Anton Shepard and Variety Club
There is a biblical expression that “A prophet is honoured everywhere except in his own hometown” and the South African racing fraternity is particularly prone to this particular foible. I’ve long bemoaned the lack of exposure accorded to one of our most prolific turf children, Pocket Power and it seems we’re rather in danger of going down that road again. Well, not on my watch !
Like all good yarns, this particular story starts a long time ago…. About a century in fact (if a previous report is to be believed!). A young Pippa Mickleburgh, working at Aldora Stud was tasked by boss Guy Landon with a trip to Lammerskraal to view a potential broodmare purchase. The mare was named Novenna and had been a brilliant racemare, with 7 victories under her belt, including the SA Oaks and the Gr1 Summer Champion Stakes. Pippa liked what she saw and the deal was done. A mating to Northern Guest produced a filly named Karpakova and a subsequent mating to Secret Prospector produced top race filly, Secret Rites, who went on to win the Gr 1 Mainstay International. However, keep your focus on that older sibling….
There is a bit of accepted wisdom that first foals are not a mare’s best produce, but not in this case. Karpakova (named for a Russian ballet dancer) might not have been the track phenomenon that her half-sister was, but she earned her keep with a win and 10 placings before retiring to stud. She proved to be a grand matron, producing 9 foals of which 6 ran and 5 were winners (and actually, that 6th foal also earned place money from a limited number of starts).
Karpakova’s first foal was a filly by Secret Prospector, who would be christened La Massine (more ballet connotations). From 9 starts, La Massine cracked her maiden and racked up 3 places before retiring to stud. And it was at a Maine Chance broodmare sale that she caught the attention of Beaumont Stud’s Anton Shepherd.
A Boon for Beaumont
Anton relates that he is a big fan of Secret Prospector and if the catalogue page was not enough to convince him, seeing the mare in the flesh certainly was. He describes her as a big, scopey, classy mare and says he just had to have her. Her first match to Joshua Dancer produced Mauritian Horse of the Year, Rhythmically. Anton chuckles and says they probably shouldn’t have revisited Joshua Dancer as often as they did, but her Joshua Dancer foals always seemed to time their wins with the start of the breeding season. As everyone knows, you don’t go trying to fix something that ain’t broke and two more fillies followed. A mating to Restructure produced her best race filly called La Destina, who has just made her way back to Beaumont with 6 wins under her belt. However, Anton says that La Massine’s build and bloodlines were practically crying out for Var. And so it was that in 2007 she took a trip to Avontuur, where she met the son of Forest Wildcat and became the third generation to pass through the hands of Pippa Mickleburgh. Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma, but whatever label you choose to apply, some horses, some people and some families just click. Whoever occupies those celestial seats thought so too, because she left carrying very precious cargo.
Positive Feedback
Pippa recalls that only twice in her career have breeders phoned to report back on foals. The first call was from Duncan Barry of Riverton Stud to say that he had just delivered ‘the best Dominion Royale colt ever’. The sentiment clearly travelled a lot further than Stellenbosch, as Domino Man would go on to down the brilliant Dynasty in the 2003 Cape Argus Guineas.
The second call was from Anton Shepherd of Beaumont Stud. Anton takes up the story again. ‘The good ones put their hands up and say I’m special’ he chuckles and says this colt was simply born in league of his own. He immediately rang Pippa to say that Var had produced something really special. So much so in fact, that he booked the mare straight back to Var, largely he says, to show off the colt!
The rich chestnut with the star and small snip was christened Variety Club, in honour of the great Shepherd family friend Lord Lilford, whose remains rest at Beaumont Stud. Lord Lilford was an active supporter of the Variety Club charity near his home in Jersey and his widow suggested the name in memory of her husband. It also neatly combines Var with the ballet themes of his dam and granddam.
Changing Hands
Variety Club was catalogued on the 2010 Equimark Vintage Sale. It was a tricky time for new-kid-on-the-block Var, widely being touted as a pure speed sire whose progeny ‘did not train on’. However, if there is anyone who lives by the courage of his convictions, it is Joey Ramsden. Joey relates that he’d had a very rewarding Secret Prospector filly early on in his career. He feels that good service should be repaid and likes to stay loyal to families that he knows. Like Anton Shepherd, the Var / Secret Prospector cross appealed and Joey recalls the colt as being ‘a very nice type’. The captain of the Good Hope Racing ship is not someone prone to hyperbole and says simply that certain horses ‘just talk to you’.
It is worth mentioning that nerves run high at sales. Apart from the much hoped for good price, what breeders hope for most is that their babies will fill the eye and the sales slip of a good buyer with a good trainer and that they go on to get the best possible start in life.
It seems the colt spoke most eloquently, for when the gavel fell at R425k, it came down in favour of the formidable team of Joey Ramsden and Markus Jooste.
Next Steps
Variety Club next went for a spell at Arc en Ciel. When the time came, local horse whisperer Malan du Toit was charged with starting the colt (who was one of a draft of approximately 150). A lot of horses pass through Malan’s hands, but he keeps meticulous notes of each horse and easily recalls Variety Club as a very ‘active’ individual. However, the backing process went smoothly and Variety Club graduated to Good Hope Racing with the rest of his class.
Anyone who has seen the colt in the flesh will testify to what a strong, well-made individual he is and he fulfilled his promise by winning his first start with consummate ease on 12 February 2011. Understatement being something of an English national sport, Joey remarks ‘Horses that win first time out are usually above average’.
Variety Club proved he was no flash in the pan by making it 2 from 2 in his next start on 5 March 2011 over 1000m at Durbanville. A racing sage once imparted ‘it’s not so much where you do run a horse as where you DON’T run them’, but Joey has proved not only a top conditioner, but also a master tactician.
