Tellytrack presenter Deez Dayanand was a deserved recipient of the KZN Racing Personality of the Year award at the KZN Racing Awards held on Tuesday evening at the Elangeni and he had a heart-warming story to tell about his rise from normal punter into one of South African racing’s most popular characters.

Dayanand has also established a formidable partnership with the current reigning South African Champion Jockey Anthony Delpech and together they have won three KZN Jockeys Championships and one National Jockeys Championship.

Dayanand owes his passion for the sport to his late father and his position in the industry to both his wife, Dr Soraya Naidoo, and to the well-known TV sports presenter Martin Locke.

Deez recalled his father to be a numbers player rather than a studier of form.

On one occasion a family road trip holiday was held up by an accident at Umzinto. Consequently, Deez’s father found his way to the local Tote and placed a Jackpot using the number plates of one of the cars involved in the accident.

On their way home from Port St. Johns he stopped at the same Tote to check his ticket and discovered he had won a sizeable amount.

The July was always a big day in the Dyanand family home and Deez’s father also took him regularly to meetings at Scottsville.

Deez recalled, “In those days it was the only game in town and I remember there being no parking space on New England Road.”

About seventeen years ago Soraya noticed an advert on Tellytrack asking for applicants for the position of racing presenter.

Deez by that stage was spending hours studying form and watching racing and Soraya believed this would be a fine opportunity.

Deez viewed it as a “ridiculous” quest, but agreed to give it a go.

He drove down to Greyville expecting an interview, but instead it was an audition in which he had to do a mock preview and mock interview with Martin Locke.

He left believing that would be the end of it, but instead received a phonecall to hear he had been shortlisted.

There were more auditions and he landed the position.

He recalled, “Martin Locke was Mr Sports and he saw something in me.”

Two qualities Locke must have noticed were Deez’s charisma and gregarious nature.

Deez admits he has always been comfortable around people.

He said, “Growing up in an Indian home in those days there were lots of rules and strong ethics and values were instilled in you by your elders in order to be successful in a growing community. But my parents were quite modern and allowed me more rein, especially as I was the oldest grandson, so I grew up never being afraid to approach people in a social setting.”

Established presenter Paul Lafferty went overseas the month after Deez had arrived, so Deez went live sooner than expected in December 2000.

He did his homework, so found the previews the easy part, but felt nervous and awkward as an outsider interviewing people he had previously idolised.

He added, “You do earn your stripes in racing, but it’s all about support. Racing is full of the most generous, kindest and loveliest people. If they take a liking to you the sky is the limit. There is no business in the world where people pour millions in for passion alone. I remember once, a guy had his first winner and I asked him how he had become involved in the horse and he replied, ‘This is the first time I have seen the horse’!”

Deez these days draws entertaining stories out of winning connections with a natural ease. He is also popular with punters due to the homework he puts in and his efforts in bringing transparent information.

He was approached by Delpech in 2014. Becoming a jockey’s agent was not a decision he took lightly as there was a potential conflict of interest with his Tellytrack position.

However, he was soon putting as much professionalism into both positions.

Deez has an adage for jockeys, “They are their own advert. The two most important things are simply how well they are riding and how many winners they are having.”

Deez selects his form choices from the nominations, but then discusses them with Anthony as jockeys sometimes do not gel with certain horses.

One difficult customer Delpech did gel with last season was Grade 1 SA Derby winner Al Sahem. Delpech apparently describes this horse as “A Meneer, who wants to be in charge.” He thus got to know the big horse better with each and every ride and was looking forward to riding him in the Vodacom Durban July. However, the unexpected July entry of Nightingale saw him having to honour his retainer to Mary Slack.

Deez and Anthony have a post-mortem of every meeting and Deez then passes relevant information from the top jockey to the trainers if it can help improve a horse’s performance.

“It is all about building bridges,” said Deez.

It is easier for Deez to book rides in KZN where Delpech rides work, but Deez spoke of the tremendous support Delpech was given by Highveld trainers when he made clear his intentions of chasing the championships.

Deez said about Tuesday evening’s award, “You don’t know how you are being judged by the public, which was why the award meant so much. It was the cherry on the top and I now know that I have been doing something right.”

His only regret is his father never having seen him on TV.

Deez gave up drinking completely ten years ago due to the amount of travelling he did and his views on that topic sum him up well, “Alcohol is part and parcel of racing. It alters your personality and that’s why people do it, to have a short release where they are more relaxed, but I realised I didn’t actually need it, I have always been intoxicated on life!”

By David Thiselton