{"id":423342,"date":"2025-09-14T09:24:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T09:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/423342\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T09:24:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T09:24:24","slug":"suraj-narredu-it-was-a-big-deal-to-come-to-ascot-and-it-was-a-big-deal-back-home-in-india-topics-what-theyre-thinking-shergar-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/423342\/","title":{"rendered":"Suraj Narredu: It was a big deal to come to Ascot and it was a big deal back home in India | Topics: What They’re Thinking, Shergar Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/Suraj Narredu: four-time Indian Derby winner who achieved lifetime ambition when riding a winner at Ascot. Photo: Ascot Racecourse \/ Megan Coggin<\/p>\n

Our questions are answered by the Indian champion jockey who recently rode a high-profile winner at Ascot at the Shergar Cup meeting<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Suraj Narredu realised a lifelong dream when he rode a winner in August on his Shergar Cup debut at Ascot \u2013\u00a0the track where Frankie Dettori\u2019s 1996 \u2018Magnificent Seven\u2019 feat inspired him to become a jockey.<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old, who has ridden nearly 2,500 winners in India including the Indian Derby four times, also captained the new Asian team to overall victory in the annual international jockeys\u2019 event.<\/p>\n

At the age of 25, Narredu became the youngest Indian jockey to reach 1,000 career wins \u2013 and notched his 2,000th success in 2019. His father Satish and uncle Malesh, both now successful trainers, were also jockeys.<\/p>\n

It was with Malesh that a young Suraj paid his first visit to Ascot when he represented India at the 2009 Shergar Cup; a notable achievement came ten years later in 2019 when he teamed up with brother Rajesh to win the Indian Derby.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Narredu has also ridden in Australia, Dubai, France, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius and the USA. \u201cAfter my winner, winning the Shergar Cup on my debut was the icing on the cake,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a big deal to come to Ascot and it was a big deal back home in India.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?<\/p>\n

\"FlyingThat\u2019s very easy and the whole world knows it: it\u2019s Frankie Dettori<\/strong>. Mainly because when I started my career I was in awe of him. I saw what he did at Ascot, winning seven races, and from them I\u2019ve been a big fan. As I got into racing more I understood the technicalities. I still feel he can get everything inch out of a horse. To me he is the best, without a doubt.<\/p>\n

Which is your favourite venue, and race, anywhere in the world?<\/p>\n

Now that I have won at the mecca of racing, I would put Ascot <\/strong>as my number one. Having seen a lot of top horses race there over the years, it has something about it. It\u2019s an interesting course to ride as well.<\/p>\n

There are so many good races to win but my Group 1 race is the Indian Derby<\/strong>. That\u2019s the race I always want to win \u2013 but there are lots of other big races around the world I would like to ride in, if I ever got the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Who is your favourite racehorse and why?<\/p>\n

\"CaptainIt would be Frankel<\/strong>. Going unbeaten and demolishing the opposition every time, he would be every jockey\u2019s dream horse. My favourite horse that I have ridden is Be Safe. He was a son of Holy Roman Emperor who won me the first of my four Derbys in 2015 and he won the Bangalore Derby also.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is your fondest memory in racing?<\/p>\n

My first Indian Derby win on Be Safe<\/strong> and the reception we got from the crowd as we returned to the winners\u2019 circle. He was going a mile and a half for the first time. He had a very high cruising speed but I wasn\u2019t worried about getting the trip. He had a huge stride. The horse was a crowd favourite and the entire celebration and jubilation was magnificent. It was the first time I had felt an experience like that.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?<\/p>\n

It would be the whip rules in Britain! Of course I felt hard done by to pick up a ban at Ascot<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t for over-whipping.\u00a0I gave my horse a backhander and on the second stride I gave him another but he was responding so quickly and I got suspended for not giving three strides between the first and second crack.<\/p>\n

I felt they could have been more lenient for a first-timer under these rules. In India we are allowed eight strikes with exceptions if used as a corrective measure. We don\u2019t have immediate suspensions \u2013 we have two fines first and then suspension and for a fourth offence you have to ride for the entire rest of the season without a whip.<\/p>\n

Suraj Narredu\u00a0was speaking to Jon Lees<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0View the entire What They’re Thinking series<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Karis Teetan: I never met Lester Piggott but he was legend and you always try to look up to someone like that<\/a><\/p>\n

Hugh Bowman: The industry is driven by the financial dollar \u2013 but that\u2019s not where the heart is<\/a><\/p>\n

Willie Carson: Dayjur was exhilarating \u2013 the fastest horse I ever rode, the fastest horse anybody ever rode<\/a><\/p>\n

Oisin Murphy: The normal person felt an attachment to racing that doesn\u2019t exist anymore<\/a><\/p>\n

View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses \/<\/a>\u00a0jockeys \/<\/a>\u00a0trainers \/<\/a>\u00a0sires<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Suraj Narredu: four-time Indian Derby winner who achieved lifetime ambition when riding a winner at Ascot. Photo: Ascot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-423342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115201931326824152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}