Variety Club outshines Soft Falling Rain

Jockey Anton Marcus celebrates after winning the Godolphin Mile Group-2 race at Meydan. — KT photo by Rahul Gajjar

South African trainer Joey Ramsden was over the moon when he saw Variety Club the South Africa dual Horse Of The Year leading the 16-horse field to win the $1m Godolphin Mile Group-2 under a fine ride from Anton Marcus, the second race on the Dubai World Cup card on Saturday.

For the winning jockey Marcus it meant so much to win a big race for the connections. “He defied the wide draw ‘drawn 15 of the 16 runners field’ pretty economically and pretty effortlessly. It’s my first real international exposure but it was a big team effort,” he added.

Trainer Ramsden echoed the same words. “That was great,” he said. “There was a little concern about the wide draw, but luckily Marcus brought him very quickly to the inside to lead against the fences. When I saw him settled upfront, I realised that he’s going to hit the wire in front of defending champion Soft Falling Rain who chased the winner home,” he added.

Last year’s winner Soft Falling Rain tried to challenge South Africa’s dual Horse of the Year, but Marcus had saved enough and his mount ran out a ready winner. Flotilla, who landed the French 1,000 Guineas, made late headway to claim third.

But, it was not only the wide draw which mattered most when Variety Club was narrowly beaten by Godolphin’s filly Shuruq in the Burj Nahar G-2, on the Super Saturday. Variety Club is a front runner and on that occasion he was challenged for the lead by Capital Attraction, a situation that provided Shuruq with the opportunity to attack the leading pair from behind and make the best of the obvious opportunity.

And this time, fortunately, Tadhg O’Shea didn’t manage to break well with his mount Capital Attraction and dropped to the rear of the field. “To come here to compete means a lot, but to win is something special. Anton gave him a fantastic ride, and he got into a soft lead, and this gives me so much pleasure and all of South Africa. It may take a while to sink in,” added a jubilant trainer. Jockey Paul Hanagan who finished second on Soft Falling Rain was full of praise for his horse’s efforts.”