SPORTING POST • FRIDAY 23rd - SUNDAY 25th AUGUST 2013
7
Proud Dunn
To the Cape Breeders Committee and Members, a very sincere thanks. The announcement at the Awards Evening of a Service Achievement Award was a wonderful surprise to Joy and I and we felt very honoured and humbled to be recognised in this manner. I have been very fortunate, after so many years in racing in the Western Cape, to have such great support from all in racing, especially our Cape Breeders. The charities that we support have been able to achieve so much over so many years. This has all been as a result of the contributions by so many Cape Breeders, and the participation by owners, trainers, jockeys and racing administrators. The generosity of the people in the Racing/Breeding Industry is unbelievable. It is so nice to be a part of the fellowship of this Industry. Since I first started “Cocktails & Racing” I have a lot of people to thank when it comes to the success of our charity evening for the work on the night. A special mention of Jeanette,who is an exceptionally hard worker, and who has been with me at the WPOTA for 19 of the 21 years, her husband Paul and daughter Hayley and most importantly Joy and my family who have encouraged me to continue for so many years. Rodney Dunn Chairman WPOT Benevolent Trust Fund Sporting Post Letter’s Page Policy Letters to or The Sporting Post are welcome from anyone. Letters can be faxed dema: While letters printed do not necessarily reflect eMailed to Karel Mie the opinions of The Sporting Post, where the spost@iafrica.com content is not libellous and the source is known, Fax: (021) 761 4003 letters shall be published, when possible, as their d, use Pseudonyms may be authors intended. Replies are welcome, and e and every effort will be made to allow participants to provided the full nam are make their positions clear, for as long as there is address of the sender interest in the thread. supplied to the editor.
AMSDEN’S AMBLINGS
M
After an extremely long day at the 2YO sales where the team did our 2nd checks, we only had a couple to bid on on the day and were sadly outbid on both. It is important when at sales to set oneself a budget and stick to it, writes Joey Ramsden.
y rule of thumb is a budget plus one more bid... and then maybe one more again. Maybe I don’t stick to my budget as strictly as I would like to think I do. Anyway, it has worked well in the past and I can usually come up with a decent excuse as to why I went over budget! We were outdone on two lovely horses; one from Highlands and the other from Gary Player but we shall be back again today trying that little bit harder. Sadly my A-team jetted off into the night, leaving the Captain behind so I am very much man alone out in the field. The mission just gets that much tougher! The rain keeps on coming in the Cape and last Saturday’s meeting, where we had some lovely runners, has already been abandoned. But parts of Kenilworth resembled a swimming pool. I feel it is better to abandon with plenty of warning as it makes it much easier for us as trainers and saves the owners money. Dean Diedericks and his crew have their work cut out trying to sort it out. Dean has a magic wand and can work miracles. Let’s see how good he really is. Whilst trolling through my Sporting Post in the early hours of the morning, I read the most amazing piece of news: that Mike de Kock’s horse, The Apache, which was due to run in the million dollar race in Turkey will not be allowed to run as he has been vaccinated for African
Horse Sickness. I don’t know who decided this but whoever did must have got together with whoever wrote the rules for us here in South Africa. To not allow a horse to participate because he has been vaccinated for AHS is mindboggling, stupid, short-sighted and oppressive. As we all know, we cannot even move a horse here without having the AHS vaccination stamped in its passport. To throw this curve ball once the poor owner has spent a fortune getting his animal out makes one feel like storming the Turkish Racing Body’s HG with an extremely large AK47 and doing some proper damage. I might just have to swing past in the Enterprise and taser them. This is simply not good enough. I wonder if something can be worked out between now and then but I very much doubt it. I see Mike had some lovely runners in the UK and America as well this weekend and it is an extremely exciting weekend for him. I have to be careful how I put this as I could get a right bollocking from Mike but I am not sure that Dettorri is the right man for the job on Shea Shea. He is obviously an extremely good jockey – one of the best in the world – and his enforced break has certainly not made him any worse. However, I wonder whether the poor animal could just end up getting one of those “I’m Franki Dettori, I’m the best, I couldn’t give a stuff ”ride. It is my way or the high way. I am sure I am totally wrong and I shall very much look forward to the horse’s race in the
Nunthorpe. It looks to be the right race for the fellow; a nice, flat track with little to nothing draw bias. Poor old Sean Tarry’s flying filly was due to have her run there, only for it to be moved to Newmarket, where she didn’t quite get home. She most certainly would have done at York. Anyway fingers crossed for a great weekend for our international superstar graded hero. I am looking forward to the final test at The Ashes and the football season. West Ham, my team, look extremely well and I think we could surprise a few people. Anyway, as long as they play some attractive football, that will keep this claret and blue fan a happy hammer. We also have the last test of the cricket coming up, which I am very much looking forward to. I couldn’t believe it – I actually have a blog reader who wrote in and said that I had got bad light wrong – it was no longer the player’s choice but the umpires. I did actually know that but did not put it down in a very clear form but thank you very much to the reader who cared enough to point out my error. I am humbled. Not just for it being pointed out but for the fact that I actually have one reader. www.joeyramsden.com