'You won't be a jockey, you're obese' - how a legendary owner gave young Johnny Burke the wake-up call he needed

Johnny Burke has revealed that some blunt home truths from Denman's legendary joint-owner Paul Barber provided the wake-up call he badly needed to forge a career as a jockey.

Burke, fresh from Grade 1 success at Ascot last month on Crambo, was speaking to the Racing Post for a major interview in Sunday's newspaper in which he discussed getting chances too soon in Ireland, building relationships in Britain and a magical childhood around horses, albeit one blighted by tragedy.

The 28-year-old, son of trainer Liam Burke, always felt it was his destiny to become a rider, but he now admits that was somewhat "delusional" given his weight as a youngster. Enter Barber, for whom his father trained horses of the calibre of Big Fella Thanks and Valley Henry before they went into training with Paul Nicholls.

"There were horses at home, Dad was a trainer and I thought I was just going to be a jockey," said Burke. "It didn't cross my mind that I had to make the scales.

"Dad had trained a winner for Mr Barber point-to-pointing and the following day he was in the yard and said, 'Young man, what do you want to be when you're older?' I was only 12 and told him I wanted to be a jockey, completely oblivious. And he replied, 'You won't be a jockey, you're obese.'"

Burke credits Barber's bluntness with providing the kick he needed to turn himself into the jockey who would go on to secure one of the most coveted jobs in Irish racing as a teenager when he became the retained jockey to big-spending owners Ann and Alan Potts.

"From that day I started running and watching my weight," he added. "I was over ten stone at the time but by the time I was 16 I could ride at 8st 12lb. You probably couldn't say something like that in this day and age but that was the wake-up call I needed."

Read more from Johnny Burke in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

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