He’ll Be Sticking Around a While, Ramsammy Says

To say the least, jockey Emile Ramsammy took a circuitous route to Santa Anita.

Born in Trinidad in the West Indies, he moved with his family to Guyana, returned to Trinidad in his teens, then went north to Canada before arriving in California about a month ago.

Voted Canada’s top rider in 1996 after earning the Woodbine title with 175 winners, Ramsammy couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in this state.

In his first mount in California on Dec. 26, he directed Kristopher Street, a 22-1 shot trained by Walter Greenman and owned by Gary Biszantz and Gary Vandeweghe, to a 1 1/2-length win in the $125,000 Moment To Buy Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.

Victories have been more difficult to come by in the weeks since. Twenty-six days into Santa Anita’s 86-day meeting, Ramsammy, 34, has only three wins from 58 chances, many on longshots. The average odds on the four horses he rode Wednesday were slightly more than 18-1.

Although there is a certain level of frustration, he says he is here for at least the rest of 1997.

His wife of seven years, Lisa, and their son Christopher, 6, who are still living in Toronto, will be coming to California soon to join him.

“I wanted to see how it was out here at first,” he said between races on Wednesday. “I don’t mind fighting the odds. I knew I would be starting from scratch when I got here. I know the way the game is, and I’m the new kid on the block.”

Becoming a jockey was no lifelong dream of Ramsammy. His father was a casual racing fan, but Ramsammy had no interest in the sport until he was almost out of high school.

It was then that his godfather, Emile Curi, talked to him about the possibility of becoming a rider. Ramsammy, who had never seen live racing, decided to give it a shot and was accepted to a jockey’s school in Trinidad in April 1979.

A year later, he rode in his first race, finishing third on Sealed Orders, then went on to have great success riding in his homeland, and, on occasion, in Barbados.

Before going to Canada in 1990, he won more than 500 races in the Caribbean. This was noteworthy because racing was held only once a week in Trinidad. All the races then were run on turf and the average crowd, according to Ramsammy, was about 10,000.

“I was named the most outstanding apprentice [in 1980-81] and my best year was in 1989,” he said. “I won 82 races from [261 mounts] and earned about $1.2 million in purses. I was able to break just about every record while I was there.”

The successes of ’89 prompted the decision to try Canada. “I left for greener pastures,” he said.

He hardly got off to a promising start. Over the last six months of 1990, he rode only two winners, both at Fort Erie, where he had ridden one race six years earlier.

His situation clearly improved, capped by his 1996 season, which included on a win on Victor Cooley in the Queen’s Plate, Canada’s most prestigious race.

Represented by former jockey and trainer Don Pierce, who urged him to come to California after watching him ride during the simulcasts from Woodbine, Ramsammy didn’t take long to make up his mind.

“I thought it would be a good idea to try, at least for the winter,” he said. “So far, it’s been all right. They ride tighter here, and there’s more race riding [than at Woodbine] and the weather’s been better.”

Horse Racing Notes

Boston Harbor, the 1996 Eclipse award winner as the nation’s top 2-year-old male, will make his first start of this year in the $100,000 Santa Catalina Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Sunday. It was originally believed the son of Capote, who has not run since he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Oct. 26, would return in the seven-furlong San Vicente Stakes on Feb. 8.