Jeff Lloyd to concentrate on family
Champion jockey Jeff Lloyd has confirmed the 2018 Brisbane winter carnival will be his last.
Lloyd was a special guest at the carnival launch in Brisbane on Friday morning and confirmed his plans to retire later this year.
He won last season’s Brisbane metropolitan and Queensland jockey titles and is set to do the same again this season.
“This will be my last carnival as it is time to spend more time with my family,” Lloyd said.
“My older boy is at a jockey academy in South Africa and my younger son is also keen to be a jockey.”
“I want to devote time to helping them. They say go out when you are top and hopefully I can do that.”
Lloyd has ridden 94 Group One winners around the world but will chase the one that got away when he visits his son after the Brisbane carnival.
Lloyd plans to ride in the Durban July at Greyville, the premier race in South Africa where he began his career and won multiple premierships after his family migrated from England.
“I think I have run third in it 11 times but never won or even run second,” he said.
Lloyd, 56, suffered a stroke in 2013 and made a remarkable recovery to return to riding.
He has claimed Group One wins in Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong and Singapore.