Stuff the committee room: Ramsey’s Cup dream belongs at the bar

If you’re in any way politically correct, the old-school manner of So You Are owner Stuart Ramsey won’t be your cup of tea.

And to tell the truth, tea is something for around the campfire for Ramsey, who has preferred beer throughout a life spent breeding horses and cattle.

So You Are was an idea that came to Ramsey a few years ago, and he has done his way to get Flemington on the first Tuesday in November.

“I saw all these stayers coming over and running in our race and I didn’t like it,” Ramsey said.

“I decided I was going to breed a Melbourne Cup horse to beat these Pommy things.

“He is the horse I did with, and I decided how he would be prepared for it, because they need to be hard and tough.”

So You Are wasn’t going to be mollycoddled in a city stable and was sent to Stirling Osland to be toughened up.

There were no long gallops at Newmarket, rather, long hours on the highway from his base of Armidale to race at different country tracks before graduating into the city.

“I went to both Stirling’s dads’ weddings and he worked for me as a young bloke at the stud,” Ramsey starts on one of his stories.

“I remember he worked for me at 17 and he was the best yearling preparer I had. When the Magic Millions draft was off to the Gold Coast, I told him he was staying on the farm to do the Classic draft and he said “I’m leaving then”.

“I said, “All right, go. You know better than me”. But I needed him with the yearlings because he is a horseman.

“That was 20 years ago, but I knew he was the right person because he has been to the school of Ramsey to have this horse.”

Osland took So You Are to a Tamworth maiden over 1600m to start his career in January 2025, where he was third. The idea was to have him see plenty of the countryside, the first win came at Toowoomba, travelling from Armidale to Sydney and Brisbane for wins.

But the day was always going to come when So You Are would leave Osland.

“He knew what I was trying to do, and he did what was needed to make him the horse he is,” Ramsey said.

“He nearly won a Caloundra Cup with him this year. But that was the right time to send him to Bjorn [Baker].”

The toughened stayer arrived at Baker’s stable at the beginning of the spring, the winner of four races. He’s now the winner of eight, including the St Leger, and Bendigo Cup, in the final drive for the Melbourne Cup, which may have come a year ahead of schedule.

“I like Bjorn because he isn’t afraid to run them and work them hard. It is what you need to win a Melbourne Cup,” Ramsey said.

“I told him when he got the horse, I’m giving you a tough bastard.”

Baker has got So You Are to the promised land and Ramsey, who cried when he found out that he had a Cup runner, is going to celebrate.

Osland and his wife will be at Flemington as part of the Ramsey family party, and it will be a party, for the Melbourne Cup. But Ramsey will keep it simple.

“They want me to go to the committee room, stuff that, I have a runner in the Melbourne Cup and I’m going to be at a bar,” Ramsey said.

“My whole family is coming; I might send a couple of girls up to the toffs, they can enjoy that.

“I just have to find a bar that is not 400m from the toilets because last time I was there it was too long of a walk to get to the toilet. When you’re in your 70s you need certain things.

“We’ll find a bar and have a drink.

“If he wins the Cup that’s where we will be with it for the rest of the day.”