Sweat One Kilo

Horse racing is all about big money, prestige and fast horses. But it's also about being thirsty.

In the fall of 2023, I visited the Hoppegarten racetrack near Berlin, Germany, to photograph their weigh-in procedure and to learn more about this intrinsic, but overlooked, aspect of racing. As race day approaches, a jockey’s focus on weight becomes an obsession. Athletes move beyond calorie restriction and spend hours in a sauna, deny themselves all hydration in the days before a race, and wrap themselves in plastic suits to “sweat one kilo.”

I captured these photos as the jockeys sat in the weighing chair, before and after the race. Weeks and months of training coalesce as the subjects display the pressure to perform, a steely focus, and a palpable tension. The mouth is dry, the head hurts. Concentration is difficult, and dizziness is common. The only important thing is the number on the scale.