Jockey turned head lad at Fergal O’Brien Racing explains why heart monitors and data will lead to safer and faster racing and how the numbers often confirm what horse whisperers have sensed.
Watch the full chat with Max Kendrick below:
Max Kendrick is head lad at Fergal O’Brien’s yard near Cheltenham. He used to ride horses and now he trains them. Not a unique bio on the surface of it, but he is breaking new ground in how he conditions horses and the technology he uses to inform their preparation and their races.
In particular, Kendrick is pioneering the use of heart rate monitors during races to improve horse welfare, safety and performance.
“By no means do I think I’m being clever, it’s something that I think could be a real asset and really push forward, especially in this landscape we’re in of horse welfare, which we all care about in this industry,” Kendrick told Sport and Life.
Kendrick became a visible history maker in this area last year. He rode Ted’s Friend at Plumpton as the horse became the first to wear a heart monitor while competing under the Rules of Racing on a British racecourse.
Kendrick says tracking the horses’ state in this way takes a lot of guess work or hunches out of the equation. Is a horse healthy? What’s their recovery like since the last race? How hard should he or she be ridden on the gallops?
Fundamentally heart monitors help humans get a better understanding of horses.
“It takes a lot of subjectivity out of it because it’s not just the heart rates. You’ve got times… there’s lot of very talented horse men and women, but you can now just say ‘it’s a fact.’”
Kendrick’s been cheered to find the data often confirms what the horse whisperers of the yard already sensed. But he says the key is the tech doesn’t have off days.
“Quite often it backs up what these really talented horse people are feeling or seeing in the horse. But they could be suffering from a cold or flu and their judgement might be off.
“You start building a bank of data. You think this horse is going well and its recovering well, but actually the times aren’t up to scratch.”
Kendrick also says the monitoring gives insight into how horses emotionally and psychologically deal with big occasions like The Cheltenham Festival.
“You might see a young horse that hasn’t been to the races before and you see all that nervous energy and that apprehension. So the mental aspect of it. You can kind of gauge all of that.”
Kendrick is self-deprecating and repeatedly down plays what he’s doing as “not ground breaking.” But he was invited to speak at a sports science event for those involved in thoroughbred racing in Hong Kong earlier in the year so is generating a recognition and respect that wasn’t so forthcoming in his days in the saddle.
But while Kendrick didn’t dazzle as a jockey, he believes his focus on monitoring his own conditioning in his riding days sparked his desire to document horses’ physical states.
“I was by no means the most talented jockey when I rode. And thought I had to work really hard. And one of the things I did a lot was work on my fitness and I constantly monitored that.
“And I think there’s so much that can be learned from other sports and other sports are so keen to learn from each other, like Eddie Jones (ex England rugby coach) watching Man City train.”
For more on Fergal O’Brien Racing: https://www.fergalobrienracing.co.uk/
