Jockey Nick Souquet has revealed the sacrifices he has made to keep riding in NSW during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Souquet made the tough decision to split-up his young family in March and relocate to NSW so he could keep riding in the Riverina where he predominantly rides.
The Wodonga based hoop initially relocated to Corowa with his three-year-old daughter Ivy to live with his 70-year-old mother.
Souquet left behind wife Laura and their two oldest children, Zach, 12, and Eila, 8.
Recently he has been living in Albury with Julie Miller, who is the mother of Canberra based jockey Simon.
Souquet only moved back home to Wodonga last week after five months of being apart from his young family.
"Laura basically told me last week if I don't come home now, don't come home at all," Souquet said.
"And who could blame her?
"Laura has still been working full-time at Westmont Aged Care which has been stressful with the threat of COVID-19.
"She has also had to juggle having the two oldest kids with homeschooling.
"It just got too hard in the end and put too much strain on my marriage."
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Souquet said he was forever grateful for the accommodation and help provided by Julie Miller.
"Julie has been a godsend," he said.
"I was living with mum in Corowa but had to travel to Albury most mornings for trackwork which wears you down.
"So Ivy and I moved in with Julie in her two bedroom apartment.
"Julie used to work night shift and then come home and look after Ivy while I rode trackwork.
"So she was an absolute saviour."
Souquet will now only be able to ride in Victoria until Racing NSW officials ease restrictions regarding interstate participants.
North-East trainers are also reluctant to cross the border with protocols a logistic nightmare.
The biggest stumbling block for Victorian based trainers racing in NSW is finding a suitable property to stay prior to the race.
Horses must be transported to a spelling property or pre-training property that is not located on a NSW racecourse.
Horses also can't be transported directly to a NSW racecourse or licensed stables and must remain on the spelling property or pre-training property for a minimum of 48 hours prior to being transported to a racecourse of licensed stable.
"I've talked to a few Victorian trainers about the protocols and they all agree its a nightmare," he said.
"If horses are sitting on a private property and not in stables it's not hard for somebody to get at the horse and become a victim of foul play."
