Richard Fourie is led in after his 2000th career win on the Alan Greeff-trained Path Of Choice (Pathfork) (Pauline Herman Photography).

Richard Fourie scored the 2000th win of his career aboard the Alan Greeff-trained Pathfork gelding Path Of Choice last Friday (July 7) on the Fairview polytrack.

It is easy to work out he has ridden an average of 100 wins per year.

He rode his first winner in his fifth career ride on July 8 2003 and his 2000th winner happened on July 7 2023, almost exactly 20 years later. 

Fourie joined the South African Jockeys Academy (SAJA) in 2001 and his  fellow colleagues who are still riding were Raymond Danielson, Muzi Yeni, Keanan Steyn and Gavin Lerena.

It was a vintage intake considering three of them (Fourie 2nd, Yeni 4th, Lerena 8th) are in the current top ten on the national log and another of them, Danielson, added another Gr 1 to his CV this season.

Fourie recalled his first win in an interview with the Sporting Post about ten years ago, “It is unforgettable, Groovy Baby for Mr Dennis Bosch. She was my fifth ride as an apprentice and I sat last in the race at Scottsville over 1700m. I came into the straight and carved through the field to win by 2 lengths.”

Fourie had probably the best season of  his career in the 2021/2022 term when scoring nine Grade 1 wins.

This season he has scored six Grade 1 victories and will likely have four chances to add to that tally on World Pool Gold Cup day.

Fourie is one of the few to ride back to back Hollywoodbets Durban July winners, doing it with Do It Again in 2019 and Belgarion in 2020.

He won the WSB Met for the first time this season on Jet Dark.

He is yet to ride the winner of Johannesburg’s traditional biggest race, the Betway Summer Cup.