While he is disappointed to be leaving Mauritius after his contract was terminated by mutual agreement, multiple SA champion jockey Piere Strydom says that he is looking forward to returning home to his family.
Piere Strydom (pic: hamishNIVENPhotography)
Strydom took up a contract with the powerful Rameshwar Gujadhur yard in May and rode ten winners and twelve seconds from 51 rides.
At an inquiry this week, he was found guilty of failing to ride Man From Seattle to the satisfaction of the Stewards in the second race on 20 June.
He was suspended for 6 days (or six weeks equivalent in SA) and fined Rs 50,000 – the latter sum is the equivalent of approximately ZAR20 700.
The veteran jockey told the Sporting Post on Tuesday that he was taking a philosophical approach to matters and would probably fly home next week.
Strydom rewrote the record books when he became the first South African jockey to ride 5000 winners, that milestone achieved in the Selangor Cup on Act Of War on 22 November 2014 at Kenilworth.
He has six SA championship titles to his credit.
One of our greatest jockeys of all time, Striker told the Sporting Post in an interview some years ago that he would probably consider retiring by the time he turns 55 on 7 June 2021.
