Kevin Stott’s William Hill blog: All jockeys want saunas back

William Hill ambassador and leading jockey Kevin Stott gives his thoughts on the BHA’s decision to ban saunas from racecourses.

There’s been a lot of discussion around the banning of saunas at racecourses lately, and I for one am pleased that it’s been brought back around.

When the issue has been discussed in the past, we didn’t have the same extent of experience without them as we do now, and we know what the effects are now.

Personally, I need to sweat pretty much every day to be riding at the correct weights. I actually feel better after a sweat and feel that my riding improves for it. Because of this, the saunas being removed from the racecourses has really upset my routine. Nowadays, I have to find a hotel near the racecourse and use a sauna there – which is expensive – or find a way to do it at home, way ahead of time. It’s very frustrating for all of us and seems very unfair.

Sweating weight off in a sauna is much faster than doing so in a hot bath or a sweatsuit on a run, and your body does get used to it after a while, so you’re not unable to function properly by any means. What’s dangerous is sweating first then driving to the races tired and dehydrated.

The medical staff took away the saunas in the interests of safety, which I do understand, but they’ve inadvertently made people less safe by making them take matters into their own hands at home, in an uncontrolled, unsupervised environment. How contradictory is that?!

Nobody knows how serious this is better than all the jockeys, and we are all in agreement, which speaks volumes. The bottom line is that we want saunas back at racecourses. A perfect example of how important the issue is when Neil Callan had to be taken off one of his rides at Goodwood last week because he just needed to take the last fraction of a pound off, but couldn’t because of the lack of an on-course sauna. 20 minutes and he’d have been in the saddle that day.

I hope this will be reconsidered and the jockeys’ wellbeing is properly considered. By no means do we want saunas back so that we can abuse them, trying to take half a stone off ourselves or anything silly; it’s the fine margins that they are useful for. You can shave off half a pound or a pound in a sauna quickly, easily and safely, and it’s here that they have a huge impact.