Joey Ramsden
Sadly, Wednesday did not turn out quite as well as I had hoped. All the horses I thought would run well did. A couple I thought would run better didn’t, and a couple that I thought were moderate ran better than expected. I suppose one cannot have everything in life.
With the way the weather and tracks have been, we have had to really hammer the horses recently to try and get them into racing shape. It will be nice, once they have had a run, to ease off them and freshen them up a bit and give them a slightly more laid-back approach into their races.
I cannot help but harp back to the newspaper and yesterday’s headlines of chaos, disorder and misappropriated funds for the health care system in the Eastern Cape.
The headline was EASTERN CAPE HEALTH CARE SHOCK. I thought this was a ridiculous headline. We all know that the health care system in the Eastern Cape is corrupt and has been in disarray for the last 15 years. Why has the government not realised this? Particularly as they have been told numerous times.
It breaks one’s heart. I still have close links to the Eastern Cape and it is a place close to my own heart. It really makes me sad indeed to see what goes on there and how the people are treated. It is nothing short of disgraceful. No wonder Madiba is up in Johannesburg getting treatment. He would not have lasted long in his homeland, that’s for sure.
Last week the first few yearlings/2 yr olds arrived in the yard, which always gets one excited. The staff also start getting twitchy and it is interesting to see which grooms grab which yearlings. We pretty much leave it up to them as to who gets what and it is amazing how “lucky” grooms manage to find and choose good horses. Year after year they are able to select the best ones and I have no idea how they do this. They do not know the breeding, the value or the horse’s family but pick and choose cold as they step off the truck. It just goes to show that your first glance is usually your best look and these grooms prove it year after year.
Not my favourite! Man United’s Ashley Young
It is still pretty cold in Cape Town and there is snow on the mountains. This is playing havoc with the horse’s coats. We had a lovely warm spell just over a month ago and some of the horses were starting to spring lovely summer coats.
These have quickly receded again so a few of the horses are still looking a bit too woolly for my liking. It is going to be tough to get the horses to run with any consistency with their coats in their present state. It would be lovely to get a few warm days for things to start to change. It was nice to get off the mark with a winner on Saturday.
Again, a mixed bunch of runners and some were disappointing. They seem to be very much like the weather here; a day or two of sunshine followed by a really cold spell. Once again, a nasty cold front hit us and it keeps setting them back. I returned from Durban six weeks ago and the horses’ coats were turning; they were getting a nice sheen and some dapples.
I know this is early for them but this was definitely the case. However, the spell of nasty weather has not helped and we seem to be back to square one again. The long range forecast for this week does not look good with us dropping to some fairly low temperatures again. Summer cannot come soon enough.
My predictions that West Ham might be a team worth reckoning with seems to be going down the toilet. After watching their last three games, they are positively awful. One shot on target in 2 games is seriously pathetic despite the fact they are an injury ravaged team. Even with what they have, they need to play a whole lot better. Even so, they still nearly managed to strike a winner against Southampton, despite looking awful all day long.
After being rude about West Ham my other tip, Manchester City, are not looking much better and it could be a long season for them. Having said that, I am really enjoying watching Arsenal play at the moment.
The only thing lower than West Ham’s dreary display was the professional ballerina of Manchester United, Ashley Young, and his impressive display of diving. He is either certain to appear with the Bolshoi Ballet or link up with Tom Daley in the UK’s diving team.
I am not a Manchester United supporter or an Ashley Young supporter but he has played a handful of games since diving a couple of seasons ago where he made a complete and utter fool of himself, only to come back and do exactly the same again. I am always moaning that our youngsters, meaning jockeys, do not have enough self-reflection when viewing races.
Instead of watching the replays and analysing what they are doing wrong themselves, they sit there giggling and criticising jockeys around them and how this affect their riding performance. If I was Ashley Young and viewed my efforts on Saturday, I am not sure where I would end up burying myself. It really was frightful.
All I can say is that he must nearly have ended up back on the injury list with a groin strain. He managed to reach out and stretch those ligaments to their limit in order to hook his leg around his opposing player. Who knows; maybe he appears on the injury list again? This would be a blessed relief for the rest of us as we would not then have to watch that type of disgusting behaviour.
