Derryl Daniels looked a picture of calmness and dapperness at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday complete with his flat racing hat and the smile became broader after his boss Peter Muscutt had landed a treble.
The affable horseman is open about his past and ready to embrace a future which will hopefully see him make full use of his wealth of largely untapped talent as a jockey.
He said, “I am a recovering addict. It has been a journey through Project Exodus after Mike Shaw got hold of me. At this stage I am facilitating groups and leading groups. I have done ERS and recovery skills courses, so I am fully involved in recovery programs now. It is a new way of life and I am very grateful for that. I am a recovering alcoholic and addict and very proud to say going two years now.”
A comeback of such proportions has been made before.
Andrew Fortune famously lifted himself from an addict, who graphically described some of his lowest points, to be champion jockey in the 2008/2009 season, a feat made more remarkable by the fact he was a heavyweight rider.
Fortune’s chief goal was to inspire fellow recovering addicts.
Deryl confirmed, “I do get hold of ‘Manne’ Fortune and we have a good chat and he always says to me, ‘Not enough pain, Boy, not enough pain!’ Manne will be proud, I do speak to him quite a bit. I have a good network of friends now, people around me, a support system, and that is very important.”
Deryl said in an interview a couple of years back, “When you are 20, drive a nice car, and have some owners, trainers, the racing public and the media trumpeting your talents, it can be an intoxicating high and a loaded gun in naïve hands. Every apprentice – no matter his background or foundation – needs to be briefed by a man like Andrew Fortune.”
Deryl had no such role model and mentor in his vulnerable years.
In 2018 he had reached rock bottom, but was overwhelmed by the show of support he received from the racing community after he was suspended from riding in races.
There is little doubt the horse has also played a huge role in his recovery.
He worked with horses in Johannesburg after his suspension, including riding work for the Fortunes and Clinton Binda.
He said, “Then two years ago Pete Muscutt gave me a chance and I moved down to Durban from Jo’burg. There weren’t any thoughts of race riding again, but the idea was put in my head by Mike Shaw, Mike de Haas and Pete Muscutt. I started working towards a goal and here I am.”
He continued, “Over a period of six months I had to have nine urine tests randomly taken and I had to have a hip check up, because I have had a hip replacement done, Mike de Haas and Dr Mark Human kindly sponsored that. The hip is doing well and I have gone through all of my tests and now am just waiting for a reply from Jo’burg and will then just have to sort out my insurance.”
Deryl is expecting to be riding in races within two to three weeks.
He said, “Mr. Ryan Hutcheson (KZN chief stipe) has been very accommodating and understanding, he has guided me through the process. Peter Muscutt has sent a recommendation and confirmation that I am working and that everything is going cool.”
Deryl has shown glimpses of top class skill as a jockey and nobody will ever question his value as a horseman.
In 2010 he won the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 on the Glen Kotzen-trained Imperious Star with a superb front-running ride that drew wide praise. The Navarone (USA) filly was the only Graded Stakes winning foal produced by Met winner Imperious Sue (Nothern Guest) and converted 8/1 odds.
However, Deryl was at that time a second choice rider and was not in demand.
In the 2014/2015 he started off as slowly as had become customary with just a few rides here and there and by the end of September had not ridden a winner. However, in October he rode five winners at a strike rate of 26.32% and repeated the feat in November, doing it at a strike rate of 13.89%.
Then in December, he rode ten winners at a strike rate of 17.54% and was drawing more and more attention to himself from all of trainers, the public and the media.
He might have only been in 29th position on the log by the end of December that season, but to put it into perspective one position below him in 30th was one Warren Kennedy.
However, on Friday night January 16, 2015, at Greyville Deryl’s mount Between The Sheets rushed the front gates, unseating him. He sustained a wrist and scapula injury and was sidelined.
It was a cruel blow and culminated in a downward spiral.
He said yesterday, “I have been riding work everyday for Peter Muscutt for two years now, three strings. I work in the yard and have picked up so much experience in soundness of horses, treatment of horses and training of horses.”
Muscutt has a wealth of local and international experience, including working in the Chris Waller yard at the time of the great Winx’s career.
Deryl said, “Imagine me getting that experience for free plus the chance to ride again. It has just been such an amazing journey the last two years. I can not be more thankful and grateful than I am right now.”
He added, “This will be the last chance I will get. I watched Frankie Dettori’s documentary and it hit me when his wife said to him, ‘I know you are good, show me how good you are.’ So this is now my chance to show there is something. But the blessing is I have never waivered from the love of the horse. I do it for the love of the horse. I live, breath and eat for horses. If it was not for these animals I would be nothing.”
Daniels at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday (Candiese Lenferna).
Deryl also loves running and has done one Comrades (the down run in 2018) and has managed to do a bit of running since his hip replacement.
Asked about the best memories of his previous riding years, he replied, “Working with Frikkie Greyling who is a horseman of note and a special type of person, I really got a lot from him and miss him; working with David Ferraris and Alec Laird; and riding top horses like Classic Flag, Divine Force and Imperious Star. I travelled abroad plenty too. But If I had to pick one it would definitely be winning the Group 1 on Imperious Star.”
He concluded by saying he had never been in a better place mentally and was “at peace”.
