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Globetrotting jockey Noel Callow will finally put his Australian comeback off by a week after he made a sudden about-turn by accepting the Mauritius Turf Club’s invitation to ride at their jockeys’ series on 1 and 2 December.
Photo by Mike Lee
Callow, who has been a key player in his stable, the Gujadhur’s, landing the trainer’s championship at the just-concluded Mauritian season, had initially announced he had turned down the offer to join the Team Southern Hemisphere after Brisbane-based South African jockey Jeff Lloyd dropped out due to a suspension.
On Friday, on the eve of the Indian Ocean island’s penultimate weekend of racing, the popular hoop cited family reasons as his decision to reluctantly pass up the opportunity to pit his skills against the likes of Christophe Soumillon, Olivier Peslier, William Buick and Mickael Barzalona.
But Callow, 37, who won that Mauritius International Jockeys’ Weekend in 2007, changed his mind on Saturday morning to the delight of the cult following he has established among Mauritian racegoers since he began his tenure for the Gujadhurs in mid-September.
“I thought long and hard about it and finally decided to stay on. I thank the Mauritius Turf Club for giving me this opportunity to take part in their biggest raceday of the year,” said Callow.
“I was meant to ride back home at Cranbourne on 1 December, but I didn’t have anything firmed up anyway. So, I thought I’d stay for one week and will definitely head home after that.
“I haven’t seen Renee (wife) and the kids for four months and I’m looking forward to spending Christmas home with them.”
Callow ended his contract as retained jockey to the Gujadhurs on a winning note on Saturday by scoring aboard the last of his three rides, Urbi Et Orbi.
As has now become a regular scene at the Champ de Mars track whenever “King” Callow salutes, adoring fans mobbed the side of the winner’s circle a and chanted his name with wild abandon as he was led back to scales by the Gujadhurs.
Fans will now get two more days to cheer their pin-up jockey on at the IJW event where Callow will be joined by fellow Australian, two-time Sydney champion jockey Hugh Bowman, who will be at his first participation at the annual event which has regularly attracted other Aussie jockeys such as Corey Brown (won last year), Chris Munce, Jim Cassidy, Kevin Moses in the last 28 years since its inception.
