Racing: Six-footer hopes to stand tall again

At a pencil line under 6 foot (1.82m), Lance Macfarlane is New Zealand's tallest jockey yet he doesn't have to watch what he eats.

In fact, he is so light for such a tall 26-year-old, Macfarlane reckons he could get down to a weight that would allow him to ride on the flat.

The Cambridge-based jumps rider can comfortably make any weight in the jumping game.

"If I starved myself, I'm sure I could ride on the flat, but I don't want to do that. I want to be much more healthy than that."

Macfarlane has ridden only six winners in a short career, but is the form jockey of the moment.

Four of those six have been in the last month. It started with a winning double on Le Pulse and Grande Vue Magic at Te Aroha, followed a week later by a hurdles win with Simple Regal at Ellerslie and on Wednesday at Te Rapa, Macfarlane punched home $105 shot Fredrex.

Yet he is lucky to be alive. Only a couple of hours after the Simply Regal victory at Ellerslie, Macfarlane was riding Aquaria Dancer in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup when disaster struck.

As the field left the centre of the course early in the race a horse in front of Aquaria Dancer smashed into the temporary aluminium running rail covering the course proper.

The movement sprung the rail, a sharp-ended section of which came up and at Aquaria Dancer.

Fortunately for Macfarlane the horse had its head up at the time and took the full force of the impact with the rail on its head.

Had Aquaria Dancer been at the part of his stride where his head would have been down, Macfarlane's head would have been driven into the metal rail.

Macfarlane does not like to dwell on the likely consequences of that impact. "There is not much to remember I saw the rail coming towards us and after that everything happened so quickly."

He knows how fortunate he is.

"That would have been really bad luck ... being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Macfarlane fell in love with jumps riding while working for the Rogerson stable. He said he was schooling a few for the first time and decided jumps were for him.

He worked for Roger James in the Matamata days and moved to Cambridge with James.

He fills any gaps in riding work for the Roger and Sheryl McGlade stable and landed the Le Pulse and Grande Vue Magic wins as a result.

Watch Macfarlane as he goes out on relative outsiders Crown Dancer and Deceit in the Great Northern Hurdles Steeplechase double and marvel at how well he does for someone his height.

Crown Dancer has been racing in novice steeplechase events and will be fit for the 4190m Hurdles.