Australian Jockeys Noel Callow and Hugh Bowman spearheaded the Southern Hemisphere Team to victory in the two-day Mauritius International Jockeys’ Weekend just passed.
Hugh Bowman rode a winning double at the Mauritius International Jockey's Weekend. Photo by: Taron Clarke
In a drama packed two days racing Bowman was able to ride a winning double on the Sunday, the second day of the carnival, his final winning ride on Azapel with a painful foot injury which saw him forfeit his remaining two mounts.
“Azapel was probably my next best chance, but I hurt my foot one ride earlier. The horse got spooked by the firecrackers, spun around and caught me off balance,” Bowman said.
“I thumped my heels on landing. It hurt when I walked but I was okay once I got into the saddle.
“I thought I’d ice it and it would be okay, but unfortunately it didn’t and I had to give up the last two rides. But it’s all good as I’ve ridden two winners and our team won the overall title.”
Bowman got off to a slow start and while not riding a winner on the Saturday, contributed greatly to lifting the Southern Hemisphere Team across the line in first spot with eighty-five points.
Bowman finished in second spot with thirty-two points behind Callow who took out the Gold Whip award for the second time after also claiming the praise in 2007, for the best individual jockey with thirty-three points with a win on day one and a winning double on day two.
Callow’s luck was riding high and he was able to claim Assogia Wood’s victory in the stewards’ room after objecting to Christophe Soumillon causing interference on Beach Club in the second race of the day on Sunday.
“This is my best run ever here. Everything has run so smoothly for my team and myself – I even had luck in the steward’s room!” Callow said.
Although Bowman will be coming home to Sydney with his foot in a plaster cast, even though the injury was diagnosed only as a sprain, he had a glowing report for the Mauritius International Jockeys Weekend.
“Though I hurt my foot, I had a real blast here. The atmosphere is nothing that I’ve ever experienced before, even more so when you win and they cheer you on,” Bowman said.
Local rider Nooresh Juglall was third on the jockey’s tally with thirty-one points ahead of top European riders Olivier Peslier (24 points) and Christophe Soumillon (23 points).
South African jockey Johnny Geroudis led the Southern Hemisphere Team and with twenty individual points added to Bowman and Callow’s tally to chalk up the winning points (85) with Team Mauritius running second with sixty-five points, France third on thirty-eight and the Rest Of The World in last spot on thirty-six points.
