KEY POINTS:
Last week Australian rider Glen Boss was walking around at 50kg.
He was fit, hard and pared down to where a jockey needs to be.
Stripped off, most would say Boss was skinny. Very.
Then he had to lose 3kg.
Top jockeys can earn almost embarrassing amounts of
money, but when Glen Boss takes Sydney filly Samantha Miss to the start for this afternoon's A$3 million ($3.33 million) Cox Plate he'll know he's earned the right to the A$85,000 jockeys' winning percentage cheque if the filly can defy the odds.
He'll be as close to dehydrated as a human can be and still function at the upper levels.
His system will be weak, but he'll be driven by that remarkable substance that has motivated much of his career - adrenalin.
Having to ride Samantha Miss at 47.5kg today is almost asking the impossible. Almost.
All week he has gone through his own private hell with the bottomless determination that separates top sports stars from the rest of us.
Boss has endured a week of torturous training sessions.
He has set about the task of getting down to his lightest weight since he rode Private Steer at 48kg to win the 2003 Stradbroke Handicap with a single focus.
He has rejected all riding offers this week, including several mounts at Wednesday's rich provincial meeting at Geelong, and has restricted himself to just the one ride on the Moonee Valley programme.
And he's gone to great lengths to convince everyone he will not be too weak to do the job on Samantha Miss.
Jockeys will tell you the adrenalin of the big moment can carry them through for the short duration of one big race when they're physically and emotionally drained from wasting hard.
Boss reduced his fluid intake yesterday to ensure he loses the last few hundred grams but says he is not concerned the lack of fluids may leave him severely dehydrated.
"Even though it looks like being a warm day, that's not a problem," he said.
"If I had four or five rides before the Cox Plate, then it might have been a concern, but I'm only riding the filly.
"As soon as I get back to the jockeys' room I'll be able to have a drink and then get something to eat."
And rather than losing strength during his personal week from hell, Boss said he was fitter than ever.
"If the filly has peaked like I have, then the others had better watch out," he said.
Glen Boss is an adrenaline junkie. As hard as the massive crowd cheered after the great Makybe Diva's third Melbourne Cup victory, it wasn't loud enough for the extroverted Boss.
He'll be asking for the same applause from the capacity crowd that will line the Moonee Valley straight today if he gets Samantha Miss home ahead of the New Zealand queen, Princess Coup.
And he'll have earned it.
- additional reporting AAP
