The Joey Ramsden stable is convinced that Newlands is going places even though the Australian-bred came close to throwing the race away at Kenilworth on Saturday.

The Maiden Juvenile Plate looked all over when the 6-10 hotpot swept to the front inside the final furlong but he promptly downed tools and Donovan Dillon, hastily switching his whip from one hand to the other like a magician finding his wand is not working, had to get him going again to beat off the 55-1 supposed no-hoper Hernando’s Promise.

Dillon said: “He is still very dumb but he has scopes of improvement” while Ramsden’s assistant Ricardo Sobotker added: “He is a big baby and he can be very coltish but he is going to be a nice horse when he goes over ground.”

The Almighty had a busy afternoon. Dillon, who crosses himself every time he is led into the winner’s box, also won the opener for Ramsden on comfortable scorer Captain Gambler while Aldo Domeyer added to Mike Bass’s memorable day by taking the 1 800m handicap on Kilrain.

Domeyer marks victory with a similar silent prayer and, just to make sure that it goes to the right place, he thrusts his index finger heavenwards. He is, incidentally, particularly taken with the aptly-named Oomph, five-length winner of Friday’s East Cape Nursery and says: “That baby is something worth following.”

Racegoers have been asking why Richard Fourie is making such a stop-start of his return to action after Hong Kong. Saturday was the first time he had raced for three weeks and he has no more rides until this weekend.

“I am enjoying life before it becomes a job again,” he explained. “I went for a fortnight’s holiday and then to see my family in Jo’burg.”

He remains determined to book his own rides and has already turned down an offer from at least one agent but he is non-commital about whether he will continue as a freelance, saying only: “I don’t know.”

His seven mounts on Saturday produced no winners – despite his employing a whole variety of tactics – but three seconds included a peach of a ride on Carrie Bow Cay who was thwarted only by Craig du Plooy conjuring unexpected reserves from the Snaith-trained Katies Jay close home.

Fourie was also unlucky in the last when he felt Fairy Maker (beaten less than half a length by MJ Byleveld’s late run on Vaughan Marshall’s Three  Blue Cranes) not striding out properly. Sure enough, the course vet found that the mare had gone lame.

The recent African Horse Sickness death is causing problems for Glen Kotzen and all his five runners were withdrawn. The actual scratching was done by senior stipe Ernie Rodrigues rather than the trainer.

Rodrigues explained: “The state vet made the actual decision. I rang the trainer but he was at the sales in Johannesburg so I took the horses out. The stable may be able to have runners this Saturday under certain circumstances.”

Storm Clipper, the 14-1 shot who beat the older horses with ease in the Quinte Plus Maiden Plate, carries the colours of Mauritius trainer Ricky Maingard and will join him in time.

Shane Humby said: “I will have to speak to Ricky to see what he wants to do but this is a smart horse. We didn’t know if he was going to be alright here because he was so naughty in the pens first time.”

Piet Steyn has found the key to Garden Tea Party who flew home almost impossibly late to mercilessly cut down long-time leader Svala in the 1 200m Fillies Maiden.

“I have always rated her but I learned that you have got to keep her covered and sit on her as long as you can,“ Steyn explained. Seemingly, though, he wasn’t prepared for Grant Behr following his instructions quite so much to the letter – “I thought ‘Jesus, when is this guy going to let her go!’”

It is easy to see why Playboy Buddy had finished second in five of her six starts. She burned up kilos of nervous energy before the 2 500m maiden despite Behr skipping the parade, taking her down with his feet out of the irons and getting off her at the start. “She lives on her nerves and takes too much out of herself,” said Dean Kannemeyer’s assistant David Lilley. Thankfully for those who made her 13-10 favourite, Behr was able to conserve enough for her to come again at the end to score by a hard-fought length.

By Michael Clower