Age shall not weary them

Kevin Darley: no intention of easing down in his forties

By BBC Sport Online's Sophie Brown

Apart from bowls - not the most strenuous of events - Flat racing is probably the only sport whose champions are regularly older than 40.

For unlike the majority of sportsmen and women - including jump jockeys - a significant proportion of top Flat jockeys are in their 40s and 50s.

Last year Kevin Darley discovered life began at 40 when he won his first jockey's title.

So how do these jockeys manage to stay at the top of the game?

Life in the fast lane

Are they addicted to the glamour of the jockey's life - lying around in saunas, regularly bumping into the Queen at work, enjoying the cigar and champagne diet that Lester Piggott was reputed to employ.

The Lester Piggott diet is much more effective.

Unlikely because the other side of the coin is living off black coffee and dry toast, getting up at dawn to ride out and sweating the pounds off to the point of dizziness.

Even if they have the mental desire to keep going, how is it physically possible when most other sportsmen are forced to call it a day at a much younger age?

"Despite the strict regimes they have to follow, a jockey's activity is not as stressful on the body as say, a footballer's," says fitness trainer Tania Fernandes.

"Footballers need cardiovascular fitness and endurance whereas a jockey needs strength rather than stamina."

This partly explains why jump jockeys usually retire no later than their mid-30s.