While confusion reigns over which horse he will actually ride in his 26th and final attempt to win the Vodacom Durban July in his retirement season, Jeff Lloyd brought up 100 Queensland metropolitan winners this season with a patient ride on Tyzone at Doomben on Saturday.
Jeff Lloyd (photo: Twitter)
The magic Lloyd didn’t panic when Tyzone was pushed back to near the tail of the field before coming with a well-timed run to beat Sword of Justice by a short-head in the Wilpak Wholesale Meats Handicap .
It was the second season in a row that Lloyd has ridden 100 or more winners in the metropolitan premiership after landing a Queensland metropolitan record when he recorded 137 wins last season, smashing Chris Munce’s then record of 102.
Lloyd has a third-straight metropolitan premiership in his keeping and has ridden 337 city winners since returning from a health-enforced break in 2014.
After leading journalist Michael Clower, definitely not a man in the habit of producing fake news, reported earlier this week on www.goldcircle.co.za that the Lloyd booking was confirmed straight after Rocket Countdown finished second to the unbeaten Rainbow Bridge in Saturday’s Winter Classic, jockey agent Deez Dyanand told Tabnews that Lloyd was definitely not confirmed on Rocket Countdown, or any other horse, for the 2018 Vodacom Durban July.
Apparently Lloyd’s trip is being sponsored by Kuda Insurance, whose MD Wehann Smith is part-owner of Rocket Countdown.
Wehann Smith – part owner of Rocket Countdown
So for now, Rocket Countdown is on offer at 34-1 with Hollywood and still needs to qualify for the July top 18.
Lloyd is definitely riding on the day.
And any suggestion that he has been engaged to ride the son of Alado is seemingly pure speculation.
So ante-post backers take heed!
