This greeting as emailed to the Sporting Post. Hope Karel does'nt mind.
A G’day from Down Under
Well I thought I would drop a letter to all back in SA as it has now been 4 1/2 months since we made the big move Down Under and it has been great that so many people back home have kept in contact.
Racing here is very different to back home and I am thoroughly enjoying the new challenge. The coverage and publicity it receives on the radio, tv and in the newspapers is quite unbelievable (at least 8 pages in every newspaper offers news, gossip, form etc) The Weekend Metropolitan meetings are very exciting and there is a great vibe with thousands of fresh, young race-goers clapping in every winner. The Courses are full with young and old and everyone is dressed up in the good old fashion ‘Racing Style’ in their hats and suits, facinators and glitz.
There is music and prizes, children’s entertainment and great prizemoney on offer and all in all it leads to very competitive and good racing.
Work here has been very different for me, you don’t get to ride as much work as back home as we work much longer distances. You have Trials once or twice a week as well as two Metropolitan meetings and one or two Provisional meetings. The jocs work very hard here with very early starts ( I feel like I am riding for good old Johnny McCreedy again and am up at 3:20 am each morning). We travel pretty far to Provisional tracks too and the other day saw Glyn and I driving 2 1/2 hours to a big meeting at one of the Provisional Tracks. Having to drive slowly and keep within the speed limits makes for one hell of a long drive but here the law is the law and everyone abides.
I have teamed up with David Payne and am really enjoying working with him as we understand each other so well from our 10 year association back in South Africa. We have pulled off two Group two races (I have had three so far) and two Group three races already , the one Group 2 being for Mr Jooste which was really satisfying for me to win for a great South African owner, and I have also enjoyed a couple of listed race wins as well for other yards. I am proud of what I have achieved in such a short space of time, as to currently be joint third on the Sydney’s Jockey Premiership is quite unbelievable as you have no idea how tough the competition is. I have also had to contend with 3 forced holidays (yes they are very strict, you just look sideways and you go for time). The Carnival has hit Sydney and boy do the the big guns come rolling in in full force. This weekend we will be enjoying the richest two year old race in the world, The AAMI Golden Slipper. worth 3.5 million ozzie dollars and I am very excited to be able to have secured a ride in this race in my first season here as in alot of the big Grade one races the jocs have been booked months ago and it has been hard to try get on horses at this late stage. The racing faturnity is very close knitted and holds many functions including a church service to bless the jockeys equipment which saw different racing personalities all coming together in this support.
My family is loving their new home and we are very well settled and loving each and every day.The jockeys are terrific and we have made some fantastic friends. My children are very happy at their new schools and all in all we have settled beautifully and although we miss many back home we just love life in Sydney.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate SA racing on a great “Night in Dubai” and also give my sincere condolences to the Jaffee family, it was only a month prior that Mr Jaffee and I had a good long chat in the parade ring at Rosehill Gardens
Happy Racing and hope to see you all soon Guv
via email - The Guv, Jeff Lloyd
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