Joey Ramsden
Cape champion trainer Joey Ramsden’s thoughts on, amongst other things, an equine identity crisis and the underrated skills of jockey Alec Forbes.
We had Chanel Five running at Clairwood on Saturday. The National Horseracing Authority has done an excellent job of ruining her name. I have no idea what they are on about and I don’t think they do either.
As far as I am aware, Chanel Five is not a registered trade name. Chanel No Five is registered – but not Chanel Five. The naming war has continued for quite some time, with very little cooperation from the NHA. This was finally resolved about half an hour ago and Chanel Five is now officially named COCO.
I can only feel sorry for Derek (Brugman) as he worked hard on the name change and received very little response or cooperation from the NHA.
They managed to “lose” emails and people’s details or just generally not respond to any correspondence.
If an elephant walked into that building, it would automatically become the world’s hide-and-seek champion as that lot would never find it, not in a million years. Like the woolly mammoth they found in Outer Mongolia the other day, which had been hidden for 13 odd million years, I feel the poor elephant could end up going the same way at Turffontein’s stud book department.
Centre Of Attraction
We also have racing in Cape Town. In fact, we have a double header and from a trainer’s point of view, it makes it extremely hard when you are saddling and trying to watch your runners in another centre at the same time.
One ends up running from the saddling enclosure to find the nearest television to watch them canter to the start, then back to the owners in the parade ring, then watching the Durban runners canter to the start by which time the race in Cape Town has started so another mad dash to the television to view that – all this while trying to keep in contact with the owners not on course.
The owners, rightfully, want to know how their horses ran, what went wrong/right and ultimately I have no idea as I have spent the day in a complete spin. Thank God for replays!
Useful
Sadly my Newmarket tips from Somerville Lodge were absolutely useless so I will not be supplying any more of those. I did my boots along with them and will more than likely be running between the saddling enclosure and the television tomorrow in my bare feet. It is unusual for William as he is normally a tip top judge; something must have gone very wrong.
There is still a great card ahead at Newmarket today but obviously we are all looking forward to Shea Shea on Saturday. Two Group 1 sprinters performing on the same day will be a novelty. It will be interesting to compare what the handicappers make What A Winter here and if Shea Shea is good enough to win, what they make him over there.
Good News
I popped along to the CNA the other day to buy my Sporting Post. The page fell open at the Star of the Week. This week’s star is Alec Forbes, someone I don’t know particularly well and don’t really use.
However, I feel he is probably extremely under rated and if the horses are good enough, he gets the job done. He showed this when riding for Dennis Drier and now Duncan Howells.
He certainly appears to be as good as any and strong in a finish and best of all, rides off the minimum weight. I couldn’t help but have a chuckle when reading towards the end of his profile, not at his marriage but at his wife’s new chosen profession of becoming a racehorse trainer.
Basic Requirements
Now, good luck to anyone that wants to become a racehorse trainer. They must a) be seriously deluded, b) hate themselves and c) like having no money. Anyway, all those things aside, I have met Mrs Forbes and I can tell you she has the personality of a corpse.
She might well be the next Gonda Betrix or Monty Roberts in terms of equine skills but her personality and being able to get on with people I would not describe as one of her strong points. Having been in this job for many years, I can honestly say that having a sense of humour and being able to get along with everyone, no matter what they say about you, is vital. I wish her luck in her new venture but can only fear the worst, no matter how talented she is.
