3 minute read

Popular weighing room figure Adam Kirby has confirmed he has taken a break from race riding with the aim of returning to the saddle next year.

Adam Kirby, who landed the 2021 Epsom Derby on Adayar for trainer Charlie Appleby, has had just five winners from seventy-one rides this season and has made it no secret the removal of racecourse saunas has affected his ongoing weight battle.

Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast, Kirby said: "At the moment I've just taken a break because no saunas and losing the weight allowance made everything harder.

"I was in a little battle trying to keep the weight down and decided then to just have a little time out and hopefully we'll regroup and get the show back on the road in the near future, hopefully.

"I put on quite a lot of weight quickly. You stick yourself to the sword so to speak, obviously, I'm quite tall, and I have put on quite a bit of weight but not as much as I thought I would. So, it still can happen.

"Hopefully now my body is a lot healthier and I'm eating and doing things properly, when I start training again the weight will come off."

Kirby has ridden 1927 winners in Great Britain since embarking on his career in the saddle back in 2004 and admits that getting to 2000 would be a something of a milestone achievement for him.

He added: "I'd like to get to 2000 winners I'm not that far away from it and I'd like to do that for my kids. Hopefully we'll come back, get to the 2000 and that'll be a good enough achievement for me.

"It's a very hard thing when you've done it for that many years to let go of it and I don't think I'm ready to let go at the moment.

"I'm sort of thinking we'll get most of the winter out of the way, get the Christmas dinner out the way and after that try and regroup and try to get ready to go again."