PIKE TO CONTINUE OUTSIDE WA

William Pike set to head to New South Wales to ride

With Western Australia requiring that all jockeys be fully vaccinated in order to compete in the state Pike has made the decision to relocate to the east coast in order to prolong an already accomplished riding career.

According to RWWA’s Julio Santarelli, Pike will be applying for a New South Wales riding licence and relocate to the Harbour City of Sydney before the February 5th deadline is brought into force for jockeys in WA.

Pike, a reigning champion in WA, had his career thrown up in the air when he announced he hadn’t been vaccinated against Covid-19.

The champion hoop had already been forced to miss a ride on New Years Day in the Group 2 Perth Cup on the eventual winner Midnight Blue due to vaccination mandates announced for Ascot Racecourse.

On February 5th WA is set to open the borders and relax it’s travel restrictions and as part of that all racing participants need to be fully vaccinated.

Speaking in a recent interview with Freedom Media Pike stated his desire to keep riding.

“I would love to keep riding. I would love to stay on top for as long as I can until one of the young guns come along and boot me off my perch.

“I really don‘t want to leave it, but under the circumstances right now with the rules and different things in place, it’s getting harder and harder to go out and do my daily job.”

At the time of writing New South Wales don’t currently have a vaccination requirement for jockeys with the states vaccination program falling in line with Government requirements. 

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