Durban jockey Serino Moodley will be looking to ride his horse Flag Man to victory at Saturday’s running of the Hollywoodbets Durban July at the Greyville Racecourse.

Moodley, 27, will feature in the main event of the day, the Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July, where 18 of the country’s finest thoroughbreds will compete for the R5 million in stakes.

“In the main race, as a rider, everyone wants to win. It’s a good feeling knowing that I will be riding a horse that actually has a chance in the race. It’s a competitive race, but I think my horse has a chance of winning. It is very difficult to get a ride in the July because every jockey wants to ride in it.

“I’m a positive person and I want to get the best out of my horse. I think Green with Envy is the horse to beat, and Royal Victory is another I’d watch out for. Greyville is my best course as I have had a lot of success there. An advantage I have is that I have got to sit on my horse for the last month for almost every single day,” said Moodley, who will be riding in about seven other races at Greyville on Saturday.

He said a jockey needed to prepare for a race, study form, which horses to beat, which horses were improving and which were not.

“There’s a lot of preparation and pressure on the day, but I don’t let pressure get to me. I trust in my own ability and trust in the horse. There are so many good horses in a race and everyone wants to win the race, but no two races are the same. The pace is not the same. I do a lot of studying, work on how the race could be planned out and watch reruns of horses and look at how they ran previously and the races they won," he said.

Jockey Serino Moodley during the Durban July Gallops at the Greyville Racecourse. | KHAYA NGWENYA Independent Newspapers

Moodley believes Flag Man is an improving horse. It ran in the Daily News race in May and won.

“He can only get better. He raced against some of the best three-year-olds and I think he is an improving horse.

“The atmosphere is going to be fantastic,” he added.

Moodley, previously from Johannesburg and now based in Hillcrest in Durban, had his first win in 2021 in The Mercury Sprint.

“I had a lot of seconds and thirds in big races and I wanted to get a Group 1 win. Every jockey’s dream is to win Group 1 races.”

Moodley, a freelance jockey, got into showjumping when he was eight.

“An ex-jockey had a farm next to the place I trained for showjumping. I used to go to the tuckshop on the farm and I saw the racing and realised I liked that. I found out about the Jockey Academy and that’s how the bug bit.”

In 2012, Moodley joined the South African Jockey Academy in Shongweni near Hillcrest.

“The racing industry is not easy. You’ve got to work really hard and get the right opportunity at the right time.”

Moodley said being a jockey involved hard work and dedication.

“It’s not an easy sport and it’s difficult to be a jockey, and the opportunities are not easy to come by. If you work hard you can go anywhere in the world with this sport.

“It’s horses like this and races like the Durban July are what you work for. I have a passion for the game and it wakes me up every morning to try and succeed and win the Hollywoodbets Durban July.

“People have a tendency to lean towards riders who have made it. I had to prove myself. It’s taken a while, but Indian boys can actually ride,” he said.

He said he would like to race in Hong Kong and England one day.

Sunday Tribune