Kyle Strydom being interviewed on RacingTV after his win today (RacingTv)
A regular question heard in the mornings and early afternoons in betting shops in the UK in the 1990s and 2000s would have been, “What is Strydom (which they pronounced Straii – dom) riding?”
Piere “Striker” Strydom had as big a following out there, in the days SA racing was screened in the betting shops, as he had here.
Some of the older U.K. betting shop punters would no doubt have been thrilled to learn that Kyle Strydom, now riding in the U.K, is Striker’s nephew.
Kyle had his first winner in England on Wednesday at Nottingham.
Fittingly, the horse was trained by ex-pat South African Dylan Cunha.
Expressionless (Intello), a three-year-old gelding Dylan owns in partnership with Chris Housego, had his fifth career start and provided Kyle with his second UK ride.
He dwelt and had to be pushed along to stay in touch in the one mile and half-a-furlong contest.
He was still being pushed along in last place in the five-horse field three furlongs out and did not look likely to convert 11/8 favouritism.
However, Strydom had definitely earned his riding fee, because the gelding took hold of the bit in the last two furlongs and stretched past the rest to win by a comfortable 1,50 lengths.
Hopefully, it is the beginning of a fruitful partnership.
Cunha just needed support to show his credentials and he has received it recently with, for example, seven horses being sent to him by Quest Thoroughbreds syndicate.
He started his innings with Quest by winning with Gold Medal at Lingfield a week ago on March 29.
Then on Sunday another Quest horse making his debut for the Cunha yard at Doncaster’s Lincoln meeting, Faro De San Juan, ran an excellent third in a class 3 19-runner handicap under Marco Ghiani.
Before that, last Friday, Kyle made his UK debut on the Cunha owned-and-trained Mr Fayez, who ran an excellent fourth, considering he started at odds of 125/1 in a 12-horse-field.
Kyle is officially based with Newmarket trainer Roger Varian.
