Jeff Lloyd, who turned 57 on September 1, will be sadly missed when he hangs up his saddle.
Lloyd, who says he will retire before the end of the 2018-19, is expected to have his last ride at the Magic Millions Race Day at the Gold Coast in January.
That will bring to an end a truly remarkable career.
When there are discussions about Australia’s top jockeys Hugh Bowman and Kerrin McEvoy immediately come to the fore but Lloyd is riding without peer.
It is even more incredible that he is riding so brilliantly at an age when most jockeys have retired and after suffering a near-fatal stroke in March of 2013 which sidelined him for 14 months.
Yet with dedication and hard work he returned better than ever.
As Lloyd says he had suffered from back pain for the previous 10 years and his time out of the saddle enabled him to overcome that problem.
This, in turn, allowed him to once again implement his unique style of “bouncing” in the stirrups.
Evidence of the beneficial results gained from the break can be gleaned from his statistics for he rode a record 189 winners last season to capture the Brisbane and Queensland premierships.
He is again leading the Brisbane jockeys’ premiership but with retirement looming the odds are he will not successfully defend the title.
A very likeable character Lloyd began riding as an apprentice in his home country of South Africa more than 40 years ago.
He won three apprentice championships and six senior jockeys’ premierships before venturing overseas.
Over all he has ridden more than 5,500 winners including having 94 Group 1 successes in Australia – the first of these was Nom Du Jeu in the 2008 Australian Derby – South Africa, Hong Kong and Singapore.
After settling in Sydney in the early part of the century he moved to Queensland six years ago and since then has become one of the brightest stars in the State’s racing industry.
