Ramsey Doesn't Intend to Get Beaten Again in Barbados

Ken Ramsey is the first to admit that running a Queen's Plate winner as well as a two-time graded stakes winner in Saturday's Barbados Gold Cup is, from a financial standpoint, sheer insanity. But Ramsey loves the race, its history and its pageantry. He also had to settle for second the last two years and has no intention of losing this time around. That's why Sir Dudley Digges (Gio Ponti) and Shining Copper (Aragorn {Ire}) will be among the starters Saturday at the Garrison Savannah racetrack competing for a purse of $107,000 (USD) when both are capable of winning races in America worth three or four times that amount.

Both would have been perfect fits for the $300,000 GI Gulfstream Park Turf H., which was won by Heart to Heart (English Channel), a horse Shining Copper beat in the GII Ft. Lauderdale S. And all trainer Mike Maker would have had to do to run at Gulfstream is ship them down from their headquarters at Palm Meadows. It costs about $20,000 round trip to ship a horse from the U.S. to Barbados.

“From a financial standpoint, this is a stupid move,” Ramsey said. “But I have a big ego and I enjoy coming down here. It's very relaxing. The world is not all about money. Even if Shining Copper won a Grade I race in the U.S., he's not going to be a stallion prospect. So there you have it. Ken Ramsey just loves to win and I'd like to get a third Barbados World Cup.”

Ramsey first entered the race in 2014, winning it with Major Marvel (Bernstein), a high-priced claimer. He won again in 2015, this time with Sayler's Creek (Bernstein), a horse he claimed for $20,000. Ramsey brought horses with similar credentials for the 2016 and 2017 runnings, but each time ran into a local horse who happened to be on top of his game. Dorsett (Artie Schiller), though claimed for just $35,000 at Gulfstream, blossomed under the care of Bajan trainer Robert Pierce and has won the last two runnings of this race over Ramsey horses. He will be back Saturday looking for a three-peat.

This year, Ramsey wasn't going to take any chances.

“I thought if I brought a $40,000 claimer down I might get beat and I don't like to get beat,” he said. “So this time I've come with what I think is the upper hand. I'll be very disappointed if I lose. I have what I think are two good jockeys, two good horses. I think we'll run one-two.”

Rafael Hernandez will ride Shining Copper and local jockey Jalon Samuel will be aboard Sir Dudley Digges. Ramsey is also running Kitten's Cat (Kitten's Joy) in the Sandy Lane Spa Sprint S., a race worth $13,500 (USD). Coming off a third-place finish in the Woodchopper S. at Fair Grounds, Kitten's Cat figures to have a huge class advantage on his rivals.

Ramsey has already done the math. He said he spent $61,000 shipping the three horses. If he wins the sprint race and finishes one-two in the Barbados Gold Cup, he will earn a profit of $41,000 after paying the trainer and jockey fees.

“I understand, if you look at just the money, this makes no sense,” he said.

Ramsey has already caught a bit of a break. The Coolmore team is also a frequent participant in the Barbados Gold Cup. Coolmore privately purchased a horse to compete this year named Chip Leader (Giants's Causeway) and turned him over to Todd Pletcher. Previously trained by Louie Roussel, the 6-year-old has won three straight allowance races at Fair Grounds and loomed the main competition to the Ramsey duo. But Chip Leader suffered an injury and will be scratched Saturday.

Beyond his love affair with the Barbados Gold Cup, Ramsey has other reasons for running Shining Copper. A one-time rabbit claimed for $50,000, he's turned into a very good horse under Maker's handling. He ran third in the 2015 GI Arlington Million and second in last year's Gulfstream Park Turf. He's on a three-race winning streak, which includes the GIII River City H. and the Ft. Lauderdale. Ramsey has far bigger aspirations for the horse than the Barbados Gold Cup and will use this race as an experiment to see if the horse can perform to his best without Lasix.

“We're going to find out if Shining Copper can run OK without Lasix and we expect he will because he's shown no indications of being a bleeder,” Ramsey said. “If he runs well without Lasix, we are going take him to Hong Kong for the (G1) Champions Mile. Then we're planning on taking him to Royal Ascot for the (GI) Queen Anne S. This is kind of an experiment. If I had run him in the U.S. instead and with Lasix we wouldn't have found out anything. We will find out down here. Who knows, we might even think about the (G1) Melbourne Cup with him. The Champions Mile is worth $2.3 million. So if we win a $2.3 million race because we found out in Barbados that we can run him without Lasix and he won't bleed then we won't look as stupid as we look now.”