Jeff Lloyd's riding career is in doubt but his fitness appears to have saved him from serious disability following a stroke.

Lloyd's wife Nicola said the popular jockey had been moved from intensive care to a neurological ward in the Gold Coast hospital he has been in since last Friday.

She said the early signs were good but to was too soon to tell what the lasting effects might be.

"The doctors keep telling us they are shocked he has come out of it with so little physical complications," Lloyd told Sydney's Sky Sports Radio.

"They put that down to a jockey's fitness, that he was able to come through it as he has.

"He has now moved to the neuro ward and is off the drip and having injections to help thin the blood.

"He still has quite bad headaches. Although he is doing well he is obviously not a hundred per cent.

"He has been himself really from the start but he needs a lot of rest.

"He's not up and walking or anything like that yet.

"He of course was talking about riding but that decision is a long way off."

She said the stroke was detected by an MRI scan. Lloyd was stood down from riding on Thursday after a dizzy spell and still felt ill on Friday, prompting him to seek medical attention.

Lloyd, 51, is a former South African who has ridden all over the world.

He won six jockey titles in his homeland and has more than 4500 winners in a career spanning more than 30 years.

He moved to Sydney a few years ago where his wins include the 2008 Australian Derby on Nom Du Jeu.

He then spent a couple of years in Hong Kong before returning to Australia to set up home on the Gold Coast last year and won the Group One Tatt's Tiara on Pear Tart in June.