'I thought 'I can't do this'. I was so far gone, I just snapped and gave up'
Andrew Dietz talks to a jockey seizing a second chance after weight issues
December is traditionally the month of excess, but Ryan Mania has invested far too much to succumb to temptation.
The jockey, who turned his back on the sport just 18 months after winning the 2013 Grand National on Auroras Encore, has reinvented himself for his comeback, which was going well even before Yorkhill took him to a remarkable new high with his 66-1 win in Saturday's Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle.
It has been just over a year since the Scotsman came out of retirement to ride again, five years on from quitting the saddle following a gruelling battle with the scales, with a strict diet and exercise regime underpinning his fresh approach to riding.
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Published on 29 December 2020inInterviews
Last updated 13:33, 29 December 2020
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- Rod Street: 'Racing spends a lot of time talking to itself in a bubble - we're not blessed with people who inhabit the wider world'
- 'There's a time to be serious because it's a multi-million-pound business - but you've got to have a laugh'
- 'All of us who ply our trade training horses are dreamers - to put so much into it you must have a dream'
- 'There was a moment of rage - but he's a magnificent horse and it suits me that he's passed under the radar'
- When Patrick Mullins met Jack Kennedy: 'You could say I've been lucky - they're just broken bones and they heal'