Serino Moodley finished in the Top 10 on the National Jockeys standings for the second successive season in the recently concluded 2024/25 campaign, confirming his status among the leading riders in the country.
Hell-bent on bettering last term’s haul, the Durban-based jockey has hit the ground running in the early weeks of the current season, epitomised by his recent trips to ride at Highveld meetings that have been particularly productive.
This trend looks set to continue for the visiting KwaZulu-Natal jockey at the eight-race Vaal fixture on Thursday 25 September, as Moodley’s seven rides on the card include three likely winners, including two for trainer Fanie Bronkhorst.
That jockey-trainer combination should get the meeting off to a winning start with three-year-old filly Raceway in Race 1 over 1200m. This daughter of New Predator raced in first-time blinkers when staying on well to finish third over 1000m in her second start after a rest and, with improvement expected over the extended trip in her peak outing, Raceway should make sufficient progress to open her account at the seventh attempt.
Moodley and Bronkhorst will likely bookend the meeting with Time For Charity good value to go one better after back-to-back recent seconds, the latest under the same rider over 1200m on Turffontein’s Inside track earlier this month.
The in-form six-year-old Time Thief mare races off a two-point higher mark but won’t be winning out of turn and another bold bid is expected of her in Race 8 over 1100m.
Before that, last-start winner Palace Prince should follow up an impressive recent success under Moodley by taking out Race 7 over 1200m, the same course and distance of his career-best victory under the same rider last month. St John Gray’s Potala Palace colt could hardly have been more impressive when cruising to a 4.25-length victory that earned him the maximum eight-point penalty but, on the evidence of that performance, it shouldn’t prevent him from going in again despite a racing off of a career-high mark.
Clive Robinson
