Classic-winning trainer fills in our regular questionnaire as he looks ahead to 2024 and the return of top middle-distance performer King Of Steel
With a string numbering close to 200, Roger Varian is one of Britain’s leading trainers, having achieved his highest-ever placing at fourth in the table in 2023.
Classic-winning trainer Varian, 44, took over at Newmarket’s Kremlin House in 2011 when his mentor, the late Michael Jarvis, became ill; he purchased Clive Brittain’s former base Carlburg in 2017.
Aided by his wife Hanako, a former director of racing at Darley Japan, Varian scored with his very first runner in 2011, when he also struck at G1 level for the first time in the Prix de l’Opera with subsequent Breeders’ Cup runner-up Nahrain, who won the Flower Bowl at Belmont Park in 2012.
Highlights of an impressive G1-laden CV since then include a pair of St Leger victories (Kingston Hill 2014, Eldar Eldarov 2022) plus a string of major triumphs with top middle-distance performer Postponed, the biggest name among a plethora of top-level winners.
Varian has twice saddled the runner-up in Britain’s premier Classic, the Epsom Derby, with Kingston Hill and last year with King Of Steel. The latter, who stays in training for 2024, went on to make headlines with victory in the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October, when the hugely talented colt was Frankie Dettori’s last scheduled ride in Britain.
Which racing figures past or present do you most admire?
I was with Michael Jarvis (right) for ten years and followed him through. He was regarded as a ‘professional’s professional’ – someone his fellow trainers particularly respected – and that says it all really
But besides being a very good trainer he was first and foremost a gentleman. Nothing was handed to him on a plate and he worked his way all the way up from being a stable lad to winning Classics and major races around the world, including a Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, which very few others have done.
He was never one to blow his own trumpet, which in this sport was possibly to his detriment, but he ran a tight business and a very successful one. I liked him very much and we ended up very close. It went way beyond the normal employer and employee relationship and my success is testament to how he set things up, so I’ll forever be indebted to him.
I worked for Josh Gifford before Michael, and he was another high achiever in the course of a long career and another gentleman of the game. They were really my only two bosses and I liked them both very much. If I could go back in time I couldn’t wish to work for two better guv’nors.
Which is your favourite venue and race anywhere in the world?
My favourite venue is Ascot; I don’t think anywhere beats Ascot as a racetrack.
My favourite race is probably the Derby. We have come close to winning twice now so we are knocking on the door. I was with Michael when he went close too. If Hala Bek had gone in a straight line he would have won [in 2006], wouldn’t he? We’ll get there one day.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
Defoe was a good horse. He won the Coronation Cup, the Hardwicke, the Jockey Club, Geoffrey Freer, London Gold Cup
. He was just such a kind horse and the family loved him too. The kids loved him. He had a lovely attitude. You don’t get attached to too many horses but he was very special. He was a darling of a horse.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of good memories but the Saturday on Champions Day when King Of Steel won the Champion Stakes on what was perhaps Frankie Dettori’s last ride in Britain will be hard to top.
We expected him to win but were nervous about the ground, as you are usually at that meeting. It’s fair to say King Of Steel didn’t enjoy the ground but he still won.
Afterwards to feel that energy and reception from the crowd … I don’t think we will repeat on a racecourse. It was just such an incredible moment. You could argue about whether it was the best race I’ve won or the best performance, but for the best occasion on a racecourse, that was it.
If you can change one thing in racing what would it be?
Everywhere is facing challenges. The problem with racing in the UK is that we race every day and, increasingly, at all times of the day. It’s unrelenting and it leads to a degree of burnout among the participants.
There’s a conception because of the way we are funded here that more is more, and that every betting window has to be filled, seven days a week and morning, afternoon and evening.
I think the opposite; I think less is more. We are introducing this idea of ‘premierisation’, but it’s too watered down and we are still flooding the racing channels morning, noon and night, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.
I would love to see a decrease in the schedule, because I think it would lead to an increase in quality and interest.
Roger Varian was speaking to Jon Lees
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