Piere Hoping for a Royal Exit

TIME CALLED: SIX-TIME CHAMPION JOCKEY DECIDES NOT TO RENEW HIS JOCKEYS' LICENCE

- Jack Milner

Love him or hate him, there is no doubting the brilliance of Piere Strydom. And finally, after some 44 years in the saddle, the maestro has decided it is time to call it quits and has announced he has not applied for his jockey's licence to be renewed next season.

That means that it will all be over on 31 July.

"It's been at the back of my mind for some time now, probably for five or six years," said Strydom yesterday. "Then I picked up the chance ride on See It Again in the Cape Derby and I stuck with him. I started to get good rides like Quid Pro Quo and then did the deal to ride for ASSM Racing, and that kept me going."

"But then it started to get more difficult to get rides."

One other wake-up call was the injury he incurred on 31 December last year at the Vaal.