Joey and Fee in Mauritius this week
All is good on the sun-kissed island of Mauritius. The weather is beautiful and we are staying in the most amazing house right on the beach. It really is as near to perfect as it could be. The kids are loving it and life could not be better; well it could if the Mauritian rupee was not so strong against our poor and ailing rand,writes Joey Ramsden.
When we were here this time last year, I remember getting four rupees to my rand. Now I am only getting 2,8 which makes going out an extremely expensive episode, regardless of where you go. It beats the hell out of me how an economy like Mauritius can manage to maintain a far stronger currency than we are able to.
We went racing at Champ de Mars at the weekend and had a great time, along with Dharmesh and Melissa Naik. They had a couple of runners. Sadly they did not do any good but it was still a fun day.
I managed to get myself out of trouble with Intercontinental, which looks like being the horse of the year in Mauritius. His trainer, Gilbert Rousset, has done an outstanding job with him. It is the usual merry go round of jockeys and many are starting to meet their fate three quarters of the way through the season.
Hatchett Maingard is now importing Andrew Fortune, which I mentioned the other day. I received a text from Andrew last night stating “Brother, I arrive today!” I am not sure if this is good or bad news but I am very much looking forward to seeing him. I feel even Andrew’s eyes could be opened as to what is expected of him here in Mauritius.
One thing here is that you have to push your horse for 800ms. That is three times longer than Andrew is used to at present. You also have to keep your horse in an extremely straight line. I can only forsee problems for the great man from Cape Town but I wish him well. Thankfully I will not be present for his first meeting which is this coming Saturday. I will be flying back to Cape Town early Saturday morning and racing is in the afternoon. The chances of him being on the same flight are minimal but one never knows with Andrew.
A couple of other jockeys have been fired so the opportunities are opening up for my good friend, Mark Neisius, and his lovely wife, Carina, who have been looking after us while we are here. Our children have a great time with their two kids and it is a blessed relief for them to have company apart from me. We all went on the most amazing Catamaran trip with Mark and Dharmesh to a desert island. All I can say is that I felt like dropping the kids off and coming back on my own.
We took a trip out to see Variety Club and Blueridge Mountain in quarantine. VC is looking absolutely magnificent, superb and it was great to be able to feed the great carrot chomper his favourite vegetable.
Blueridge Mountain is looking a little weary from all the travelling and is having a few days off in the paddock. VC is out and about doing his thing in facilities that, while extremely picturesque, are very limited. It is hard to do much with the horses there as the track is very tight and not the most level. It is very much a case of less is more.
The weather has been good. Sadly, I feel all the horses there are in for a nasty shock if and when they land in the UK as I believe the weather there is starting to turn. It is only now that I am beginning to understand how tough it is for Mike to do well in Dubai during the Carnival. The changes and the course that these horses have to undertake is extremely tough for them. I am really only now starting to understand what is required.
I believe the weather in Cape Town is still playing havoc and will not stabilise until mid-October. Hopefully we can then all start to get going properly. Once again we have some nice runners and I am hoping to be dealt a kinder hand than we were on the weekend as I have not seen the draws yet. Let’s hope once the fields get sent to me it will not spoil my holiday. Colonel Avo has been doing a fine job at home in my absence and I am sure everything will be in tip-top shape on my return.
I think this is the last of my peaceful days and in the words of Depeche Mode “I will try and enjoy the silence” as I have a strong feeling the peace and quiet is to be shattered later on today. I will try and report later as to how our friend, Andrew, has settled in and how many of the Islanders he has managed to upset on Day 1. This is your Captain signing off on DAY 112, 1st October, enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasts.
