Painfully Close! King Of Pain (inside) holds off a flying Night Trip in the Magnum Mile (Equine Edge)
It has been an amazing few days for Cape trainer Joey Ramsden. Just 48 hours after his dual SA Horse Of The Year Variety Club had exploded on to the Dubai World Cup stage, the grey King Of Pain picked up some belated Summer Of Champions shine by winning the inaugural R110 000 Magnum Mile.
The Magnum Mile is many light years away from the bright blue sky of the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate or the J&B Met or even the rather well endowed Gr3 Firebreak Stakes, but there is little doubt that Ramsden and his partners would have felt an immense sense of satisfaction and relief.
Their grey galloper clung on grimly as Mike Bass’ Night Trip looked to have grabbed an unlikely victory in the last stride of the race.
It was also a nice touch as the Kieswetters, who own a share of King Of Pain are also the race sponsors.
The straightshooting and at times marginally controversial Ramsden has probably felt at times that he was living in Excuseville after what has been a frustrating and blank summer that included hard luck stories about traffic and pace and other rubs of the green.
But the confidence and belief in the son of Greys Inn paid dividends as the smart 4yo showed plenty of character on the sunny UCT RAG Race Day as he dug in to find more after being sent what looked like a 100m too early by his regular pilot, Bernard Fayd’herbe.
Black Toga led from the jump ahead of M’Lords Throat and the blinkered King Of Pain.
The order remained unchanged into the straight as King Of Pain took over from Black Toga at the 300m.
Castlethorpe looked dangerous for a few strides as he ranged up on the inside but Fayd’herbe had plenty in reserve and he pushed the grey clear as the serious challenge emerged up the centre in the form of the Bass runner. Night Trip.
But the line came in time as King Of Pain soldiered on to win by a nose in a time of 100,89 secs.
The possibly underrated Night Trip made giant strides late in the race and was a winner a heartbeat past the post.
The third placed Castlethorpe maintained his recent improvement. He had every chance but had nothing much to offer when it counted, despite being hard ridden by Sean Cormack.
The Black Minnaloushe gelding Black Toga, who was touted as a serious runner on the morning of the race by his trainer, showed pace but ran second last. He was outpointed by his long rested stablemate Tribal Dance, who ran on nicely for fifth
On the flipside, Ze Kaiser confirmed his trainer’s cautionary about a disrupted programme as a result of an abscess on his foot, as he fizzled out to last.
King Of Pain registered his sixth win from 18 starts with 8 places and R820 466 in stake money. This was his first win since the 2012 Selangor Cup thriller when he beat Capetown Noir.
An R80 000 Vintage Sale graduate, he was bred by Arc En Ciel and is by Greys Inn out of the Defensive Play mare Viva La Belle, who was placed in Australia and is a half sister to Lady Of The Turf.
The result may be in the record books but King Of Pain certainly made hard work of this win.
He is obviously no easy customer to ride but will now hopefully turn the confidence corner and could be included in the Ramsden KZN Champions Season travelling party.
