siren went and I could hear the clerk of scales calling 'protest'," Johnston said.
"Higgins started giving evidence and at the end of it he had even convinced me that I should not only lose the race but my licence as well." - Malcolm Johnston
"Higgins started giving evidence and at the end of it he had even convinced me that I should not only lose the race but my licence as well."
''But thank God the film showed I was not going mad and the stipes dismissed it.''
Third in that race was another 2-year-old filly, Flaunting (Showdown {GB}).
The only other two 2-year-olds to win the Lightning were the filly Ritmar (Star Kingdom {Ire}) in 1959 and the colt Misting (Meadow Mist (GB)) in 1958.
In the 61 years since Misting's win, not one of the 15 colts or geldings to contest the Lightning S. have placed.
Ready to defy history
So there is a bit of history against Caserta, Kennewell and Jedastar, but there is no lack of confidence in her prospects of causing an upset.
She was impressive winning over the Flemington 1000m on New Year's Day, before finishing second to Catch Me (I Am Invincible) in the Blue Diamond Preview last month.
"It would be good if she did what she did first start, take the rail and hopefully keep going," Caserta said.
"Lloyd's very confident that she’ll run a very nice race, especially with the weight advantage that she's got. I spoke to Joe Bowditch and he's over the moon with the way she has been and the way she has come through her last run."
Saturday's race is expected to be dominated by the 3-year-olds, with the filly Sunlight (Zoustar) currently favourite, and Graff (Star Witness), Lean Mean Machine (Zoustar) and Written By (Written Tycoon) all afforded chances.
However, it has been 14 years since a 3-year old, Fastnet Rock, won the race.
