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Joey Ramsden was named Cape trainer of the year at the 2012 Western Province Racing Awards held at Kenilworth.
Photo by Liesl King
His Cape Guineas and Rising Sun Gold Challenge winner Variety Club was voted horse of the year as well as champion middle distance horse and top three-year-old male, while stable companion King Of Pain was juvenile male of the year.
Ramsden, who also came within a length of adding both the G1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and the G1 J & B Met to his haul, said: “We concentrate our efforts on the Western Cape so winning this award means a lot to me.
“We had a very good season and, although we had 99 winners when we were aiming for 100, we had some good horses and I felt we over-achieved with several of them whereas in the past I have often ended up thinking that I had under-achieved.”
The Mike Bass trained What A Winter was named both champion sprinter and top older male and he is to stay in training for a further season despite several studs being keen to stand him this term.
“He is back home in Cape Town and he will now have a bit of a rest," Bass said.
"I would think that the Betting World Cape Flying Championship would be his first major target but I see no reason why he couldn’t go for the Queen’s Plate en route.”
Dean Kannemeyer’s pair In Writing and Blake shared the champion stayers’ award while All Is Secret was the top juvenile filly and Princess Victoria the best three-year-old filly. Ebony Flyer took the older female award.
Other award winners were Markus and Ingrid Jooste (owner), Karl Neisius (jockey), William Bambiso (work-rider) and Jason Smitsdorff (apprentice).
There were special acknowledgement-of-achievement awards for veteran trainers Alan Higgins and Billy Prestage while a similar award went to Western Province Racing Club chairman Vidrik Thurling.
* MIKE de Kock finished the season with stakes earnings of R21 540 575, which was about R185 000 less than he earned last year, but still enough for him to capture the national trainer’s title for the sixth time and for the third time in succession.
He also won the race for the most wins for the season, sending out 163 to Justin Snaith’s 160.
Sean Tarry finished second on the National log with earnings on R14 728 055.
Three Cape trainers were next best, Justin Snaith, Joey Ramsden and Mike Bass.
Gauteng trainer St John Gray was sixth followed by KZN trainer Gavin van Zyl, Port Elizabeth trainer Gavin Smith, KZN trainer Dennis Drier and Cape trainer Glen Kotzen.
Anton Marcus was the champion jockey with 205 winners from just 704 rides, a strike rate of over 29%.
The runaway winner of the Apprentice Championship was Nooresh Juglall, who rode 78 winners.