RAJ RAMDIN : Hats off to Raj for turning Mojo G around, a déclaré Mark Neisius

Tout roule pour l’entraînement Ramdin en ce début de saison. C’est le cas de le dire puisque la campagne 2016 de Raj Ramdin est jusqu’à présent aux antipodes de sa devancière, l’entraîneur ayant déjà enregistré huit victoires, un total qu’il avait dû attendre jusqu’à la 30e journée en 2015 pour réaliser ! La huitième cette année porte la griffe de Mojo G, coursier caractériel voué à la retraite sans l’intervention de Raj Ramdin, qui l’a pris sous son aile pour le mener à son premier succès sur notre turf.
Le faiseur de miracle a encore frappé. On y va peut-être un peu fort mais il faut toutefois reconnaître que Raj Ramdin n’a pas son pareil pour ressusciter la carrière de compétiteurs destinés à la retraite, voire pire encore. Après la métamorphose de Tembot, les turfistes ont cette fois eu droit à celle de Mojo G, ex-pensionnaire de l’entraînement Rousset que l’entraîneur a récupéré en 2015. La quatrième tentative a donc été la bonne pour ce fils de Stronghold, qui signait par ailleurs la 8e victoire de la saison de Raj Ramdin.
Mark Neisius n’a cependant voulu tirer aucun mérite de ce succès. « Hats off to Raj for bringing him into that form for the race. Mojo G is not an easy horse to train. He’s a very light horse and Raj totally deserves the credit for turning him around. His work had indeed been good but I don’t think he’s the kind of horse you can rely on. He’s got a lot going on in his head and he’s always trying to do something out of the blue. The first time I rode him, I fell off him at the 1000m mark. After the race, he turned around again. At the end of the day, he’s not an easy horse to ride. He’s definitely got the ability but he’s too much of an erratic horse to rely on ».
La moisson aurait pû être meilleure si Port Albert ne s’était pas fait remonter une nouvelle fois dans les derniers mètres samedi dernier. « Port Albert is also a difficult horse to work with. I thought he would probably need blinkers but when we put them on, he doesn’t settle in front. But when he doesn’t have them on, it seems like he waits for other horses to come by him. The last time when I rode Generous Gent against Port Albert, he almost bit me. He’s not comfortable with horses around, he does not like to be crowded », nous a soutenu son cavalier.
« Raj is going to have a great season »
Tembot, qui avait forcé sa stalle et avait été retiré sur ordre du vétérinaire à sa dernière apparition, n’a pas peser lourd dans les débats, terminant à plus de 8L du gagnant. « I expected him to jump a lot better and I thought I would have been able to lead quite easily but he didn’t pin those gates and never really travelled like a winner to me. Maybe the fact that he got injured the last time is still playing on his mind a bit. I don’t think he’s got over that completely and we’ll probably have to start from scratch with him again. It’s also possible that we brought him back too soon ».
Quant à Tiger Master, il a dû se contenter d’un accessit dans l’épreuve d’ouverture. « The plan was always to go forward with Tiger Master but he did not jump that well and I was quite happy to sit second. But in the straight, it was as if he was picking a bit. He was not at full stride. Things like that happens with erratic horses. On their day, they can give you everything and on others nothing. Like Tembot, he was very disappointing today », a déploré notre interlocuteur. Avec un bilan de 8 victoires en 11 journées de compétition, tout semble marcher à merveille pour la paire Neisius-Ramdin mais le jockey reste tout à fait conscient que l’embellie ne durera pas éternellement.  
« A big factor for Raj’s success is obviously because a lot of his horses are very low in the ratings. For example, look at Young Royal who’s won two races so far. However, it’s not going to get any easier but we’ve just got to keep working hard at it. Luckily for us, the new horses are slowly coming through. Some are already in Port-Louis so hopefully they’ll take over the second half of the season. But it looks like Raj is going to have a great season and I’m happy for him. He’s a great man to work with and there’s no pressure. In the mornings, we all have a good laugh and it’s just nice to work in this kind of environment. If we keep on going like this, I see no reason why he cannot finish the highest he has ever in the log at the end of the season ».