In April, Variety Club took on some of the best Cape juveniles in a listed feature at Kenilworth over the 6 furlong trip, where he was hardly disgraced to finish 3rd behind Gimmethegreenlight and Depardieu.
Starting Stalls
It was at about this stage of his career that the ‘active’ colt began to show a dislike for the starting stalls. Malan explains that the difficulty is not borne from a mean or difficult temperament, but rather that the colt is somewhat hypersensitive and finds the noisy and highly charged atmosphere at the gates a little overwhelming. Malan elaborates that while horses have a poorly developed frontal lobe and the analytical aspect of their brain anatomy is limited compared to humans, they do learn by association. If you link a number of associated learned behaviours successfully, horses are able to make seemingly remarkable connections between cause and effect. Sharper, more intelligent types excel at this and Variety Club showed that he is above average mentally as well as physically by apparently linking the saddling process to the starting stalls and started acting up in the saddling enclosure. Even more remarkable is the fact that he seemed able to differentiate between ‘dummy runs’ at home and real race day scenarios, making it quite a tricky problem to remedy.
It has taken a coordinated team effort combined with a meticulous training regime to work through these problems, but it proved so successful that Joey now fondly describes the colt as ‘Mr Reliable’. He describes Variety Club as the most incredibly easy colt to train. He eats well, works well, has a remarkably tough constitution, is not coltish and is generally an all-round pleasure. The colt is clearly thriving and his record speaks for itself.
However, at every step, he has had his detractors. Could he go 1500m for the Matchem? Could the son of the sprint sire stay a mile ? The colt let his results do the talking. He won the Gr3 Langerman, the Gr3 Matchem, the Gr2 Selangor and the Gr1 Cape Guineas to end 2011 on a high for his connections.
2012
The no 10 draw in this year’s Queen’s Plate proved a bridge too far and he had to concede a meritorious 0.40 length defeat to the high quality Gimmethegreenlight.
Derek Brugman explains that the connections weighed the Met and the Derby, but after much deliberation, it was felt that the Derby distance would be best suited. Again, there was a lot of speculation leading up to the race – could the son of Var see out 10 furlongs? Again Variety Club showed remarkable heart, grit and versatility by finishing 2 lengths back to another top quality colt in Jackson.
After a good 3 month rest, Variety Club bounced straight back into stride, stamping his authority over the Kenilworth mile with an emphatic 3.25 length victory in the Gr3 Tekkietown Winter Guineas.
The following Wednesday, the colt departed for the Zulu Kingdom and a tilt at the Gr2 KRA Guineas. Despite the long journey and a decidedly lukewarm welcome, only 10 days to settle in and the challenge of a right handed turn, Mr Reliable did what he does best and simply got on with the job.
Joey has juggled the National Sales with Champions Day on top of supervising his charge in Durban and although it is not easy (and does not seem expedited by the host centre in any way) he says ‘it’s simply part of the job’. Malan joined the team last Saturday as did Anton Shepherd, who has been such a stalwart and visible supporter throughout the colt’s career. Again, nerves ran high, but again, Variety Club came through with flying colours.
Joey concedes that Jackson is ‘a very good colt’ but jokes that if he had the ride instead of Anton, he would love the opportunity to track Jackson, rather than the other way round, just to see what would happen !
To Infinity and Beyond !
Unfortunately it seems we may have had our last opportunity to see this colt campaign on home turf. In the post-race interview, Derek Brugman hinted strongly that overseas challenges were beckoning. When we spoke earlier this week, he confirmed that there had been extensive talks with Peter Gibson regarding the export protocols and although nothing had been finalised as yet, a decision is imminent. The motivation for attempting such a challenge is that there are few suitable challenges left on the local programme and the team are considering the Hong Kong Mile on 11 December. It dangles approximately 12 million South African carrots as an incentive. Plus of course all the prestige of an international Gr1 win.
It is not an easy decision to make. With the draconian export protocols imposed on South African horses, the colt would need to go in to quarantine on 28 May to start the long journey to Hong Kong. The stakes are high – Variety Club would effectively lose 6 months of the peak of his career, he would need to cope with the exceptionally restrictive quarantine regulations and there are also concerns about how he will cope with a compromised training schedule and more free time and expendable energy than he is used to, particularly as he is still entire. On the positive side however, the colt has shown a robust constitution, both mentally as well as physically, he seems to relish a right hand turn and as Joey says ‘he is quite a good horse!’. Most importantly, he has a strong support team behind him.
Team Work
While adding to Telkom’s profits, I get very much the same feeling of dedication and teamwork that I felt with Pocket Power. Anton Shepherd (whose father bred Prince Florimund) says that this colt is probably the best he’s ever produced. He is enormously grateful for being kept such a firm part of the colt’s career and says these opportunities come along once in a lifetime and he’s enjoying it as much as he can! Joey echoes his sentiments when he tells me ‘this is the sort of horse you get out of bed for ‘. He is also quick to point out that despite what may be circulated on some of the gossip sites, Mr Jooste is an exceptionally passionate owner and integral part of the team. He says ‘Markus spends a lot of his time on the road, that’s just the way it is, but people do not realise or often credit him for the fact that he derives the most incredible pleasure and satisfaction from his racing’. Like most people, I know Mr Jooste by reputation only, but Joey confirms that there is little in the Jooste racing empire that escapes his prodigious intellect and says the fact that Variety Club is such a thoroughly South African horse is a particular source of pride.
To be, or not to be ?
No doubt there will be more speculation. Will he stay, or will he go ? The team have a lot to think about. And Variety Club? One gets the feeling that either way, Mr Reliable will just keep taking things in his stride.
