Globetrotting jockey, Francois Herholdt, has returned home after seven years of travel.. With the likes of Jeff Lloyd, Glynn Schofield, Kevin Shea, Sherman Brown and Barend Voster leaving a huge gap in the South African market, the 33 year-old with over 17 years riding experience, is sure to make an impact at local tracks in the near future

When did you join the Jockey Academy? 1989

Mention a few members of your draft Rene Bonham, Craige Arnold, Heinz Runge, Rudolph Harmse and Clinton Louw.

Name your first winner A horse called Wayward Star for Herman Brown snr

How many winners have you ridden? Locally about 700 and internationally roughly 250 (168 in Mauritius)

What has been the highlight of your career? Winning the Mauritian Jockey Championship in 2001 and winning the Daily News aboard Imperial Dispatch for Mike Azzie.

What is the best horse that you have ever ridden? Imperial Dispatch � my first GRI winner

You have ridden in several countries tell us about some of your experiences

I have ridden in Mauritius, Dubai, Macau, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, France and Zimbabwe. Mauritius � Did not enjoy my first spell there but gradually grew to love it. Won the Jockey`s Title in 2001 beating Robbie Hill Dubai� Rode for Nick Robb � Rode 40 wins in Dubai Saudi Arabia � Really top-class racing. The same team that built Santa Anita designed the track. Won The King`s Cup for the ruler of the country King Abdullah Singapore � Rode for Mike Clements (60% of my mounts placed 4 wins 11 seconds!!!!) and ran second in the Singapore Guineas. France� Rode for ten days there and really rate the Jocks on par with South African boys. Competed against the likes of Gary Stevens, Christophe Soumillion and Olivier Peslier and really enjoyed riding against such professionals. Macau� I really didn`t enjoy riding there as there were too few rides available (only 500 horse in training and 30 odd Jockeys so difficult to get rides) but the social side of things was very enjoyable. Zimbabwe� Won the Tankard for Neil Bruss aboard Count Cambridge, which was special, as Neil had never won the race before. I enjoyed going up to Zim but eventually the political situation there caused many trainers to leave or give up training and it became financially impractical to continue flying up there.

I have had opportunities to ride in the UK, USA and India and will keep my options open if the right situation arises.

Why have you decided to return to South Africa? My children, aged 9 and 7, have reached the age where they need stability so traveling does not suite us at present. I`m 33-years-old and need to build my career here now. My wife comes from a racing background (her grandfather was a bookmaker) and has often traveled with me but I think it is about time that I settled down now for the sake of the family.

Where will you be based and will you be riding work at the various centres? I will be based in Gauteng and will be riding work at all the training centres

What is your current riding weight? I`m about 54kg, but I will be down to 52kg in a few weeks as the workload in South Africa is far more than in Mauritius.

Source: Racing Association