Variety Club shattered the air of invincibility surrounding Hong Kong horses
in the Group 1 Champions Mile with a stunning victory that emphatically ended
the local dominance. The two-time South African Horse of the Year sluiced four
lengths clear at the wire to become the first overseas victor and prompted talk
of a Breeders’ Cup assault.
“It’s huge for us, it’s huge for South Africa, it’s fantastic for South
African breeding,” said a delighted Mike de Kock, for whom this was the Markus
and Ingrid Jooste-owned five-year-old’s first official start.
A rest is now in order for the Var entire before an autumn campaign that
could take in Longchamp and Santa Anita.
“He will go to Mike’s yard in Newmarket now for some time off,” said the
owner’s racing manager, Derek Brugman. “Ultimately we will probably be thinking
about the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp and then probably the Breeders’ Cup
Mile. I’m not sure if he will have a race in England — we’ll see how he pulls
up but we want to give him a break. The Prix de la Foret is a qualifying race
for the Breeders’ Cup, so it makes sense to go there.”
Jockey Anton Marcus utilized Variety Club’s sharp gate speed from the 12
berth and sat second outside the front-running Helene Spirit. Able Friend, the
local favorite and long regarded by trainer John Moore to be of international
Group 1 caliber, had to slide back in the field from gate 14 and sat near the
tail under Joao Moreira, three wide with cover.
That proved crucial, as when Variety Club cruised past the leader at the top
of the stretch and delivered an emphatic burst of pace to sweep clear, Able
Friend was unable to challenge. The big local hope was forced to chase Variety
Club at a respectful distance as Marcus celebrated in superior isolation passing
the post.
“It’s nice to have a bit of kudos heaped upon you but in fairness I have to
give this horse all of the credit, he’s just an absolute professional and I’m
merely a pilot,” Marcus said.
“If you look at the field, the horses that he took on and the ratings, it
probably was his litmus test and he’s come through it with flying colors,” the
rider said of this season’s Godolphin Mile victor who took his record to 17 wins
from 23 starts.
“You saw today what he was all about, he’s taken on horses with home town
advantage — I guess with the law of averages, eventually you had to get the
international winner. It’s probably the crowning moment of my career, purely
because Markus (Jooste) is here — usually Markus can’t manage to be on-course
and he’s been such a great support to me over the past 12 years, so to pay him
back is wonderful.”
De Kock, who has tried several times previously to win this Group 1 contest
that had been won in each of its previous nine international editions by a Hong
Kong runner, was delighted to have finally prevailed with the South African
supremo.
“He’s a super horse and it’s just a privilege to work with him,” said de Kock
who took over the training of the horse from Joey Ramsden. “Without a really top
team behind you this doesn’t happen and Trevor (Brown) has been great taking
care of the horse while I’ve been back in South Africa. Everything went smoothly
and that’s the most important thing, otherwise we wouldn’t be standing here.
“Basically he was in my care in Dubai anyway, so we’ve just cracked on as
normal and it’s great for Markus, who is a massive player in South African
racing — it’s great for him to be here, especially this week of the Asian
Racing Conference.
“I’m privileged to have some really great highlights in my career. We’ve won
the APQEII Cup twice and the Hong Kong Cup, so this is right up there with all
of them. Musir ran third in this race and this horse is a far better miler than
Musir was. We were quietly confident.”
Variety Club stopped the clock in a smart 1:34.11 on turf rated good. Able
Friend, although beaten, still proved his merit against the best of his local
rivals in the mile division. Stablemate and 2013 victor Dan Excel was a game
third, a further 1 1/4 lengths back, while Glorious Days and Gold-Fun, the Hong
Kong Mile first and second back in December, came home in the same order but in
fourth and fifth.
Trainer David Hall described Sunday’s Queen Mother Memorial Cup win with
Bubble Chic as “target accomplished” after the French import defied top weight
of 133 pounds to lead throughout in the local Group 3 handicap over 2400 meters.
Jockey Karis Teetan literally followed Hall’s instructions to “give the horse
the softest possible run” when he rolled to the front and was then allowed to
dictate terms with crawling first four splits of :26.73, :25.39, :27.44 and
:27.08.
“I wasn’t surprised he won when I saw the sectionals down the back and it was
the race I’d targeted with him for some time. I thought he was a very
competitive chance and obviously the slow pace helped,” Hall said.
Bubble Chic recorded a time of 2:33.62s, more than five seconds above
standard, as he won by a half-length from Sunny Ying with favorite Khaya a short
head further back in third place.
Hall added that the biggest surprise for him was when entries were made for
the race.
“No horse rated above 102 was a bit of a surprise and that left us as
topweight and he’s not a very big horse (Bubble Chic) so that was some concern.
“But he’s come on very well this season since he’s been gelded. He took time
to acclimatize here in Hong Kong as is the case with many European horses but
he’ s solid now and coping well. To me, this race is target accomplished.
Naturally, we’ll look at the Champions and Chater (on May 25) but that’s a
different story taking on the Group horses at level weights,” Hall said.
Sunday’s pedestrian pace meant questions might linger over the genuine
staying prowess of all runners including the winner but Hall is optimistic that
staying races will be Bubble Chic’s forte.
“I suppose we didn’t learn anything concrete given the pace but he’s a very
clean winded horse and has a good on speed style of racing. I was so pleased to
see him win today with the step up in trip and I’m sure we can find another
suitable race for him,” Hall said.
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