Jeff Lloyd flew back to Australia yesterday and he has left a hot tip for his legion of fans in South Africa.

He said: “I ride a very good two-year-old called Asharani at Ipswich on Wednesday and I expect her to win.”

Asharani is a newcomer and she runs in the Schweppes QTIS Two-Year-Old Handicap which is due off at 6.32am South African time. The race will be shown live on Tellytrack.

Jeff Lloyd (Candiese Marnewick)

Before he flew back to his adopted home the six-time South African champion relived his final Vodacom Durban July ride, saying: “Going down to the start I could hear the crowd cheering me. That was nice although I was trying to keep Made To Conquer as calm as possible because he was getting a bit stirred up and too keen.

“The delay at the start didn’t help because it was upsetting him and he was agitated. He doesn’t like having other horses around him and he tries to kick them so for the 20 minutes, or however long it was we were down there, I was trying to keep away from the others.

“When we broke the tempo wasn’t that fast. Made To Conquer is quite a lazy horse and it was only when African Night Sky came round us all that he started to concentrate and pick up well. I was going better than African Night Sky and I took it up early on purpose because my horse doesn’t quicken.

“I knew he would run to the line but at the back of my mind I always felt something would quicken quickly and catch him. Had Anton on Do It Again come at me later my horse would have found a bit more but he came to me quick and got a length up on me. He had a better turn of foot than me but mine ran his heart out. I couldn’t have asked him to run any better than he did.”

And the future?  “At the moment I am going to stop riding about the end of the season but I haven’t set a date yet. We will, though, be staying in Australia.”

By Michael Clower