A vacant spot will be left open in the Queensland riding ranks following jockey Ronnie Stewart’s decision to take up a riding contract in Mauritius from this week.
The globetrotting jockey, who turns 35 on Tuesday, is returning for a second stint on the Indian Ocean island, and on a retainer with the same trainer he rode for in 2012, Vincent Allet.
He will be joining Daniel Stackhouse, the only other Australasian (Stackhouse is a Kiwi who rode in Victoria) currently riding in Mauritius, and Robbie Fradd, who is South African but was Stewart’s fellow rider in Brisbane (in last two years) and Singapore (in the late 2000s). Fradd is the current leading jockey in Mauritius on 19 winners with Stackhouse a close third, three winners behind.
A winner of over 560 races, Stewart, who has been calling Brisbane home since 2016, after plying his trade in Sydney (where he was champion apprentice jockey in 2002/2003), Singapore, Mauritius, Macau, Newcastle, Adelaide, said it was the right time to pack his bags again, even if he was doing very well at his new base.
At his first 2016/2017 season in Brisbane, coming off a sabbatical year when he earned a helicopter pilot’s licence, he rode 20 winners to finish 12th even if he missed the first four months. Last season, he finished sixth on 43 winners. Jeff Lloyd was the runaway winner in both seasons.
“It was a good time to go. With the Winter Carnival over, it’s a quiet period over here in Brisbane,” said Stewart who landed in Mauritius on Sunday.
“I’ve had two very good seasons in Brisbane since I’ve been riding there. Trainers like Chris Munce and Tony Sears have been my main supporters, and I can’t thank them enough for that.
“But a lot of the races suit the apprentices more, and as there are only two and a half months with about nine meetings left in the Mauritius season, I felt it was just nice. I will be back for the two-year-olds at the Magic Millions races in January.
“I’ve got a handful of horses in the pipeline and hopefully they will be good enough when I get back.”
Stewart, who also has a share in a new café which is soon to be opened, said Mauritius had always been a place he wanted to go back and ride.
“I did okay at my first season with Vincent in 2012. I rode eight winners for him,” he said.
“I was always keen to go back when I get the chance. When Vincent rang me a month ago, I thought the timing was right to go.
“We get along well and hopefully we can have some success again, even if I know his stable has not had the best season so far.”
A former Mick Price trainee and Mauritius champion trainer in 2007, Allet currently lies in 12th place among the 15 licensed trainers at Champ de Mars, the island’s only racecourse, with only four winners.
Another fellow Brisbane jockey Ryan Wiggins rode for Allet last year, doing fairly well by booting home 14 of Allet’s haul of 17 winners. But Allet will be at his third stable jockey this year after the first two, UK’s Darryll Holland and Richard Mullen were sidelined through injury, by coincidence, both sustained at the barriers, and had to cut short their contract.
