We win inspite of the quaratine issues @VarietyClubSA

He came he conquered,now the rest of the world are worried follow the rest of his career on twitter @VarietyClubSA

Superhorse and Superman....

Only 56 followers of this page so far,if it was a UK or Maritius horse that just become a champion 1000s of followers would have followed the page

But bloggers in South Africa only work 9-5 ,5 days a week

In front of a crowd of 23 000, including 800 Asian Racing Conference delegates, Variety Club etched his name in the record books as he demolished a world-class field in the HK$12 million, Group 1 The Champions Mile. Thus becoming the first foreign winner of the race since 2005, when overseas runners were admitted for the first time. Variety Club made his wide draw in barrier 12 seem completely immaterial as Anton Marcus headed straight for the lead as soon as the gates opened. Settling just outside Helene Spirit and Andreas Suborics, Marcus had Variety Club under a tight hold as they led the field into the home turn. With 400m left to run Helene Spirit cried enough, leaving Variety Club with a clear lead as the chasing field struggled to make any headway. Despite race favourite Able Friend chasing hard, Marcus sat patiently until the 200m mark before asking the question. Variety Club responded instantaneously and surged ahead to cross the line four lengths in front of Able Friend, in a time of 1.34.11 on the yielding course. Last year’s winner Dan Excel finished in third, a further 1.25 lengths back.

Variety Club had recently transferred to trainer Mike de Kock for the rest of his international campaign and De Kock, together with owner Markus Jooste, racing manger Derek Brugman and breeder Anton Shepherd were all on hand to savour the victory. “It’s huge for us, it’s huge for South Africa and it’s fantastic for South African breeding,” said a delighted De Kock. “And I think it is quite fitting that we are going through all the quarantine protocol and the changes to get it right. It is being discussed at the Conference and it is quite fitting that there is a South African winner today,” he said.

Anton Marcus labelled the win a ‘career best’. “It is nice to have a bit of kudos for this, but in fairness I have to give the horse all the credit. He is an absolute professional and I am merely the pilot,” he said. “To have Markus Jooste here is possibly the highlight of my career. Most of the time Markus cannot be on-course and he has been a tremendous supporter over the past 12 years and it is wonderful, obviously a big thank you to Mike and the team,” said jockey Marcus.

“Anton is such a professional, he is probably the most academic jockey in the world and he rides the horse in every single race and he knew exactly what to do. He did the hard work here and worked it out. We are elated and very grateful for what he did,” said Derek Brugman.

The quality of the win was such that Nigel Grey, HKJC Handicapping and Race Planning Manager, gave a preliminary international rating of 126 to 127 to Variety Club, which should be confirmed later this week when the latest IFHA rankings are issued. De Kock said that Variety Club will now spell and be sent to his Newmarket stables before a new campaign that could include a tilt at the Prix de La Foret and the Breeders’ Cup Mile.