S’MANGA Khumalo will make racing history at the Vaal on Thursday when he is set to become the first black jockey to win the national riders championship. It is the final meeting of the 2013-14 season.It has been a marathon 12 months for the Durban-born jockey who has had the worry of a 60-day suspension — the case has gone to the high court — hanging over his head. He has finished 44 winners clear of his nearest rival, Richard Fourie.Khumalo began his riding career in Zimbabwe — he rode his first winner, a horse named Lightning Dawn — and then moved to the Gauteng Jockeys Academy in Johannesburg.His grade 1 victories include wins on Wagner and Dancewiththedevil and a year ago he became the first black jockey to win the Vodacom Durban July when partnering Heavy Metal.Interviewed by Winning Form prior to this year’s Durban July, Khumalo said: "I am obviously pleased with my work ethic, the hunger and desire that I have displayed, but most of all the endurance to last the whole season....
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