The arrival on my desk of an increase in the levy for the import of horses completely knocked me out.Thankfully Ricardo was on hand with some smelling salts to revive me. Call me stupid but I cannot get my head around having to pay more for less – or should I say nothing, writes Joey Ramsden.
It seems to me an extremely difficult pill to swallow. All of us who are heavily involved in the racing industry have contributed massively over the years for, in effect, nothing – apart from the hope of landing an Olympic games (most likely not in my lifetime) and a few spread sheet statistics dated 1996.
But that is the life of a racehorse trainer. It will be interesting to see where this one heads.
The Sheehans
It was a pretty mundane card at Kenilworth on Saturday, although I thought the Juvenile race was quite a good one. It was great to see my old mate, Ronnie Sheehan, have a winner. We have travelled together many times, not as companions, but just ending up in the same place at the same time. He is a smashing man with one of the best sense of humours around. His wife, Jackie, is a racing legend in these parts. It was good to see Ronnie land what looked like a competitive juvenile event, writes Joey Ramsden.
The weather is holding strong down here, with no rain in sight. I was chatting with Dean Diedericks, the Kenilworth course manager, who says this time of year is purgatory. There is the constant battle in trying to keep the Kenilworth tracks good and green, as well as the eternal fight with fungus. I know his dam levels are getting a bit low and probably his fingernails too. Who would want to be a racecourse manager?
The Sale
It is yet again sales time. We have CTS Book 2 at Durbanville with about 250 lots. That should keep us all out of trouble this week. While I hope the good weather holds out, I just hope it does not go crazy up the barometer as it will make viewing unpleasant. However, I am sure CTS has, as always, done their best to keep us all happy and comfortable.
I am sitting at my stables on a Sunday morning, planning the horses work for the week. Also deciding which horses are going to make the trip to Natal and a couple maybe up to Johannesburg.
Good memory from last year – King Of Pain wins the Gold Challenge
It looks tough racing in Durban this year with many of their major races being at Greyville. We are going to have to have luck on our side when it comes to draws and the feature races. This is not a complaint but from a personal level, the polytrack looks to be a better place to be drawn wide, rather than the turf. It will certainly be a new experience for me going up to Summerveld. I have done it once before and was extremely successful for the first few weeks but went downhill from there on in.
We are going to do it differently this year and send them up much earlier, give them a couple of weeks off and let them settle in before getting stuck into them. It seems to have worked for everyone else and there is no reason it should not work for us.
www.joeyramsden.com
