Varian's View From the Hill

VARIAN'S VIEW FROM THE HILL 
As Roger Varian heads into his fourth season with a training licence, he could hardly be better poised. His Newmarket stable has 174 horses on its books, including one which sets the pulse racing perhaps a little faster than the others: last season's G1 Racing Post Trophy winner Kingston Hill (GB). 
The dark grey colt was the star performer in 2013 for Mastercraftsman (Ire), who ended the year as champion first-season sire in Europe, thanks in no small part to Kingston Hill's two group victories. The first of these, on just his second racecourse start, came in the G3 Autumn S. at Newmarket, over the course and distance at which he will face his biggest test yet on May 3 when lining up for the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas at the Rowley Mile. 
“He's spot on where I want him at the moment and he hasn't missed a beat,” says Varian with quiet confidence. “He wouldn't be ready for a race tomorrow, and I'd want to see a bit of zip in his work come April, but he's doing plenty.” 
“The horse deserves a crack at the Guineas and then we can step him up in trip. He's out of a Rainbow Quest mare and I hope he will stay a mile and a half in time.” 
The idea that Kingston Hill, who is likely to go straight to the Guineas without a prep run, could make up into a Derby horse as the season progresses will no doubt excite his Epsom-based breeder Albert Perry of Ridgecourt Stud. Bought as a yearling for 70,000gns, Kingston Hill became an early colorbearer for Paul Smith, whose father Derrick is one of the powerful triumvirate of owners within the Coolmore partnership. Smith senior's purple and white silks have been carried to Classic success by some notable individuals, including Camelot (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), who won the 2000 Guineas, G1 Investec Derby and G1 Irish Derby before narrowly failing to land the English Triple Crown when finishing second in the G1 St Leger to Encke (Kingmambo). 
Varian's burgeoning training establishment is now home to several Coolmore-owned horses, with John Magnier and Michael Tabor having teamed up with Paul Smith in two juveniles, while the stable continues to enjoy extensive Arab patronage, from the likes of Sheikhs Hamdan and Ahmed Al Maktoum, Qatar Racing, and Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar. 
The Dubaian connection was established under the regime of Kremlin House Stables' previous trainer, Michael Jarvis, to whom Varian was assistant for 10 years until shortly before Jarvis's death in 2011. The 
Sheikh Ahmed-owned Ameerat (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire}) and the Sheikh Hamdan-owned Eswarah (GB) (Unfuwain) won the G1 1000 Guineas and the G1 Investec Oaks, respectively, for Jarvis, while Sheikh Ahmed's Hala Bek (Ire) (Halling) agonizingly lost out on a Derby victory in 2006 when swerving suddenly in the closing stages with the race seemingly at his mercy. 
Though unrelated, the two men could easily have passed for father and son, so similar are they in their unflappable nature and in delivering measured, articulate responses to questions regarding horses in their care. Michael Jarvis was a much-loved and widely respected member of the Newmarket training fraternity, and the fact that Varian has succeeded him so seamlessly, and has not only upheld but enhanced the patronage of Kremlin House Stables, says as much for Jarvis's grooming of him as it does for Varian's own skills as both a horseman and communicator. 
“Naturally, you evolve as a trainer,” says Varian, who has the support of Jarvis's wife Gay and daughter Jackie as hands-on members of his team. In addition to starting out on his own as a trainer, in the last few years he has also had his hands full on the home front, as Varian and his Japanese wife Hanako have two young children: Momoka, two, and Eiji, three months. 
“I take masses from what I learned from Michael over the years, and as time goes on you try a few new ideas. Essentially, though, I'm just doing what Michael always did, which is trying to get the best out of the horses all the time.” 
For many trainers with a Classic prospect on their hands, the weeks leading up to the major targets become fraught with worry over the balancing act of bringing the horse to his peak without allowing him to boil over. In Kingston Hill, it seems, Varian has the perfect ally. The unbeaten colt is almost as understated as the trainer himself. There's no roaring around Newmarket Heath, as plenty of young colts are wont to do. Instead, he simply does the job he's asked to do, with the bare minimum of effort. 
Fortunately this apparent laziness doesn't spill over to the racecourse. Instead, his laidback attitude is an asset, allowing his innate talent to come to the fore when required. 
Varian says: “Last year we started him over seven furlongs and then he ran twice over a mile including in the Racing Post Trophy on pretty awful ground. People are saying that he's a soft ground horse, but I am convinced that he will be as effective if not more effective on good ground. It's comforting to know that he can cope if it comes up soft, but when we've worked him on better ground at home he's really excited me.” 
Varian continued: “We'll start off in the Guineas and then step him up in distance. He settles really well in his races and has a great attitude, which should help him in seeing out a longer trip.” 
Kingston Hill is by no means the only weapon in the trainer's Classic armory for the season. Also entered in the 2000 Guineas are the lightly-raced duo of Mushir (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and Baarez (Hard Spun), while Princess Noor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and the unraced Hadaatha (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) hold entries for the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas. 
“Princess Noor is pretty much at the same stage as Kingston Hill,” says the trainer of his G3 Princess Margaret S. winner. “We're training her for the 1000 Guineas. Obviously her wins last year were over six furlongs, so there has to be a question mark over whether she'll stay, but Johnny [Murtagh] was very pleased with her after the [G1] Cheveley Park [S., where she finished second] and felt she could get a mile. She's a Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed, so she deserves to take her chance in the Guineas. If she doesn't stay she can always drop back in trip later in the season.” 
While the 3-year-olds garner much of the attention ahead of the imminent start of the Flat turf season, one of the stable's older flagbearers has a chance of igniting the new campaign for the Varian stable, as G1 Pretty Polly S. winnerAmbivalent (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}) is set to line up in the Dubai Sheema Classic at the Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan. 
“She has a few pounds to find to win the race but she's a Group 1 winner and she's in great form, and we're excited to be having a go,” says Varian, whose first Group 1 success as a trainer came less than a month after the death of his mentor when Nahrain (GB) won the Prix de l'Opera in October 2011. The daughter of Selkirk augmented that victory by winning the GI Flower Bowl Invitational S. at Belmont the following year. 
With Kingston Hill having become the third individual Group 1 winner, and the first colt, for the 35-year-old trainer last October, it's unsurprising that he holds a special place in Varian's affections. 
“Looking back, I think it's ten or a dozen years before Kingston Hill that our stable had a Group 1-winning 2-year-old. It's exciting times. I have been pleased with the three years of my training career but we haven't really gone into a season with a proper Classic contender like we have this year.”