Variety Club crushes Champions Mile, eyes BC tilt

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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