After a 15-hour flight from Melbourne via Perth, Australia’s sole representative at the annual jockeys’ challenge landed on the Indian Ocean island on Wednesday afternoon just in time to reach the Attitude Ravenala Hotel where the crucial draw for the rides over the two-day event on December 1 and 2 was taking place.

With each of the 12 jockeys guaranteed at least six top-seeded horses over the 15 races (one race on Sunday is for the Fegentri amateur lady riders), Dunn will on paper be on a level-playing field.

Races are, however, not won at draws, but on the track, and from the grapevine in the racing-mad Indian Ocean island, the Melbourne rider would be midtable in the current market talks – 10-1 shot ante-post might be a fair call of his chances.

From the low-down gleaned among the local pundits (mainly form analysts, local media and the ubiquitous punting aficionados who throng the island), Rasta Rebel (Race 1 on Saturday), Starsky (Race 1 on Sunday) and Horse Guards (Race 6 on Sunday) figure among his leading hopes.

“Obviously, you need quality and a good barrier in such series. I’m not sure about my rides and will do some form in the next couple of days, but I’ll definitely do my best to ride at least one winner,” said Dunn who is in Mauritius with wife Amanda.

“I’m happy to be here. It’s more like a holiday after the Spring Carnival and I’ll get to play golf as well.

“But I’m also going to do my best at the races. I’m pretty excited to get a chance to ride at a place I’ve heard so much about, and hopefully, with a bit of luck, we’ll have a bit of fun in Mauritius.”

Dunn was also happy to have reunited with an old acquaintance of his – former jockey Simon Jones, who was stable rider to his old boss, John Hall in Adelaide, and is now a trainer in Mauritius.

“Simon was my boss John Hall’s stable rider when I was still an apprentice jockey in Adelaide,” he said.

“It was great to catch up with him after more than 20 years. He played a big part in my career and after all these years, it’s pretty amazing I will be riding two of his horses (Patrol Mission and Antwerp) this weekend.”

The other 11 jockeys are freshly-minted Mauritius champion jockey Robbie Fradd from South Africa (last year’s IJW winner and previously based in Brisbane), two-time IJW winner Maxime Guyon (2014 and 2016), Aurelien Lemaitre and Mickaelle Michel from France, Seamus Heffernan from Ireland, Manoel Nunes from Brazil, Manuel Martinez from Chile, Troy See from Singapore, Akshay Kumar from India, Nooresh Juglall from Mauritius and Jameer Allyhosain as the leading Mauritian jockey.

Dwayne Dunn’s 12 rides are as follows:

*Denotes seeded horse

The winner of jockeys’ challenge will be the one who chalks up the most points over the six best performances. Points will be allocated as follows:

Should there be a tie for first place, the 7^th best score will be computed in to determine the winner. Both meetings will be broadcast ‘live’ on Sky Racing in Australia.