Veteran Cape trainer Ronnie Sheehan passed away at the age of 82 late on Sunday evening at his home in Plattekloof Glen after an illness.
The loss of his wife of 44 years Jackie on 2 June this year and his training partner Alan Higgins on 11 August 2014 were blows that Ronnie had struggled to come to terms with.
Ronnie Sheehan (credit: hamishNIVENPhotography)
Trainer of the Cape’s 2016 champion juvenile Captain Chaos, Ronnie had not been able to attend the racing awards in Stellenbosch that season due to ill health.
He gave up smoking 12 years ago but had battled emphysema and needed to utilise an oxygen aid almost every hour during the day.
He was based at Milnerton with a small string and was assisted by veteran horseman Peter Wrensch.
“Another week, another legend of the game has gone. Ronnie was at the stables on Thursday and took forever to get from the gate to the office. He said he couldn’t do it anymore. On Saturday he was upbeat and said that he was looking forward to our youngsters getting on to the track. He was a larger than life character of the game. He and Jackie were the life and soul of every party. They spoke fondly of the old Rhodesia and longed to return. They went back in the early 90’s but things had changed. I learnt so much from this wonderful man. He will be sadly missed by many people,” said an emotional Peter Wrensch on Monday morning.
Captain Chaos wins the Cape Of Good Hope Nursery
Ronald George Sheehan was born in Gwelo, Southern Rhodesia on 25 September 1936. His father, who hailed from Okiep in Namaqualand, worked for the old Post Office, putting up lines between the major towns.
One assignment saw him posted to Oudtshoorn, where he met and married Ronnie’s mother and the couple later moved to Gwelo. Ronnie was the fourth of their five children.
His dad loved horses all his life and set himself up as a private trainer, with about 6 horses in his string.
Ronnie started riding as a teen and rode right through to 1961 until weight issues forced him to call it a day. He took over the yard from his Dad.
With racing starting up in Zambia in 1962, Ronnie decided to go over for a few meetings and ended up staying for seven years, It was boom days thanks to the copper mines and that’s where he met people like Ralph Rixon and Anton Barnard.
He moved back to Rhodesia in the early 70’s where he met Jackie, a professional singer from the UK, over on a working contract. They were sweethearts for over 44 years.
With the Rhodesian war on the go, Ronnie and Jackie moved to South Africa and settled in Alberton. Jackie bought her first horse in 1976 and was a lifetime colour holder. They’d been in Johannesburg about six months when Ronnie won the Autumn Handicap with Amazing Man in April 1977. Other horses he did well with included Cornish Gold and a horse called Fleeting Gold, which he rates as the best horse he’s trained.
He didn’t enjoy Johannesburg much though and Ronnie and Jackie moved south in the early 80’s.
He was a regular third behind the powerhouse Greeff and Smith operation on the Eastern Cape log.
In around 2002 he and Jackie made the move to Cape Town and started out at Philippi where he met his good friend Alan Higgins. After narrowly avoiding an attack en route to work one day he decided he’d had enough and he and Alan moved to Milnerton.
Alan passed away in 2014 and Ronnie continued with his small string until the present day.
Funeral arrangements are not known at this time.
