Soon after arriving in SA, Ricky got involved in horse racing as an amateur rider over both flat and jumps and was also granted an amateur owner/trainer licence from the SA Jockey Club. He bought a horse called Gold Turban that he had won on riding in the amateur ranks and thought the horse was good enough to win the professional arena. Gold Turban won a feature stakes race for him ridden by Tobbie Van Booma at Turffontein over 2800m in 1976 which was his first winner as an owner/trainer.

Ricky’s involvement in training racehorses became more and more intense and time consuming and he really enjoyed being with horses. The time soon arrived when Ricky became torn between making a successful career in the corporate world where he occupied a very good position versus his passion for horses and racing. Ultimately it was his passion for the equine athlete and all the satisfaction they gave him, despite all the uncertainties, who won this two-horse race. In 1978 Ricky resigned from the Company and applied for his professional Trainer’s licence. He took 12 stables at the Vaal racecourse and the adventure began.

Ricky featured in the top ten of SA national trainers log for twenty-five years or so and had the privilege of training some excellent horses for wonderful owners conditioning the winners of multiple Group races over the years including: to mention a few: Run for Lily, Rotterdam, Wolf Power, Bodrum, Respectable, Harry’s Echo, Impressive Style, Young Harvest, Spack Walk, Shah’s Star and more recently he trained Al Muthana who won the 2023 inaugural running of the Group 1 LÓrmarins King’s Plate at Kenilworth.

After 33 odd years of training in SA, circumstances led to Ricky returning to Mauritius in 2012 in ‘semi-retirement’ but once on the island, he opened a small stable and has since trained the winners of all the Classic races at the Champ de Mars with the likes of Alitalia, Ice Axe, Parachute Man, Undercover Agent, Frosted Gold and Alshibaa.

With many changes and challenges facing Mauritius Racing, and the announcement of the newly launched and visionary Cape Racing structure headed by Greg Bortz and HollywoodBets, Ricky decided, with the support and encouragement of his long-standing Mauritian owners, to reopen a yard in Cape Town in October 2022 with only a handful of horses, including Al Muthana.

Ricky’s yard in Cape Town has now grown to 33 horses, which includes 18 two-year-olds. His philosophy is to train quality rather than quantity. His offering to owners is a boutique-style training establishment where all horses receive extended personal attention every day.