A muddied Piere Strydom during a jockey international when he represented SA
South African champion jockey Piere Strydom has tipped S’manga Khumalo to win the champion jockey title this season and has also added that he feels Khumalo is not guilty of the charges against him arising out of the Supertube incident late last year.
With the brilliant Strydom having resigned himself to a placed finish in the championship this season, he said that it was an obvious two horse race now between Khumalo and Richard Fourie.
“They are both talented guys. But with S’manga’s current double figure advantage, it makes things very difficult for Richard with just about eight weeks left. Basically, S’manga would have to stop riding winners. And I can’t see that happening. He has good support from many stables,” he said.
Strydom added that Fourie’s one hope is Fairview and the Snaith stable support.
“Justin has a powerful string and Richard could pick up four winners with ease on an average raceday with their strike rate. That is his outside chance.”
On the issue of Khumalo’s sixty day suspension and finding that he had failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures to ensure Supertube was given a full opportunity to obtain the best possible placing on debut at the Vaal in November 2013, Strydom said that he thought it a tough call and that it would ‘fall away.
S’Manga Khumalo not guilty in Striker’s opinion
“I don’t feel he should be found guilty. When riding a first timer that stumbles twice, the first thing a jockey is going to think is that something may be amiss and possibly ease up. I know and understand the rules, but at the end of the day one needs to take a holistic view. Whatever happens, I doubt it will affect his title aspirations and I hope things turn out for the broader good of the game.”
Strydom rode at Kenilworth on Saturday, and picked up a winner, two seconds and a third from six rides.
“I owed Justin a favour from last year so went down for the afternoon. It was windy but it was enjoyable.”
Strydom said that he would be riding for Alan Greeff at Fairview this coming Friday.
“It is a similar arrangement with Alan while Greg Cheyne is away in Malaysia.”
Strydom was in great form at Turffontein on Sunday, outgunning Richard Fourie in a fascinating duel to win on Brass Verdict for Gavin Van Zyl.
Veteran trainer Ormond Ferraris seems to be a big fan of the Striker Citizen column
But we noted that veteran trainer Ormond Ferraris was quite vocal after his charge Shayna had won the seventh race.
Striker had tipped Shayna as his best bet in his Citizen column.
“Maybe we should ask Strydom in future. He seems to know more than me,” quipped the veteran in typically laconic fashion.
We asked Piere what that was all about.
“I know that Mr Ferraris is big on the jinx factor of newspapers tipping his horses. But I can judge from his post race comment that he is obviously a regular reader of my column and having people of his stature following my writing makes it all worthwhile,’ he said.
In closing, we asked Piere what he was hoping to ride in the Vodacom Durban July?
“Sean Tarry has been very good to me. I really value his loyalty and support and I thus would probably be leaning towards the likes of Pomodoro. But there is still plenty of water to flow under the bridge still. So let’s see how things go this coming weekend,” he said.
