Racegoers at Kranji in recent weeks would have noticed a leaner Vlad Duric going about his business.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
The Australian jockey has shed around 6kg in that time and will this weekend ride at lightest weight in almost two years.
The effort put in by Duric was rewarded with a four-timer last Sunday which included victory aboard Flying Fulton in the Group 3 $200,000 Committee's Prize over 1600m.
He also landed his 200th Singapore winner during the day, a feat that had him beaming with pride.
It was a little over five weeks ago that a different Duric who would turn up for race riding of a weekend, but a strict diet has not only freshened his mind but sparked a new enthusiasm.
Where it was a struggle to ride 55kg before his transformation, Duric has his weight well and truly under control and will ride at 51.5kg this weekend.
Into his third year in Singapore, Duric has only once ridden that light, when finishing second aboard Given Vision in the 2009 Singapore Gold Cup.
On that occasion he sweated his way down to 51.5kg which left him feeling drained and weak, but after riding 52.5kg on Sunday and shedding an extra 1kg for the upcoming weekend he feels strong as he has gone about his weight loss the right way.
Two suspensions on top of each other in the middle of the year which saw him sidelined for eight meetings was a dampener for the jockey who struggled in the aftermath until he finally woke up a realised his career was at the crossroads.
“I had a really bad weekend about five weeks ago,” said Duric. “I had been really struggling with my weight, mentally I wasn't right and for a jockey I was carrying too much condition.
“I would wake up on a Monday morning weighing 58 or 59kg, sometimes even 60kg and then sweat down to 55kg for rides over the weekend.
“It got to the stage where I wasn't enjoying my riding and it's then that I decided I needed to bite the bullet and do something about it.”
With the help of wife Storm, Duric has been eating a lot healthier and actually exercising less than he was before trying to keep his weight in check.
“I said to Storm that I needed some help if I was going to get my weight under control,” said Duric.
“Without her help I doubt whether I could have done it. She's been there the whole way through, preparing everything for me and making sure I was not swaying off the mark.
“The first two weeks were the most difficult breaking the bad habits, but once I got through that it has got a lot easier.
“Before I was exercising and not eating right where as now I have cut down my food intake and at the same time cut down on the exercise.
“I feel healthy and well and also a lot fitter which can only be a benefit in the long term.
“I haven't been going out for dinner and my career and body are going super at the moment and Sunday's results were the reward for all the good work.”
Having done the hard yards in getting his weight under control, Duric said his goal was to keep his weight in check and to try and ride as light as possible for as long as possible.
“My goal when I started was to try and get down to 51.5kg and to stick to it,” said Duric. “This is a good opportunity for me and being able to ride the full weight scale may see me ride an extra 20 winners a year.”
Sunday's 200th winner in Singapore was a goal he set at the start of last week, and a feat he is extremely proud of.
“It was certainly nice to get that out of the way,” said Duric. “It's something that I can hang my hat on.
“I'm on target to beat last year's numbers where I had 80 winners for the year and if I can do that then I'd be over the moon.”
Duric is looking forward to the return to racing of Gingerbread Man which has been earmarked to start in the Group 2 EW Barker Trophy over 1400m in November.
The four-year-old entire provided Duric with his biggest success in Singapore when he took out the Group 1 Singapore Guineas over 1600m in May, the final leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge.
“To win the whole series on him was very satisfying,” said Duric. “He's a horse that I'm really looking forward to getting back on and I think there are some really nice races in store for him as well.”
