3 minute read

After getting an early whiff of the top prize at the Air Mauritius & Attitude International Jockeys’ Weekend 2016, James Winks had to eventually settle for a laudable runner-up spot to French star Maxime Guyon on Sunday.

The underrated Australian jockey went into the second Leg of the annual Mauritius jockeys’ series in joint second place (with Guyon), one point behind fellow countryman and Victorian Mark Zahra (18 points), but took the bit in the mouth right from Sunday’s first race, the Bonny Air Travel Cup (1500m) by scoring aboard 7-4 favourite Jullidar to kick well clear by seven points.

Winks was topping the table for the first time, but knew he was anything but home with at least three jockeys within striking distance, especially Guyon who was booked on at least another two good chances while his own remaining three rides – The Real Hero, Ashanti Gold and Captain’s Cronicle were not quite in the market.

Guyon was indeed just warming up to the task. Within two races, the Andre Fabre jockey had the championship shot to pieces when he booted home two more winners, Duke The Duke and Paladin for another 18 points.

By the penultimate race, Guyon was already beyond reach, leading Winks – whose three rides ran out of the placings as expected - by 11 points. The last race, the Vocalcom International Trophy (1400m), was purely academic, but the hungry rider was in no mood to share the spoilsas he snagged that as well with Sunset Breeze for a hat-trick and a total haul of four winners and 44 points to land his second IJW title after 2014.

Winks won silver on 26 points, a result he wasmore than happy with given the tools he was handed.

“I didn’t get the best of draws, but just to participate in such a series was a great thrill,” said Winks.

“I honestly didn’t expect to do so well. I had a good first day and I thought Jullidar was my best chance on the second day, and he didn’t disappoint but Maxime had a stronger book of rides and he was just too good.”

Winks, who returns to Melbourne on Tuesday after five months riding on a retainer with the Patrick Merven yard in Mauritius, was delighted his last 2016 winner, Jullidar (19wins all up) happened to be trained by his boss.

“I’m not going to lie, on the track, Jullidar would win any race, but it’s taken us a long time to gel with him,” said Winks.

“Even today, he did try to the best of his ability till late.I had to put the whip in the left hand and the right hand just to change it up.

“He’s got ability and now that he’s won a race, he will continue on, hopefully. I’ve done a lot of work with the horse and I’d like to thank Patrick and the owners as it’s the main reason why I’m here.

“I will now go home and freshen up for next year.”

Merven, who took a chance on Winks, a complete unknown to Mauritians, back in July, had nothing but words of praise for his rider.

“James is a very good jockey, very professional. His strongest point is his very good feedback, and for us trainers, it helps us a great deal,” said Merven.

“He has adapted to the track very quickly, even if I remember his first two rides were a disaster, but he was quick to find his way around it.

“He’s won 18 races for us and helped us get past our target of 25 winners for the season. We haven’t yet discussed if he is coming back next year, but we will do it in due course.”

To Merven, Jullidar owed his first win to Winks’ 10-out-of-10 ride.

“I’m glad he was able to draw at least one horse for us (Jullidar) at the international meeting and win. If it wasn’t for James, the horse wouldn’t have won today,” he said.

“I think the addition of pacifiers also helped him today, though in his head, he’s still very immature.”

Zahra, who finished fourth on 22 points with two winners (Blue Jeans and Avail on Saturday), was also rapt with his first Mauritius experience. Leading after Day 1, the Perth-born Melbourne hoop unfortunately slid down with three unplaced runs from three unfancied rides on Sunday before Var’s Dream nearly made all in the last race, only to find one better in Sunset Breeze.

“I didn’t have as much luck today, but I rode two winners and we all had a lot of fun. It was just great,” said the Melbourne hoop.

Rawiller was the only one amongthe three Australians not to have got on the scoresheet, but gave a glimpse of his qualities with three seconds, of which the ones with the two smokies on Sunday – Montante (34-1) and Dark Abbot (39-1) earned appreciative nods all round.

On Montante in the first race, Rawiller nearly upstaged Winks and Jullidar with a stinging rails run, but had to settle for second place another neck away while Dark Abbot, who was at only his second Mauritius start, ran into dead ends at a crucial stage of the race before getting into the clear, but still did well to run on for second to Duke The Duke in the Tiger Tropical Gloria Cup (1600m).

“I had three seconds. It would have been nice to ride a winner, but it’s okay,” said Rawiller, who had wife Carolyn and children Cleo and Lucas by his side during the prize presentation ceremony in the parade ring.

“It was all in all a great experience.”