It has been a quiet couple of weeks for us on the racing front. Hopefully it will start to hot up soon, along with the weather, which is doing funny things and is certainly playing havoc with the horses coats and wellbeing at the moment, writes Joey Ramsden.
We are getting some funny lung wash results and are at a bit of a loss as to which way to turn. However, it is great to see my old chum, Ronnie Sheehan, reeling in the winners.
For once, I have been spot on with my football predictions and my teams are all flying. Crystal Palace, in particular, are great to watch, along with Everton.
The Hammers beat Newcastle last night and have now moved up to 5th place on the table.
English Cricket ended up a bit of a flop with England getting well and truly beaten in the one day series. We were never much good at this to begin with.
Usain Bolt
The one thing that might have slipped past us all is the most fantastic performances of Usain Bolt. He must surely be the coolest man on this planet. If only there was someone like that to promote racing.
Racing Front
As I said, it has all been quiet on the racing front.
We were going to have a go at the big money sand race in what was the old Transvaal but caught a big one and have decided not to have a go. We have sent a few horses up there to compete and it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks.
There have been a couple of interesting objections overseas that just make racing look farcical. Sadly, they both involved our poor old friends from Qatar Racing who are busy shovelling tons of money into sponsorship and ownership.
They must at this stage be looking at racing as not the fairest game in town.
Jamie Spencer – unlucky
The first involved the Ralph Beckett-trained Secret Glance in the Gr1 Beverly D Stakes at Arlington Park in Chicago. She was ridden to victory by my old brother-in-law Jamie Spencer. He did the slightest piece of crossing when well in front.
The American jockey, Irad Ortiz Jnr, then put up possibly the most outstanding performance of play acting one has ever seen. It is really worth watching on Youtube. It is surely one of the most disgraceful acts of sportsmanship one will ever see. Sadly, the American stewards fell for it and placed Secret Glance third and, I am sorry to say, they ended up being laughing stocks.
There is no way Secret Glance should have lost the race and it was a travesty of justice.
Song Of Piece
Andrea Atzeni and Kingston Hill
The second again involved Qatar Racing and their filly, Simple Verse, but this time their retained jockey, Andrea Atzeni, was in the irons.
She would have been the first filly to win the St Leger race since 1992.
At about the 300m mark, the eventual third placed horse just falls back on her and forces her to take slight evasive action, which causes her to bump the eventual second but it does also give her a gap out. The winner and the second horse go hammer and tongs to the line with no quarter given. At no stage does the second placed horse snatch or stop riding and he is certainly a bigger horse than the filly.
Appeal
If anything, the bump probably cost the filly more than the second horse. What was interesting was that the second placed horse had every chance and I think that is the most important part of all. Without a shadow of a doubt the best horse won the race. One has to ask whether, despite the bump and everything else, should the winner have lost the race in the boardroom?
From my side, the answer is no.
I bet if one were to get Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore team in a quiet corner, they would give you the exact same answer. I know there will be an appeal but as it is a bit of six of one and half dozen of the other, one has to say that the Appeal Board would have to stick with the original decision or they will end up looking fairly ridiculous.
Watch this space: it certainly will be most interesting. I know whose corner I am firmly standing in.
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