Variety Club entered for races in Dubai

By David Thiselton


PIC: Liesl King


Derek Brugman admitted that the request made to the Emirates Racing Authority (ERA) for Variety Club to travel as soon as possible to Dubai was a “long shot” and re-iterated that should permission not be granted the superstar Var colt was not a definite to run in the J&B Met.



Brugman, Racing Manager to Variety Club’s owner Markus Jooste, said, “We have entered Variety Club in both the Godolphin Mile and Dubai Duty Free. Like his entry in last year’s Hong Kong Mile, it is also a political statement as we have to keep on applying pressure. We have the scientific measures and medical measures in place now and they can’t keep on hiding from that. We will carry on applying pressure until one day the ‘no’s’ are replaced with a ‘yes’. “



Brugman said that a letter, written on behalf of the Joey Ramsden-trained horse by Racing South Africa, had been sent to the ERA at the beginning of last week and, in his opinion, it was indirectly a letter on behalf of all South African racehorses.



However, although Variety Club’s entry in the two races had been acknowledged, there had been no response to the request to travel.



“It looks like they are taking the ostrich approach again and hoping the problem will just go away,” said Brugman, who was due to meet with Peter Gibson of Racing South Africa yesterday in order to “chase up” the request.



Brugman said Variety Club’s running in the Met would be a “possibility” if he couldn’t fly to Dubai.



One target the connections still definitely have in mind is the prestigious Breeder’s Cup Mile in the USA in November.



Brugman said that Variety Club had taken his run in Saturday’s L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate very well.



“He is one of the soundest horses I’ve come across,” he said.



Variety Club, who used his phenomenal gate speed to overcome his wide draw with ease, led from start to finish on Saturday and won going away by 2,35 lengths in most impressive style.



It was his third Grade 1 success, his ninth Graded victory and his twelfth win overall.



He is now universally regarded as among South Africa’s greatest ever milers.



Brugman was asked about the false start, in which Variety Club backed out of a gate that had not been properly locked, and was consequently the only horse to not travel a short distance before the second start.



He said, “It was one of those things that happen in racing. It looks like somebody messed up, but I’m glad all the runners were able to still take part. It might have taken the edge off some of the horses, but I’m not entirely sure it made a big difference. Jackson’s time was virtually the same as his time in the Green Point and he was beaten by about the same margin. So, it was an unfortunate incident, but I don’t think it had any material effect on the result.”



Variety Club’s previous mile form with Jackson stood up.



He beat Jackson by 2,25 lengths in the KRA Guineas, by 2,5 lengths in the Green Point Stakes and by 2,25 lengths on Saturday.

Have tweeted the Dubai racing Club to try and get a bit movement ,if some of you tweeters can retweet me etc..

Ur twitter adress hibs

@SAFBETTINGCLAN

Laura King(Dubai racing channel presenter) just tweeted that she is on the case...

hibernia Wrote:

---

> @SAFBETTINGCLAN
>
> Laura King(Dubai racing channel presenter) just
> tweeted that she is on the case...


well done and i hope V C gets an invitation because it will open many doors for our local horses and imo V C will hv a big chance to win in dubai.

Would be great for SA racing

Only Charl has retweeted

In case anyone missed it, according to the 2012 IFHA World Rankings just recently released, Variety Club was the joint-highest rated 3 year old turf miler for 2012. He tied with Camelot (GB) and All Too Hard (Aus).

No chance, can't happen this 2013 Carnival & Brugman probably knows that.

It's pathetic that other countries can come and go from Dubai as they like.....fly in ,fly out!There has not been one case of AHS in the rest of the world caused by SA horses and 1000's have left our shores for racing,polo,show jumping etc.....,
It's time this draconian rule of not allowing us to travel is sorted out.....been dragging it's heels for years and never seem to see light at the end of the tunnel.
When our top horses have gone thru the quarantine process they have cleaned up the opposition....imagine what they would do if they had the easy route???????

Could not agree more WE :X

WESTERN EXPLORER Wrote:

---

> It's pathetic that other countries can come and go
> from Dubai as they like.....fly in ,fly out!There
> has not been one case of AHS in the rest of the
> world caused by SA horses and 1000's have left our
> shores for racing,polo,show jumping etc.....,
> It's time this draconian rule of not allowing us
> to travel is sorted out.....been dragging it's
> heels for years and never seem to see light at the
> end of the tunnel.
> When our top horses have gone thru the quarantine
> process they have cleaned up the
> opposition....imagine what they would do if they
> had the easy route???????

The good news is that the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) made changes to the AHS code chapter at their 80th annual General Assembly in Paris on May 23 last year. These are merely guidelines but must put some pressure on countries to review their export protocols.

The EU have stuck to the regulations of the previous export protocols to deal with the AHS outbreak in the AHS Controlled area of early 2011 and the rest of the world have aligned themselves with the EU.

The previous protocol said there had to be a two year period after the last recorded AHS case before exports can resume.

However, when the two year period ends in May the new guidelines will hopefully then be considered.

Material changes made to the AHS Code Chapter:

1) Countries can apply to the OIE for official recognition of their AHS disease status. The newly adopted code outlines procedures that need to be followed to complete and submit a dossier with an application for official recognition of AHS disease status. The dossier needs to be submitted for consideration ahead of an ad hoc working group meeting in January 2013.
If an application is successful, it will form the cornerstone of protocol negotiations between countries as systems of control and monitoring for AHS will have been reviewed and accepted by the OIE. This will greatly expedite protocol development. (2) The opportunity for countries to apply to the OIE for recognition of a containment zone within a previously AHS free country or zone in the event of a limited controlled outbreak of AHS in the AHS controlled area.
Once the OIE recognises a containment zone, the status of the remainder of the country or zone can be regained 80 days after the last case of AHS. This will greatly expedite the resumption of exports following an outbreak of AHS in the AHS controlled area. (3) A substantially shortened pre export quarantine period in combination with agent identification testing when exporting from an infected country or zone. The reduction of pre-export quarantine from a minimum of 40 days continuous quarantine to a minimum of 14 days vector protected quarantine with agent identification testing when exporting from an infected country or zone, introduces a practical solution for exporting from an infected country.