Corey Brown has just returned home after a hugely successful stint riding in Mauritius.

The tiny island to the east of Madagascar may not often rate a mention on the world stage but when it comes to horse racing fanaticism, no other country comes close.

In fact Mauritius is often considered the only country on the planet with horse racing as its national sport.

It’s of no surprise then that Brown thoroughly enjoyed his  second stint on the island.

“I had an absolute ball, second time I’ve been there…been about nine years since I went there the first time,” he said.

He says in excess of 12,000 people were there on the two days he was riding as part of a jockeys challenge event.

“The track isn’t what we’d be used to racing on over here in Australia, the excitement and the people that are there.

“They get right into it, it’s free admission if they get to the inside of the racecourse.

“It’s good to see the young kids getting into it, five and six year olds hanging over the fence yelling out your name.”

He also says he’s also noticed a clear improvement in the standard of racing since his last visit.

“It’s more our country and maybe a couple of horses up to provincial level,” he said.

“The first time I went there the horses didn’t really look like racehorses.

“This time I went over they looked like decent quality racehorses.

“They’re getting better with everything as time goes on.”

Brown ended up riding a couple of winners and helped steer his rest of the world team to victory over the locals and the Europeans.

That said, it didn’t stop him copping a few choice words from the revved up punters.

“You hear plenty of swear words getting thrown at you if you don’t win,” he said.