Experience Counts, 3yo Count Dubois filly, led in by Bernard and Dale Kantor
Met day started off in fine style with a lie in for the Captain while his staff ran round organising everything for the day. An early start. Visitors despatched to the waiting helicopter – hotel, Charlie, Oscar call sign – where they had the most wonderful flight round the Peninsula and then on to Kenilworth racecourse. The generosity of Mr and Mrs Kieswetter knows no bounds.
After a quick 10 o’clock Grappa, the master of Arc en Ciel and I plugged our way to Kenilworth races -in a van. As usual, the atmosphere was second to none with the sights and sounds and beautiful young ladies. Thankfully the day started off well with Red Banner winning, just to keep it in the family.
Our second winner on the day was Experience Counts for Bernard Kantor. It was truly special to have a winner for him on Met day. It was a special feeling to be able to drape our new Original Cream Magnum Liqueur sponsor’s blanket over our winner and have it displayed to a packed parade ring.
The feeling was as good as the drink itself (one of the reasons this Captain’s head is not as clear as it should be this Monday afternoon). I would like to blame the Klingons but sadly it was the “clingers on” that got me. We were also lucky enough to play a part in Gary Alexander’s filly winning the Majorca Stakes. She is a good filly and will go a long way.
Rock Bottom
The Met itself sadly hit rock bottom with poor Glen Hatt trying to get a position from his poor draw. He had no luck and was forced to drop in at the back. I think King of Pain’s performance was truly remarkable, running on strongly from the back of the field to finish about 6 lengths off them. I am so proud of our little grey fellow. Bravura, sadly, was not given any chance whatsoever. He started off at the back and ran his heart out to finish just behind King of Pain.
Very disappointed and I felt badly let down by our pilots. The problem is that when one expects such high standards and they disappoint, which is human nature for all of us including a genius like Anton, it makes one feel extremely low. It will take a long time to get over it. Anton is undoubtedly one of the best jockeys in the world but, after all, he is only human.
We had a most fantastic party in the box, only spoiled by some gruesome bruisers wanting to throw us out at 11h30 pm. I am not sure how one can be thrown out of a property where one holds a lease and one is giving away alcohol. A fight for another day, perhaps?
Sunday woke up feeling like I have run 3 comrades in one day. Managed to crawl out of bed early afternoon, read the newspapers and then had an extremely nice early supper with Brett and Jill Crawford, 2 extremely nice people. It was also nice to have their kids there.
Experience
On to John T F (Experience Counts) cocktail party, where again a good time was had by all. I only hope Mr Bryn Ressell’s head was as sore as mine was. Monday, the Captain woke up not feeling his best. He contacted his Lieutenant, Colonel Avo, to captain the ship through the murky Monday waters, dodging all icebergs along the way, a job he excels at. I believe Monday’s work went well and all Met day runners pulled up reasonably well.
My own personal iceberg was met this afternoon at 2 pm, when I arrived to see a virtual mountain of work on my desk. I feel the need to call Ranulph Fiennes back from Antarctica to help me sort it out, as only a true working class hero has any chance of getting through this.
The phone is full of messages; some well wishers and some wishing to kick the living daylights out of me. These will all have to be attended to.
Congrats
Finally, I just want to thank all the Met day organisers and the new Western Cape Racing for a fantastic day. The amount of work and the organisation that goes into staging an event like this is phenomenal and cannot be done without that extra bit of effort from everyone.
I would also like to thank my team at the stables and the office for all their hard work in the weeks leading up to the Met. They help take some of the pressure off me and for this I am truly grateful.
A special well done to Yogi “boo-boo bear” Govender on his fantastic achievement. It was well-deserved. Joey, your captain, signing off on Day 5 – Monday 4th February – hope I am alive tomorrow to tell the tale.
Kind courtesy blog of www.joeyramsden.com
