Piere “Striker” Strydom has taken a two month break from racing after his retirement from the saddle, but views a future of continued involvement in the racing industry.
He said that funnily enough his weight had hardly changed, despite now being able to eat whatever he wanted to.
He added, “I am still watching the racing, but I am waiting for myself to really miss it before I get back into it. I’ve got some ideas of what I would like to do, but nothing concrete, so I’m still open to suggestions. I’ve been approached by a lot of people, but I’ve got to do something that I know. I can’t just start being immediately productive in something I know nothing about. I could always learn, but there would be more ideal positions.”
Being a brand ambassador and helping sell shares in horses had been examples of offers he had received.
However, he said, “I think an ideal position would be a managerial role where I could help an owner buy horses, decide which horses are suited to which trainers – place them in the right places, in the right centres, and from there help them even place the horses in the right fields, as well as going to track and seeing whether the horses are what the trainers are saying they are, etc.”
With the game on the up, there could be an opening for a racing manager position for somebody of Striker’s nous.
Meanwhile, he and wife Chrisna are keeping themselves busy with their Airbnb’s in St. Francis and Consantia and with a small farm they have bought in Franschoek.
Their favourite guests at their Airbnb’s are racing people as that can lead to plenty of chewing the fat on past racing stories.
The Strydoms have also purchased an olive farm in Franschoek and have pressed their first olives. Older readers would be interested to know the farm was previously owned by voice artist Malcolm Gooding, who was best known for narrating the iconic radio programme Squad Cars on Springbok Radio from 1968 to 1985.
