A veteran champion jockey has quit riding immediately after learning he must undergo a lifesaving triple heart bypass.
South African Robbie Fradd, 58 who has ridden winners all over the world, has called time on his career in Australia after being told he could “drop on the spot” if he did any serious exercise. He is booked to have surgery next week.
"I don't like to say it because my riding career has had a 40-year span, but this is it for me," Fradd told News Corp. "This is a warning sign to say 'no more Robbie, just move onto something else'.
"I would be very stupid to try to come back after something like this, especially with what I do as a jockey.”
Fradd, who has ridden more than 1,500 winners, has ridden Group 1 winners in South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Australia.
He won nearly every major race in his native South Africa before heading to the Far East where he was Hong Kong champion in 2000/01, moving from there to Singapore and then Queensland, where he has been based for the last eight years.
Father of three Fradd said he started to feel something wasn’t right about a month ago. He felt lethargic and was falling asleep, waking up with a hangover. After rides he was panting, which he blamed on his smoking, but received a more serious diagnosis after undergoing tests.
"One specialist initially said I needed a double bypass, he said he was sending my results through to a cardio specialist," said Fradd who last rode on December 21.
"I went this Tuesday, he said one artery was totally blocked and another one was 80 per cent blocked. He said I needed a triple heart bypass.
"Then he said if I did any serious exercise, I would drop on the spot. I was told that I probably would have already had a mild heart attack that I didn't know about."
He added: "I don't want to be a danger not only to myself but to all the other riders. I would never put them through that.
"Racing is basically all I know and I hope there is still a way for me to work in the industry, but not as a jockey."
