Judge Vacates Order to Sell Ramsey Horses at Keeneland

The rollercoaster lawsuit between trainer Wesley Ward and owner/breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey over disputed unpaid training bills took another sharp turn Dec. 21 when a Jessamine County circuit court judge vacated the order he made Dec. 9 that allowed the trainer to sell 14 horses in training at the upcoming Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale.

Ward had asked Jessamine (Ky.) County circuit court judge Hunter Daugherty earlier this month to allow him to sell the horses because he alleged Ken Ramsey won't allow him to race or sell them in order to start recovering what Ward claims is nearly $1 million in unpaid training bills. All proceeds from the Keeneland January sale were to be held in escrow until the remaining issues of the lawsuit, including how much is actually owed, are resolved. Ward initially filed his suit against the Ramseys in March.

One day after the horses had been supplemented to the Keeneland sale Dec. 15, Ramsey's attorneys Mike Meuser and Carroll "Trip" M. Redford III filed an emergency motion asking Daugherty to vacate and set aside his order allowing the horses to be sold in exchange for Ramsey putting $1,014,614.96 into escrow as security.

"Following entry of the Court's order of sale, the supplement to the Keeneland January 2021 Horses of All Ages Sale has been released. It does not include the horses which are the subject of the Court's order of sale, which means the horses, their pedigrees, and past performances will not appear either in the catalog or the supplement for the sale," the emergency order states. "As a result, permitting the horses to be sold under such circumstances will cause substantial damages to Defendants."

In a footnote, the emergency motion notes that the forced sale will make it impossible for Ramsey to recover his horses, "thus causing permanent and irreparable damage to Defendants that will not be made whole by mere money."

The emergency order also asked that all of The Jockey Club registration papers for Ramsey's horses be returned to him, that any purse money earned by Ramsey's horses in any horseman's account be released to him, and he also receive any proceeds from the sale of horses sold during the November mixed sales in Kentucky. All of this will be done per Daugherty's Tuesday ruling. According to Meuser, all the horses will be sent to another trainer in Florida.

Daugherty agreed to vacate the order to sell the horses but Ramsey is required to put $1.15 million into escrow, Ward's attorney Grahmn Morgan confirmed.

"We have our security for our claims," said Morgan. "We'll withdraw the horses from the sale now that we have been paid that money."