Piere Strydom

South African horseracing proudly honours its favourite son as one of the world’s greatest modern era jockeys stands on the brink of an extraordinary 5000 winner milestone.

The quietly spoken blonde bomber has come a long way from his humble good old-fashioned horseracing roots in Port Elizabeth 48 years ago.

And with typical humility, Piere Strydom will celebrate this glorious achievement with family, friends and the racing community at his restaurant, the Country Pizzeria on the Old Vereeniging Road.

Without doubt the most prolific South African jockey in history, Striker and now Australia-based Jeff Lloyd are the only riders from this country to have ridden more than 4000 winners and his 5000 winner mark will launch him into a rarified atmosphere where mere adjectives and syrupy superlatives degenerate into meaningless waffle.

He is now the unquestioned best!

Speaking to the Sporting Post on the eve of the Vaal meeting this past Tuesday, Striker said that the 5000 winner mark would leave him with only one remaining goal in his professional life:

“I rode 72 of those 5000 winners overseas. So I need to get to 5072 and then I am going to take a step back,” he said.

Does that mean he will be retiring?

“Not immediately but I need to do less travelling and take less pressure. Some guys can go past the age of 50 but the rigours of race-riding takes its toll on the body and the mind. If I did go on, it would only be because I had no choice,” he said honestly.

“Even this 5000 goal has been a pressure. Claudia (my fiance’) is on standby again today. If I ride a winner then she is jumping into the car and driving all the way to the Vaal. We want to share the moment as a family,” he said.

Young Family

Piere said that he also wanted time to enjoy his young family.

His sons Oliver (30 months) and Sebastian (18 months) kept him busy and demanded his time and attention. But he added that fatherhood at a relatively advanced age held many positives.

“Gee, I felt it last week in Sun City when we spent a few days with the jockey teams. My one son doesn’t sleep at all. It is tough!” he laughed.

Piere owns the Country Pizzeria which is managed by Claudia.

Will he devote more time to that venture or stay in horseracing?

“I would really like to find a role in horseracing where I can utilise my experience and expertise.I do not intend ever training racehorses though,” he said firmly.

A Genius

The six-times national champion jockey is the complete rider.

He won his sixth Championship in the 2012/2013 season, his first since the 2000/2001 season. He had 942 rides for 211 wins; a strike rate of 22, 4% and his win/place strike rate was 59, 34%.

Talking of another possible championship this year, he said, “It is very hard to go for it every year, as we are not robots and to maintain the travel is very tough, although fortunately I always seem to be in a position in the latter part of the season to have a go.”

Strydom has singled out his father ‘Hekkie’ as having had the biggest influence on his career.

Hekkie was a trainer in Port Elizabeth and consequently Piere virtually grew up in the saddle and started riding work for his father long before he joined the South African Jockey’s Academy.

He quickly gained a reputation for his dramatic finishes from way off the pace and as a result acquired the nickname “Striker”.

Big Name

Strydom first became a household name in the late 1980s after moving to Johannesburg in the wake of the Hennenman disaster and finished second on the log in the 1989/1990 season.

Strydom recalls the two occasions in which he has ridden seven winners a day, as well the first of his three Vodacom Durban July wins on London News and also his win on J J The Jet Plane in a Gr 1 sprint in Hong Kong as his most memorable days.

Strydom has also ridden in Hong Kong, Australia, the UK, Mauritius, Dubai and Turkey.

Hall Of Fame

For every South African horseracing fan, Striker joins horseracing’s international hall of fame.

This esteemed sanctuary of great horsemen includes the likes of Laffit A. Pincay, Jr, who retired at the age of 57 in 2003 after clocking up an extraordinary 9530 winners in a career spanning 40 years.

A life-size bust of the legendary jockey is exhibited at Santa Anita Park, he was inducted into the National Museum Of Racing Hall Of Fame in 1975, and the Laffit Pincay Jr. Award is awarded annually on Hollywood Gold Cup Day to a member of the racing community who has displayed outstanding ‘integrity, dedication, determination and distinction’.

Baze Of Glory

 

The 56 year old American Russell Baze overtook Pincay in 2006 and has ridden close on 11000 winners after opening his account in 1974.

It was only in the early nineties that the North American horse racing authorities began to value and reward Baze’s outstanding talent. He was named United States Champion Jockey ten times, including receiving the title from 1992 to 1995 consecutively, and was awarded the Eclipse Special Award in 1995.

The honour was based on Baze’s winning over 400 races per year for five years running. In 1999 Baze was inducted into the United States Racing Hall Of Fame and won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 2002.

Cobbler

The late Bill Shoemaker retired in 1990 after riding 8833 winners and went into horse training, a career which was soon interrupted by a tragic car accident which left the former star athlete paralysed from the neck down. In spite of his horrific injury, Shoemaker continued to train horses until 1997.

Shoemaker started riding professionally at eighteen and won his first race within a month of his first appearance on the track. The following year, 1950, Shoemaker was named United States Champion Jockey by wins, a title he received five times in total during his career

Today the Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Stakes are held annually at Hollywood Park Racecourse, and a life-size bust of the track legend can be admired at Santa Anita Park.

The Old Bailey

The Texan Jerry Bailey, retired at age 49 in 2006, after riding 5893 winners.

He started his career in 1974, riding his first winner at Sunland Park Racecourse in New Mexico. He rode four winners at the Dubai World Cup (1996, 1997, 2001, 2002) and scored a much coveted victory in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes in 2000. Bailey holds double victories in all America Classic Races (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes) and has won a total of fifteen Breeders’ Cup Races.

Bailey also shot to fame for pioneering a completely different side of the jockeying profession. He was the first jockey ever to wear advertising patches on his silks when riding in the Kentucky Derby 2004. Only weeks earlier a district court in Louisville had passed the law allowing rider to advertise during the historical event and Bailey was the first top rider to jump on the bandwagon.

In 1995 Bailey was inducted into the United States Racing Hall Of Fame.

A Legend

The 79 year old Lester Piggott rode 4493 winners and only retired close to 60 years of age after having ridden his first winner at the age of 12.

Piggott became known as the youngest jockey to ride over 100 winners in one season. When he was eighteen years old, he recorded his first victory in the Epsom Derby, which would become somewhat of a signature race for him.

In the course of his fifty year career, Piggott won nine runnings of the Epsom Derby, a feat unrivalled until today. But Piggott did not stop there – he won the Ascot Gold Cup eleven times, the July Cup ten times and the St. Leger Stakes eight times. Expanding his impressive Derby record he went on to win the Irish Derby five times, the German Derby three times, and won once in both the Singapore Derby and the Slovak Derby.

Piggott rode his last winner in 1994, aged 59, and finally retired the following year.

An annual prize giving ceremony for jockeys, the Oscars of the riding world so to speak, are named The Lesters in his honour.

Lester Piggott is widely considered the most outstanding jockey who has ever lived.

There are others.

But for now we are privileged to stand in awe of our very own Piere Johan Strydom.

 

 

 

 

 

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