Tom Marquand on how use of fitness tracker has improved his performances in the saddle

Tom Marquand has explained how he is utilising a health tracker to maintain his level of performance both in and out of the saddle. 

Marquand attracted attention last weekend when posting data on social media from the health tracker, named Whoop, which showcased his heart-rate levels before, during and after last week’s Bunbury Cup victory at Newmarket aboard More Thunder.

Marquand showed how his heart rate fluctuated at different stages of the race, with the figure peaking at 173 beats per minute in the final stages as the favourite defeated Aalto by a nose.

Marquand has owned a Whoop – a wearable fitness and health tracker that focuses on insights into sleep, recovery, and strain – for just over two years and believes the benefits have helped him continue at the top of his game.

He said: "When it comes to training, recovery and knowing where you're at, it's amazing and I love it. I train, cycle and run a lot, and it's probably changed the way I operate a bit.

"With my training, it teaches me when I can squeeze a bit more and when I have to take a little step back to make sure I recover well.

"The last few days I've been recovering well but today the data was down, so I rode out one lot and instead of going on the bike or running, I just backed off and used the hot tub and sauna instead of going out and grafting for longer."

The data Tom Marquand shared on his social media pagesCredit: Tom Marquand

As well as monitoring his fitness, Marquand finds the data useful when he travels abroad on holiday or for international rides.

He said: "When it came to May, I'd been on 36 flights and 24 of them were long haul. Sometimes you get off the plane thinking you've got everything right, but four hours later you'd feel it and you'd wake up the next day and your data would be cooked. It gives you a heads up and it's adjusted my approach to those long trips."

In the moments after More Thunder's victory, Marquand was able to significantly lower his heart rate to 120bpm, which is crucial on a busy day of riding.

He added: "It's all to do with fitness and the fluctuation is what you want to see. You want to see that heart rate drop because that's recovery and it's what makes you go out and ride in the next race without feeling any ill-effects.

"I'd be guilty of going all out on a bike or a run as it's your competitive side, but the band makes you alter it a little bit to make sure you're not all out all the time as there's no benefit to it."

Marquand is not the only jockey in the weighing room to sport the device. His wife Hollie Doyle also has one, while champion jumps jockey Sean Bowen took to X recently to explain that Fairlawn Flyer's victory last month produced a heart rate of 189bpm.

Marquand added: "It was amazing to see Sean's stats. His heart rate hit 189 and I found that interesting because it wasn't common in jumps racing as you're going for longer.

"On the Flat you're hitting high 180s quite a lot, so I think the Whoop showcases the physicality of riding on the Flat, while you can also track the fitter you get. I don't check it all the time after the races, but throughout the day I find it interesting."

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