My dear Sarah – 17/2/99 to 27/8/14. RIP
Whilst the blog is supposed to be about current events, it has been remiss of me not to mention the passing of my most beautiful dog and lifelong companion, Sarah. She was the most magic individual and not a day goes by when I don’t think about her and shed a tear for my great friend. It is amazing how these little animals can be healthy for so long but once age catches up with them, it can be so final. Much like life itself, I suppose.
We also lost another old stable stalwart in Schabir the Sheep.
He was named after Schabir Shaik. Both are cunning and both expected to live a long life. Schabir the sheep certainly did, reaching twelve or thirteen years of age.
This is extremely long (and lucky) for a boy sheep as, sadly, they usually end up being a lamb chop within a few months of being born. Schabir (the sheep) was a right old character, wandering around the stables all day and he is sorely missed.
He has been replaced by two six week old lambs that we have given to my girls, Holly and Zara. The lambs are so cute and are being bottle fed at the moment. It is great to watch them springing round the yard, bleating away. Another pair of lucky individuals which have escaped – dare I say it – the chop. I hope they lead a long and happy life.
The horses enjoy them as much as the humans do and they make the most amazing companions. It is just like having big dogs around; they are so loving but also extremely greedy. It never ceases to amaze me when they manage to stick their heads into the lucerne cutter while it is in motion and never manage to lose even a hair off their heads. They are almost like the magician, David Blaine, when he walked through a jet’s engine going at full steam. I really don’t know how they do it and this could well become a marketable exercise. I will have to keep my eye on them.
My Lieutenant Ricardo Sobotker and Andrew Fortune
Talking of marketable exercises, it was great to see my old mate, Andrew Fortune, back from another long stint in George. He is looking pretty trim – and I use the word pretty in a loose way – but it is always fun having him round the stables. His jokes and bantering cheer everyone up.
He has been in extremely fine form and only needs to lose a little more weight to come back and start riding and again show us all the talent in the world. It is incredibly hard for him to shed the last couple of kilos and while it pains me to see him struggle, it is his job and his livelihood and he chose it. One thing about Andrew is you never see or hear him complain.
If he were to complain, he would only get the world’s worst mickey taken out of him anyway so he knows to keep his mouth shut and carry on with life.
It was lovely the other day to have a winner for stalwart owners, Alfie and Gwen Heyns with yet another old stalwart in Dandyman Can. He loves the wet ground and a mile and a half. He was lucky enough to encounter a small field in a slow-run race which allowed him to win and probably look a bit better than he is at this stage.
Gwen and Alfie are long-standing owners in the Cape and are also the parents of former Cape trainer, Andre Heyns. In my opinion, Andre was an extremely talented individual. He died far too young in a tragic car accident. He had the gift and the ability to become one of the best and was taken from us far too early.
Journalism never ceases to amaze me, in particular journalists who are too lazy to bother getting both sides of a story.
An interesting case in particular was in the business report of the Cape Times a couple of weeks ago with the headline of “Horseracing Told To Get Its House In Order”.
The well-known journalist, Wiseman Khuzwayo, did a piece about how racing was “abusing” its staff in both pay and working conditions. Whilst the piece may well have some fact to it, I certainly do not see any of it happening amongst our trainers down here in the Western Cape.
Phindi Kema – a powerful woman it seems
It was interesting to see our writer did not bother to phone a single trainer to find out any facts and took the word of the SA Grooms Association leader and Phindi Kema, who is described as a racehorse breeder. To my knowledge, she is not a registered breeder, has never bred a racehorse and will never breed a racehorse.
The most interesting part of this article is how the SA Grooms Association and Ms Kema have managed to get the ear of both the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Rob Davies and the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Trade and Industry, Ms Zodwa Ntuli.
And we are not just talking about the ear; we are talking about a man who is demanding changes from the racing industry which, if not forthcoming, is saying that government will take over.
What is totally remarkable about this is that the SA Grooms Association and Ms Kema, with no resources, budget, backing or anything else behind them have managed to get this far forward with government to the point that government is prepared to step in and take over.
However, when it comes to the export of horses and having any kind of a voice at all, we are in a far worse position than when we started twelve years and tens of millions of rands ago. The mind boggles. It hurts to say it but I must congratulate the pair of them and perhaps we should employ them and get them involved in the export side of our industry? Food for thought.
Joseph O’Brien proved that we all make mistakes
And finally, the jockey is usually the person who cops the most amount of stick. Saturday saw one of the world’s best riders catch plenty of it too. I am talking about last Saturday’s Irish Champion Stakes and the Joseph O’Brien ridden Australia. Sadly young Joseph had an absolute nightmare of a race and it was not pretty from any angle whatsoever. It just makes one wonder what goes through some people’s heads at times. Not only does he get caught wide round the turn, he then swooped wide and made his run very early with the eventual winner off the bit and looking a beaten horse.
Sadly, poor Australia could not sustain his fantastic kick and got run out of it by The Grey Gatsby in the last few strides. One has to sympathise with Australia for the short comings of his usually brilliant pilot. It just goes to show that anyone can make a mistake. Full marks to Ryan Moore who never looked like giving up on The Grey Gatsby.
Both of them gutsed it out and showed why he is a very good horse and Ryan is the jockey he is.
www.joeyramsden.com
