The great Variety Club is the highest Timeform rated horse in SA history and his breeder Anton Shepherd of Beaumont Stud at one stage had a glimmer of hope the Vaughan Marshall-trained Trompie (Captain Of All) was going to follow in his footsteps.
Shepherd was relieved to see Trompie bouncing back with an emphatic win on Saturday, eight months after his inexplicably disappointing run in the Grade 3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery back in February.
Trompie acquired his name in similar circumstances to Kommetdieding.
Anton and friends had gathered to watch the July and, after a number of drinks had been sunk, a discussion began about the naming of the promising son of Var.
Somebody suggested “Trompie”, a name they were all familiar with having grown up in the 1980’s at the time of the TV show, “Trompie En Die Boksem Bende”.
Anton thought the suggestion had been a joke until he received a message from the NHA saying, “The name Trompie has been reserved.”
So Trompie it was and Anton now likes it, because it is certainly a unique name and it has that touch of Kommetdieding about it.
Trompie won so easily on debut that before his next start in the Grade 3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery in February Anton remembered the connections just talking about “how far (would he win by)?”.
Anton had also been wondering whether he had bred another Variety Club.
That was until the 400m mark of the Nursery, which became an “Oh, dear!” moment.
The T Gujadhur & R T Mattheyse-owned colt had led and was using his big stride, but he then found little extra and faded to a 6,20 length seventh.
The reason for the poor showing remains a mystery today.
Anton said, “We could only put it down to growing pains. He did return a bit unsound, but we could not find where.”
Anton does not believe it was the 1200m trip and added, “He is not built like a sprinter at all, he is a bit on the leg, and Captain Of All is also throwing horses who can stay a bit of a trip. But he is out of a Var mare. However, I am confident he will stay 1200m and don’t think that was the issue in the defeat.”
He revealed, “Ironically, Variety Club had by far the worst race of his career in the Cape Nursery too (finished 5th, the only time he was out of the first three in his career and, furthermore, he only finished third once!)
Anton continued, “So it was great to see a horse who was so highly thought of bouncing back to win so well on Saturday.”
Trompie, returning from an eight month layoff in the Need For Speed Sprint on Saturday, drifted from 3/1 out to 8/1.
However, he settled well when finding cover behind the leading line.
In the closing stages it looked like the well regarded favourite Hithemhardsunshine was going to sweep past the leaders and convert the confidence that had seen him backed in from 33/20 to 11/10.
However, instead it was Trompie who surged through on the inside with his impressive stride under S’Manga Khumalo.
He ran away from Hithemhardsunshine to win by 1,25 lengths, although he was receiving 4kg from the latter.
Trompie’s mother, the Winterbach Stud-bred Var filly Wake Up Maggie, was in fact a R2 million yearling.
She won three races from 1000m to 1200m and Beaumont Stud were fortunate to pick her up at a dispersal sale for R50,000.
“She is a beautiful looking mare, we got lucky,” said Anton.
Wake Up Maggie is currently in foal to Rafeef, so Trompie’s career will be followed closely by the stud owners and staff members.
He is in the right hands considering Vaughan Marshall’s incredible record with Captain Al and his offspring and his offspring’s offspring.
Marshall is the trainer of the best Captain Of All to date, Linebacker.
