Piere “Striker” Strydom after winning the Gr2 WSB Green Point Stakes on See It Again. (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Piere “Striker” Strydom has been confirmed by trainer Michael Roberts to be the rider for his star Nick Jonsson-owned Twice Over colt See It Again for the rest of the season.
Rumours were rife about who was going to be aboard, but Roberts said, “There was speculation but this horse you can’t jump on and off, the deciding factor was we had to have somebody who could commit to all three races.”
The three races are the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge, the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July and the Gr 1 HKJC Champions Cup.
Some will say Jonsson and Roberts are sticking with the best of the best.
The legendary Strydom will indeed be out to equal Anton Marcus’s record of five Durban July wins and add to his multitude of Gr 1 wins and his more than 5500 career wins.
He has already partrnered See It Again to two Gr 1 wins, three Grade 2 seconds, one Gr 2 win, one Gr 2 second, a Pinnacle Stakes win and a Gr 1 fourth in nine starts together.
He did gather a few detractors after See It Again’s narrow loss in last year’s July.
However, as Piere said in a recent interview, “Sometimes I am asked who the best jockey in the world is and my reply is always, ‘The Grandstand Jockey!’”.
He is also called “the old man” sometimes by the “keyboard warriors”.
Piere is three weeks away from his 58th birthday.
However, he said recently age was an advantage rather than a disadvantage.
He said, “It is a benefit because I know what I have to do, I know what I must do … it doesn’t always happen, but I know what I’ve got to do, so I see my age as a benefit.”
He has always been known for his ice cool temperament and as a master tactician and masterful judge of pace, with one of his chief assetts being the ability to leave something in reserve for the final drive for the line. This is particularly in the case where he is in the lead and is one of the reasons he is so difficult to overtake in the final stages.
Striker has been riding at the top of his game and this included a recent win for Jonsson on the Mike Azzie-trained Lancaster Bomber gelding BattleofBarberton, who won cosily at odds of 6/1 over 1600m at Turffontein Standside after being given a masterful ride.
He said recently he was still feeling strong and added, “My problem is the weight, I wish I could have been a little bit lighter. Also fitness every now and again if you miss a week or two you have to catch up with your fitness again. I have a good home regime and I don’t feel like I am unfit, but sometimes it is just nice to ride more often so you can get into that groove.”
He will in fact be on suspension from the 19th until the 25th of May, which will give him two weeks of riding before the Gold Challenge on June 8.
