By Michael Lee, Singapore Turf Club
Noh Senari’s absence from the races has been notable for a while, with persistent rumours of retirement swirling about, and upon checking, the heavyweight jockey confirmed he has hung up his boots.
The 29-year-old won’t be careering away down the Kranji home straight at 65kph anymore, and neither will he be staring down at bathroom scales anymore.
It is well-documented the gifted rider has struggled with his weight all his career – at 56kgs, he is the heaviest in the jockeys’ room – but something else was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, quite literally.
“I had a trackwork fall back in May and hurt my back. It was nothing too serious, but it’s taken a long time to heal,” said Noh.
“Scans showed that my L4 was bulging. When that happened, I thought that was it for my riding career.
“That in itself was not career-ending, but the last two years have been so hard for me trying to lose weight every day that it wasn’t funny.
“As you all know, I’m a big boy. I couldn’t find a single day to rest, you ride on Saturday and the next day, you have to keep your weight in check again.
“Something told me this time it was over, but I still wanted to rest and give the injury a chance to recover.
“I waited for two months, but it wasn’t getting any better. So, I informed the Stewards I was stopping.”
After 11 years in the saddle, effectively seven years given his career was interrupted by National Service in 2012 and a three-year hiatus due to disciplinary issues and the odd mental meltdown from 2015 to 2017, Noh bows out the winner of 114 races, and regrettably with the tag of one of the most talented local jockeys not to have won an apprentice jockey title (closest he came was runner-up to A’Isisuhairi Kasim in 2014) or a feature win.
However, Noh is not at all gutted by those glaring misses on the final print of his CV, as he takes comfort in an unlikely role model, an underdog English ski-jumper who embodied the same philosophy as him – the Olympic spirit.
“If you’ve watched the movie Eddie The Eagle, there’s this ski-jumper who wanted to take part in the Winter Olympics. He got there but he never won any medals,” said Noh.
“I’m a bit like him, I wasn’t cut out to be a jockey, but I’m proud that I was able to live my dream.
“I’ve wanted to become a jockey like my uncles M Rahmat and M Rahman since I was a kid, and even though at my first screening, the people at the apprentice school told me that from the size of my legs, I would become too heavy to be a jockey, I didn’t give up and defied all the odds.
“Nine out of 10 applicants cannot become a jockey, not a lot of people can enter the apprentice programme, but I made it and nothing can take that away from me.
“With my weight problems, I’ve managed to ride for 13 years, and enjoyed good success. Of course, I miss riding, like how I still watch races, and criticise rides and all that, but I have no regrets, I’ve given it a good go while I was riding, but it’s now time to move on because my body is telling me that enough is enough.”
While Noh won’t have to test the pain barrier anymore, the fitness freak feels his mind and body are still fit for racing in a less stringent capacity. With racing in his blood, Noh is keen to give back what he has learned from his niche craft to an industry he still wants to be part of.
“I still want to give back to racing. I want to become a master to the apprentice jockeys and have already spoken to the Stewards about that,” he said.
“I’m sure there may be better candidates, but I believe I have the full package because I’ve experienced the highs and lows of that career.
“It won’t be just the riding part, but also the soft skills like how to handle conflicts with trainers, which I personally know something about. I just want to help the boys to be better riders while pointing out the do’s and don’ts, something I didn’t always have when I was an apprentice.”
As he stands at crossroads to find out whether he gets the nod to stay on the Kranji path, Noh looks back on his rollercoaster journey with fond memories, without pinpointing any particular win as a standout.
From his first winner Incredible Son on March 4, 2011 to his last, Yes One Ball on May 15, 2021, Noh certainly had a ball.
“I think the year that I became a full-fledged jockey in 2019 was my best achievement. I had 34 winners that day and finished sixth on the log,” said Noh.
“I don’t have any favourite horse or winner. I just rode every winner like it was my last winner.
“Whether it’s a Class 5 or Class 1, I’ll always stand up with a salute after the line.
“I’ve had a few low points, but I don’t really have any major regret except maybe for not listening to my dad when I just started out.
“He told me a jockey can’t play football and rugby because the muscles will grow with such sports, but I kept playing!
“Looking back, maybe he was right but it probably would have extended my career by another couple of years. Mother Nature has just made me that way.
“It was also a choice I made to continue the legacy of my uncles M Rahmat and M Rahman, who unfortunately passed away in January.
“As it turned out, I’m not a bad football player either, so it’s all good!”
