Newly crowned Mauritius champion jockey Donavan Mansour is a relieved man. His wife Roxy was in labour with their second child when he showed her the air-tickets that would take the young family on an unforgettable journey in 2016.
Donavan Mansour
The 32 year old had reached something of a crossroads in his career when he left Johannesburg after an offer from Mayfair Speculators’ Derek Brugman to ride the Jooste horses in the Cape.
But the new dream was shattered after a fall which saw him tear his quad, groin and lower abdominal muscles.
The unlikely jockey – he claimed 4kgs at the age of 24 after a late start to his career – thought back to that trying first year of his training in New Zealand and decided he had to reinvent himself again.
“That was the toughest year of my life. I missed my family terribly but I had to do what I needed to do. New Zealand, when I look back, was a great experience. The Kiwi people are true horsemen and I could not have bought that experience. I lived in the rural Matamata. Blink and you miss it! So you found yourself spending more time with the horses because it was a bit boring. But I learnt a lot.”
With Dad’s biggest fan, 3yo Moskow, and his newborn brother Mikhail in tow, Don and Roxy boarded the Air Mauritius flight ten months ago and headed for Port Louis and an opportunity to ride for the Rameshwar Gujadhur string.
They moved into a self-catering hotel.
A beautiful place to live and work
“It is very modern and beautiful but next year we will stay in a villa as the kids are driving us mad in the apartment,” laughs Roxy as she proudly reflects back.
“We love the island lifestyle. Don finishes work at 07h30 and then it’s family time. His job was surprisingly a very good one. The stable normally has 18-20 winners a season but this year they managed 50 plus winners. His trainer is a lovely man and they worked well together. His goal this year was to win the championship. Even though it was going to be very hard, he made it clear to the press and everyone that it was his goal. He also managed a strike rate of over 30%.”
Rameshwar Gujadhur, with Donavan, Roxy, Moskow and Mikhail at the Champ de Mars
The championship achievement is put into perspective by Donavan’s never-say-die approach to life.
He was off for over 2 years with health issues and Doctors had told him he wouldn’t ride again.
“I owe this all to Dr Mathew Leisher. He helped me back to work. I had developed a number of allergies due to my immune system crashing – and would you believe it, horses was one of them!”
Champs de Mars
The family are taking a holiday on their favourite island and are due back in SA next month.
“I am going to have a look at Australia sometime in February as a possible move in the future,” says Don.
And his best moment of the season?
“Every winner is great. The atmosphere at the Champ de Mars is electric. I was proud to represent South Africa in the jockey international meeting at the last meet and rode 2 winners from 8 rides. That was a highlight!”
