Ramsden charges return to Kenilworth
JOEY RAMSDEN, whose horses have been under a postvaccination cloud for the past fortnight, intends to break cover with two runners at Kenilworth on Saturday – Made In Hollywood (Liam Tarentaal) in the Protea Toyota Bellville Conditions Plate and Fours A Crowd (Francois Herholdt) in the 1 000m fillies handicap.
He ran nothing at last Saturday’s Kenilworth meeting and he scratched all his remaining runners the previous Saturday after Bountiful Strength had finished several lengths last in the first, saying that his horses had not been right since they were vaccinated.
Ramsden said yesterday that Made In Hollywood’s race “looked too good to miss” and, asked if his vets had come up with an explanation for the horses running below form, he said: “I didn’t really bother investigating because you could look to the ends of the earth and still not find anything.
“Instead I took the advice of William Haggas who said ‘Walk them for a week and make sure you are somewhere else at the time so you don’t sit there looking miserable!’
“I am not saying that it is a virus – I hate that word – but the horses are just not right.”
Fresnaye
The only Cape Town-based one he has raced since Kenilworth on August 18 is Fresnaye who drifted from oddson to 14-10 when starting favourite for the Jockey Club Stakes at Fairview last Friday.
She finished third but ran quite some way below the form she showed when third in both the Cape Fillies Guineas and the Paddock Stakes.
Ramsden hit out at the officialdom that trainers have to go through with African Horse Sickness vaccinations, saying: “What makes it worse is the whole export protocol.
“They just can’t handle the volume of people wanting to vaccinate. I try to get it out of the way in one hit but I spent over two weeks with my applications in and sometimes they don’t even answer the phone.”
Anton Marcus, 34% strike rate so far this season, will be back in Cape Town on Saturday for four Ridgemont rides (Depeche, Marion Belle, Engage And Beware for Brett Crawford plus Silver Plains for Eric Sands). He also partners Goodtime Gal and Master Of Spain for Mike Robinson.