Piere Strydom, affectionately known as "Striker," discussed his experience riding South Africa's highest-rated horse, See It Again, during a particularly rough race. Despite the challenging conditions, Strydom shared his insights with SAHorseracing.COM, starting with the chaotic incident at the 1400m mark that affected many jockeys and horses.

Strydom recounted, "I had such a nice position, like a winning position, but unfortunately, Shoemaker was in front of me. When Shoemaker started dropping back, Diego (De Gouveia) moved off, and my horse automatically went for the inside gap. However, Diego got pressure from the outside, and the jockey on the outside pushed Diego back to where he was. By that time, I was on the inside, and Richard Fourie got the worst of it. I was almost on the fence, and he was on my inside—that's where all the interference happened at the 1400m mark."

Despite the interference, Strydom managed to reposition himself. "We still managed to get where we needed to be on the rail, following Barbaresco through. I made my move when I needed to, but by the 200m mark, I was already under pressure to make up ground," he explained. "I was on a hard ride, and although we finished, I can't say I finished strongly—we basically just stayed on. By that time, Cousin Casey had passed me, and Oriental Charm was ahead."

At the business end of the race, Strydom described the interference caused by Oriental Charm. "I had the gap and space, but JP (Van Der Merwe) was coming towards the inside. The more I shouted, the more he ignored me. Naturally, it's the July, and as a jockey, you'd rather get suspended than lose the race. We ran out of space, and people wondered why there was no objection. The reason was I couldn't beat Oriental Charm, the horse that interfered with me, so they wouldn't change the result. The only other option was to suspend the jockey, which they did. To change the result, you have to be 100% positive that See It Again would have beaten Oriental Charm, and there was no way to prove that."

Reflecting on the race, Strydom concluded, "Unfortunately, we finished fifth when we should have run third. But I can't blame JP—I probably would have done the same."