Piere “Striker” Strydom closed within three victories of his 5000th winner in South Africa at the Vaal on Tuesday with a typically brilliant ride on the 14/1 shot Stairway To Heaven. He would like to achieve the milestone on his home base of the Highveld and has a chance of doing it today on the Vaal sand, where he has six fancied rides in a weak meeting.
Strydom became the first South African to ride 5000 career winners when booting home the country’s highest rated three-year-old colt, Act Of War, in the Gr 2 Selangor Cup at Kenilworth on November 22 last year. However, 72 of his winners were ridden overseas, so his next goal was 5000 winners in South Africa.
He summed up today’s meeting, “I am not confident of riding the necessary three winners, but it is a possibility.”
Anything does look possible with this truly great jockey as evidenced by his winner on Tuesday. In running bookmakers would have probably offered at least 20/1 on the formless Stairway to Heaven entering the final 50m of the 1000m event, but the never say die Strydom had noticed the 1/3 favourite Winter Al beginning to wobble and his vigorously driven mount surged past to win on the line.
Strydom is one of the Vaal sand’s fiercest critics and hasn’t changed his opinion.
He said, “A horse should never have to go in that deep, we should be racing on racing surfaces. You can’t be too far back because it is a bit like running on the dry sand at the beach, it is deep and loose and it is very difficult to catch someone, whereas on the firmer, wet sand near the water’s edge you can. So you have to be handy on the Vaal sand, but if you try and jump and go the sand is loose and the horse can slip and stumble, so it’s a catch 22 situation.”
His first ride today is on Fiesta De Espana from draw 3 in the 2nd race over 1000m. He said that the middle to outside draws tend to be favourable over this trip and he was not sure what to expect from a filly that ran second over course and distance last month but ran poorly over 1000m on the turf on Tuesday.
He said about his ride on the 1/5 shot Movie Man in the third over 1200m, “On current turf form he is the horse to beat. He has run on the sand before and didn’t do well, but the form of this race is weak.”
He rides Lizzie’s Legs over 1200m in the next and said, “She has very bad sand form and the only thing in her favour is her draw, but that doesn’t say she will be able to win.” The Rebel King filly is priced up favourite at 2/1 in this weak race as she is well bred for the course and distance and a couple of winners have come out of both of her sand runs over 1000m and 1450m respectively.
He rides the 5/1 joint-favourite Wishful Heart in the sixth over 1450m and said, “He is drawn badly and Louis (Goosen) said he would need the run (second run after a six month layoff).”
In race 7 over 1600m he is on second favourite Spellbound and said, “She might prefer further but has a chance.”
In the last over 1800m he is on second favourite Dakiwe and said, “He has won on the sand before and is not without a chance.”
– David Thiselton
Picture: Piere Strydom winning on Act Of War (Liesl King)
