Lightweight jockey Dean Yendall is off McDonald’s and KFC until after he rides Yankee Rose in the Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
Dean Yendall and Yankee Rose will team up again in the Cox Plate after combining, above, to win the Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
While Yendall said that he would be right today to ride at the feather weight of 47.5kg on the David Vandyke trained filly, he will stay on the fruit and vegies diet until Saturday night.
“Off the chocolate, off the chips, off the Macca’s and KFC,” Yendall told racing.com.
“I have got it down pretty light at the moment and I could probably ride the weight today.”
Yendall has been on a strict diet since Vandyke booked him to ride Yankee Rose in the Cox Plate before the pair stormed home to win the Group 1 $500,000 Moet & Chandon Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on October 8.
“I have just been eating really healthy, as healthy as can be. A lot of fruit and vegies, lean meat, chicken, a bit of fish,” Yendall said.
“So I have to pack my own lunch and my own tea for the way home from the races.”
“There’s no pulling into any servos, only to get a bit of petrol.”
Vandyke decided to take on the best gallopers in the land in the ‘Weight For Age Championship Of Australasia’ after Yankee Rose won the Spring Champion Stakes and will carry 9.5kg less than reigning Cox Plate champion Winx.
Chris Waller’s mighty mare Winx will carry the same weight as multiple Group 1 winning mare Lucia Valentina, 57kg, while the other seven Cox Plate runners will have to carry 59kg under the weight for age scale.
Yankee Rose has recaptured her two year old form that saw he win the Group 1 $1m Inglis Sires’ (1400m) at Randwick during the Sydney Autumn Carnival and shares the third line of betting with French raider Vadamos at $14 for the Cox Plate with Ladbrokes.com.au.
Winx is undefeated at her last twelve starts, including last year’s Cox Plate among eight Group 1 wins and heads the market order at $2 ahead the John O’Shea trained Hartnell at $3.50.
Winx has had a faultless Spring Carnival campaign and heads to Moonee Valley on the back of a last start win Group 1 $600,000 Ladbrokes Caulfield Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on October 8 while Hartnell was also very impressive in winning the Group 1 $500,000 Yellowglen Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 2.
Cox Plate market order at Ladbrokes.com.au: $2 Winx, $3.50 Hartnell, $14 Vadamos, Yankee Rose, $17 Black Heart Bart, $19 Hauraki, $21 Lucia Valentina, $71 Awesome Rock, Happy Clapper, $126 Happy Trails.
