South African star Variety Club is a firm marquee contender for the Champions Mile at Sha Tin following his all-the-way victory in the US$1 million Godolphin Mile on Saturday night in Dubai.
Variety Club, trained by Joey Ramsden and ridden by former Hong Kong regular Anton Marcus, crossed from gate 15 to lead early and the dual South African Horse Of The Year was never headed as he won his 16th race from 22 starts. The horse will now join the Mike De Kock yard and the Champions Mile was placed firmly on his agenda after the win.
The Jockey Club's executive director of racing, Bill Nader, said Variety Club had already been invited to the Champions Mile and was a likely visitor, along with Gordon Lord Byron, a winner of the George Ryder Stakes in Sydney on Saturday.
He also said early indications were Duty Free runner-up Vercingetorix, another star South African trained by De Kock, was on the radar for the Audemars Piguet QE II Cup (2,000m) on April 27, where he may be joined by World Cup fourth Side Glance.
European yards took the Group Twos, the UAE Derby and Dubai Gold Cup, on Saturday, but the Group One end of the night witnessed a gutting of the rich card by Asian Racing Federation jurisdictions. Hong Kong claimed the sprints with Amber Sky and Sterling City, and Japan took the richest turf races with Just A Way and Gentildonna before a Dubai 1-2-3 World Cup sweep.
The Hong Kong horses ran lucklessly and with credit in the World Cup, but the mood around in Dubai hinted that may have been their best chance to take the world's richest race.
Growing criticism of the Tapeta surface fed a rumour that it would be replaced with dirt for 2015, for a fairer surface and to reinvigorate the World Cup's waning attraction for Americans.
That discussion gained enormous credibility on World Cup eve, when Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al-Maktoum, the older brother of the ruler of Dubai and Godolphin owner Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, was publicly critical of Tapeta and said that it did not allow quality horses to show that quality.
"I've never had a moment's qualm about bringing our horses to race on Tapeta," said Sterling City's trainer John Moore. "I've never had a turf horse that didn't handle it, but if they switch to a dirt track next year that would change things. Then I think you really need a proper dirt horse."
Moore also pointed out the increasing difficulty of sourcing quality horses, like his World Cup runner Military Attack, in Europe, and staffing problems at Sha Tin that make full-frontal attacks on Dubai more problematical.
"I had five horses invited and could only bring three due to a shortage of suitable staff," said Moore.
"And it is getting harder to source these European horses. Five years ago, Chris Waller was buying horses in England for 30,000 guineas, cheapies. But he's done so well with them.
"Now he and so many other Australians are in Europe, following his blueprint and buying stayers - Melbourne Cup horses and the like - and they are paying big money for them.
"That's our part of the market, where we try to buy something smart that we can throw a set of blinkers on and train some speed into and now we are bumping into the Aussies wherever we find those horses."
