It's been 13 years since Ken Ramsey was the leading owner at Saratoga Race Course.
"I guess I'm a has-been rather than a never-been," Ramsey said with a loud laugh.
Time has surely slowed the 90-year-old Ramsey. While he says he once owned more than 700 horses, he's down to just 26.
But he still has a keen eye for working with the right trainer and claiming horses.
Ramsey, a three-time leading owner at Saratoga along with his late wife, Sarah, returned to the winner's circle July 11 as Movin' On Up, an Accelerate mare trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. claimed for him for $35,000 out of her third career start in 2023, rallied from last in a field of five to win the $242,500 Caress Stakes (G2T) for fillies and mares at the Spa.
"She's not the first graded stakes winner I've claimed, and I hope she's not the last. I'm healthy. I want to live to be 100, or I'm going to die trying," said Ramsey, who was recently cited by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest recipient of a kidney transplant (at 88 years, 230 days). "But to be back in the winner's circle with a horse Saffie and I claimed for $35,000 says a whole lot about the trainer."
The Caress was the sixth win in 20 career starts for the 5-year-old mare bred by the Estate of Harvey A. Clarke, and pushed her earnings to $734,970, most of it for Ramsey.
Movin' On Up was fourth in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes (G2T) in her start prior to the Caress, and her win means all four top finishers in that stakes came back to win a stakes in one of their next two races.
The early pace of the 5 1/2-furlong Caress was a mixed bag for Joseph, who also sent out the 7-5 favorite In Our Time for Resolute Racing and Miller Racing.
In Our Time, a daughter of Not This Time , broke quickly and dueled on the front end with Sunna through an opening quarter in a blistering :20.87. After a half-mile in :43.24, when the duo turned wide into the stretch, fatigue set in.
Peter Leidel's Zeitlos made a menacing move along the rail but, on the outside, jockey Tyler Gaffalione and Movin' On Up ($12.62) were closing fastest of all. They reached the front with a sixteenth left and won by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:01.04 on firm ground.
"We were way back, so those fractions looked good to me. I started counting my money before she even got to the finish line—and I bet pretty good on her today," said Ramsey, who came into the winner's circle with a walker but led his mare into the enclosure with some help from Joseph.
Zeitlos, a Curlin mare trained by Steve Asmussen, was second by a length over show finisher In Our Time.
"I had a beautiful trip. No excuses. Just second best," said Jose Ortiz, who rode Zeitlos. "The winner is a deserving winner and ran a very good race today."
Movin' On Up was the first graded stakes winner this year for Accelerate. The former Lane's End stallion now resides at the Hall of Champions at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington.
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