Piere Strydom has been given the all clear to ride again but said he would probably officially retire if he failed to secure a ride in the Hollywoodbets Durban July.

He said his best hope of getting a July ride lay with the Justin Snaith yard but he did not sound too hopeful.

Asked whether he would still pursue his goal of riding eleven more winners to reach the 5500 mark he said, “I will start riding again if I get a July ride but if one is not confirmed I will probably call it a day.”

Regarding his semi-detached retina eye condition he said by his understanding part of the ageing process sees the gel behind the eye drying up but a piece of it can still be grabbing hold and a jolt can thus cause the eyeball to be ripped out.

However, his eye now appears to have normalised, although he said he was still seeing occasional lightning flashes.

He was in the 4Racing studios yesterday as an analyst for today’s Festival Of Speed Meeting at Hollywoodbets Scottsville.

He said Ultra Magnus was his “roughie” for the Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint as he felt he was well weighted.

The other one he fancied strongly was Good Traveller.

He said his best bet of the day would be Grinkov. 

Strydom has ridden the winner of the Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint on five occasions including twice on the great Lucky Houdalakis-trained J J The Jet Plane.

J J who won with topweight of 60kg as a three-year-old.

Two years later, after an eight month layoff following an up and down overseas campaign with other trainers, Houdalakis famously brought him back to Scottsville and carrying 58kg he cruised in by two lengths in the Golden Horse.

He went on to win the Grade 1 wfa Mercury Sprint and five months later won the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint.

Strydom regards J J as the best he has ever ridden and explained, “He had good gatespeed and enough speed to be in touch and then had a kick. At the 600 or 500 when all the other horses were off the bit he would still be cruising.”

Strydom regards the win in Hong Kong as his greatest race.

He said, “It was not only because it was international it was just that the race worked out so well. I couldn’t have planned it better, it worked out perfectly.”

Picture: Two legends, Piere Strydom and J J The Jet Plane (Gold Circle).