Durban businessman and longtime racing owner Roy Moodley enjoyed a halcyon 2014/2015 season in which he had 51 winners in all and he will have a chance to reflect on the success at the KZN Awards ceremony to be held at the Elangeni Hotel on Thursday.

Moodley was the sole owner of 47 of his winners and this put him in 6th place on the National Owners log with stakes earnings of R3,778,575. This was his best season to date. All 47 of the wins were in his home province of KZN, where he was 17 winners clear of Markus and Ingrid Jooste. The Joostes earned R4,542,825 in races run in KZN, R764,250 more than Moodley.

However, there are two Owners Awards at this year’s KZN Racing Awards, one for the Overall Owner of the Year and one for the KZN-based Owner Of The Year, both of them decided on stakes, so Moodley looks to be in pole position to win at least one of them.

Moodley also part-owns a few horses and three of them won four races between them. Among these winners was the Paul Lafferty-trained Harry’s Son, who is undoubtedly the best horse currently running in the Moodley colours. This brilliant Australian-bred colt by Haradasun was an Equus Champion two-year-old colt and as a three-year-old last season became renowned for his extraordinary tolerance of travel, winning the Gr 3 Graham Beck stakes and the Gr 2 Betting World Gauteng Guineas, both at Turffontein, finishing second in the Gr 2 Investec Dingaans at Turffontein, second in the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas at Kenilworth, and fifth in the Gr 1 SA Classic over 1800m at Turffontein.

He travelled from Summerveld by float for all of the Turffontein raids and was flown to Cape Town for his Kenilworth raid. On the latter occasion he was stranded on the King Shaka airport tarmac for three hours and then had to stop off at Port Elizabeth on the way down, so his runner up finish was remarkable under the circumstances.

Ironically, Harry’s Son did not have a single run in KZN during the season as he had a slight setback before his Intended Champions Season opener in the Gr 2 KRA Guineas and he later set off on the arduous five month journey to Dubai, via Johannesburg, Mauritius and Europe. He is currently doing well in Mauritius and it will certainly be an exciting moment in Moodley’s racing career when the colt carries his colours in Dubai Carnival races early next year.

Another horse who provided some memorable moments for Moodley during the past season was the Paul Gadsby-trained Royal Colours, who on November 2, 2014 clinched his sixth victory in succession, a rare feat, especially for one who took 12 races to win his maiden.

Moodley had no fewer than five meeting doubles in the 2014/2015 season. His green, white and orange colours are seen at every KZN meeting these days and he is usually in attendance together with equally passionate members of his family.

His love for horses began through his father, who owned horses, although not racehorses. Roy then went into racehorse ownership in 1996.

On May 22, 1999, he had his first Gr 1 winner when the West Man gelding Roaring Sands, trained by the late Cyril Naidoo, won the Gold Medallion over 1200m at Scottsville, converting even-money favouritism.

Roy later suggested to his son Selvan that running a stable would be a great way of gaining experience in business. After doing his indentures as assistant to Herman Brown, Selvan took out his own license in 2003/2004 and trained all of his father’s horses. He today runs a successful advertising business, so the exercise paid dividends.

When Selvan left the training game in about 2006, Roy sent his horses to Tony Rivalland and Selvan’s former assistant, Kumaran Naidoo, who took out his own license.

Later, Roy decided to spread his horses between a wide array of trainers, and there is hardly a yard in KZN which does not have a Roy Moodley-owned horse today. In fact, racegoers have often been heard to suggest the fun idea of staging a special race limited to Roy Moodley-owned horses in order to confuse the commentator, because virtually all of his runners have the word “Roy” in their names.

Moodley said about his decision to spread his horses around, “I think a good horse is only a good horse based on its ability so I wanted to spread the risk and give equal opportunity to all trainers and this would also help create employment.”

Harry’s Son was the second Gr 1-winner to run in the Moodley colours, winning the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes as a two-year-old. Moodley has also had a few other Graded winners and one stalwart running in the orange, green and white has been Royal Zulu Warrior, who caused a sensation when winning his first three starts by a combined margin of close to 25 lengths. Royal Zulu Warrior, who was fondly known by fans as “The Pride Of KZN” in his early days, went on to win the Gr 3 Lebelo Sprint and the Gr 2 Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile and he is still in training at the age of nine.

Moodley is not only looking forward to an overseas career in owning with the like of Harry’s Son, but has also become a keen breeder.

His Roy Moodley Stud stands two stallions, Al Miqdaam, a son of Danehill whose first runner is the useful sprinter Al Ciberano, and the New Zealand-bred Royal Keeper (Keeper), a well-bred sort who won one race in South Africa. Moodley estimated his mare population to be about 100 and he uses a wide variety of the country’s stallions to cover them.

Moodley is a popular figure in KZN racing and is sure to be given rousing applause if called on to the stage to receive an award or two on Thursday evening.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Roy Moodley (Nkosi Hlophe)