Joey Ramsden
After a great, fun party with Wayne and Belinda Kieswetter at their company do, it was back to work on Saturday morning after an extremely late night out. Somehow I managed to make it and was feeling rather proud of myself for being up and about so bright and early after getting to bed at three in the morning. Sometimes I even surprise and amaze myself.
No luck at the weekend with the runners but they all ran well. I wasn’t expecting too many fire-works. Today is the day we put names down for the International Jockeys event coming up this weekend. There are obviously some great names coming. My former brother-in-law, Jamie Spencer, and Richard Hughes are two great old mates of mine and I am very much looking forward to seeing them.
Both have had fantastic seasons; Richard in particular riding over 200 winners and being English champion and winning eight Grade one races. Quite a remarkable achievement. He can quite possibly be described as the best jockey in the world at present and a real coup to have secured him in our country.
Insult
I have not seen who the local team is yet (this is quite slack of me) but Bernard Fayd’Herbe was here to ride work this morning. I asked him how much he was looking forward to riding on Saturday against the guys and he told me he had not been selected for the South African team. I found this rather remarkable.
I think it is a serious insult to him and to Cape Racing in particular when our own champion jockey is not selected. Bernard had a fantastic year, despite being away for part of it, and I feel it is a real insult he was not considered or named. I have to say my sympathies are with the fellow. One thing Bernard is extremely good at is taking things philosophically. I think he is taking this a whole lot better than I would have done.
It was a smashing weekend for football. The Manchester United/ Arsenal game lived up to all the hype and expectations despite it only being a 1 – 0 win for the Red Devils. My great friend, Peter White, was at the game with his son. He said the atmosphere was absolutely remarkable. He has been a United supporter for 60? years (giving his age away now) and has been going to games since he was a child. He can remember the days when one stood at the bottom waiting for them. When you started feeling a warm sensation down your leg, you knew it wasn’t the guys spilling their coffee but rather doing something else.
Feeling Down
So, when he tells me the atmosphere was electric, I believe him. It is a wide open league and both the team I support, West Ham, and the team I backed, Manchester City, were pathetic. How does West Ham expect to win a game with no strikers? How bad must they have been for Norwich to get 3 past them? Well, they showed us at the weekend. Manchester City again looked, for a team with big, strapping men of immense quality, fairly awful too.
To support one and back the other, with both getting beaten, left me feeling rather down. Thankfully Monday’s work was an eye-opener and there were a few good surprises. I am very much looking forward to the week ahead. It was a good day for all of us at Kenilworth last Wednesday.
It was great to have a winner and everything ran really well with just the one disappointment right at the back. Thankfully that led to a cheery trainer right throughout the day and I could only put my proper sulking face on towards the last half hour of the day. However, a quick, high-quality single malt in Uncle Wayne’s box soon got me back on track. It was great fun to have the Carey’s round for some cauliflower chicken cheese, my wife’s speciality, later in the evening and we all had some good laughs.
Sadly, a terrible mix up occurred at Kenilworth races on Wednesday with a ringer (there is no other word for it) running in the one race. Darryl Hodgson brought the wrong horse to the races and as sod’s law would have it, the horse won, beating the 6-10 favourite. The onus is on the trainer to check on the horse and make sure the right one has come to the racecourse but like all disasters, it is a series of mistakes which all line up and the end result is not what it should be.
Sad Affair
The young lady doing the passport inspection and micro-chip check obviously couldn’t find the chip and instead of reporting the problem carried on with her job blindly. Anyway, we all know the result by now. The wrong horse wins; the 6-10 favourite runs 2nd. Thankfully, with very few people on course, no riot ensued and I suppose they can also thank their lucky stars it was not a pick six race and major permutations didn’t go down.
But people obviously backed the short-priced favourite and had it in trifecta’s and quartets and did their money. A very sad affair indeed. I am obviously sympathetic to Darryl as it can happen to any of us on an off day but there is a trail of blame going all the way to the NHA. They have to have some sort of system in place where they know the passport checker is doing her job correctly. If this was done, the problem would have been averted before the horse raced. I hope this matter is being investigated and processes are put in place that this does not happen again.
Captain Dennis
We saw some impressive winners at Kenilworth, with Dennis Drier’s Captain Of All looking an extremely lively candidate. He was unlucky last time out at Greyville over the 7 furlongs. Whether he goes the mile is another question but at this stage I would not put it past him. He looks a smart horse in the making. The summer season is really starting to hot up. Finally, it was great to have Variety Club’s groom, Vumile, return successfully from his stint in Mauritius.
He looks absolutely resplendent in his Mauritian outfit and he is dressed to the nines in designer clothing. He has obviously been shopping in the same dodgy shops as I do for those designer labels. I only hope his buttons last longer on his trousers than mine usually do. It is great to see him back; he is a lovely lad and I am sure he will benefit the yard with all his experiences abroad.
