by David Thiselton
Joey Ramsden confirmed that Variety Club and Bravura were in great shape ahead of the Grade 2 Green Point Stakes over 1600m on the Kenilworth Old Course on Saturday, where he has a quintet of runners, including the intended pacemaker The Helmsman.
“They have had great preps,” he said of the top class pair. “They couldn’t have gone better.”
The Helsman, who went from pillar to post in his only victory to date over this same course and distance, has drawn perfectly in three for his intended role, while Variety Club has a fair draw of six.
Variety Club is going to be particularly hard to beat over this tight mile.
The four-year-old Var colt’s phenomenal gate speed invariably puts him into a good position and his ability to switch off allows him to use his superb turn of foot from a handy position or even from the front.
He has good cruising speed so those who take him on early risk falling into a hole and those who wait are usually left flat-footed.
He is likely to be taken on early on Saturday due to the short straight, but the energy he reserves in the running coupled with his turn of foot usually allows him to bound away from them.
His early price of 8-10 looks fair value, considering he would have improved since his comfortable win against most of these rivals in a Pinnacle Plate over 1400m three weeks ago.
Bravura ran a fine second in that race.
He chased his stablemate all the way up the straight, but only began making inroads when the latter was eased down before the line.
He is defending his crown here and will appreciate the extra 200m, but on the downside he is drawn widest of all in twelve compared to his good draw of three last year.
Ramsden felt that In A Rush had come on from his last run, when finishing a 1,65 length third to Changingoftheguard in the Grade 3 Matchem Stakes over 1400m at Durbanville.
He was drawn in pole there and has a good draw of four here.
He proved in his penultimate start at Scottsville that he can handle a mile.
However, Ramsden will be viewing this race as a test to see whether he goes for the Grade 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate or the two Grade 2 1800m handicaps that are usually the targets of the Cape Sizzling Summer’s second tier horses, the Calulo Premier Trophy and the Peninsula Handicap on December 15 and January 5 respectively.
Ramsden’s battle hardened six-year-old campaigner Lion In Winter finished third in last year’s Green Point from draw 7 and is drawn identically this time.
However, this year’s event has attracted a considerably stronger field and, as a horse that has always been just a length or two off the best, this could be a stepping stone race into those two aforementioned Grade 2 handicaps.
Lion In Winter won the Peninsula two years ago and finished a close up fourth to Chesalon in the Premier Trophy last year.
Ramsden felt that there was a lot of pace in Saturday’s race even without The Helsman in the line up.
However, he added that from past experience it was impossible to guess what his opponents would be doing, so he would only be thinking about how his five horses would run their races.
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