3 minute read

South African star Delago Deluxe is set to race in Australia before he embarks on a stud career next year.

Derek Brugman, the racing manager to owner Markus Jooste, said Delago Deluxe was still with trainer Charles Laird but a deal was being negotiated that could potentially see him leaving South Africa for Australia in September.

With the current export protocols he would not arrive in Australia until February, leaving ample time for him to race before starting his stud career in the spring of 2013.

Delago Deluxe is already a dual G1 winner under Laird’s care, winning the the G1 Tsogo Sun Medallion at Scottsville as a two-year-old and the G1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint over the same course and distance a year later.

The Golden Horse Casino Sprint is regarded as one of South Africa's premier sire shaping races. Past winners who became successful sires include six-time South African champion sire Jet Master, Goldmark, Cataloochee, Kildonan, Rotterdam and Forest King.

Another Jooste-owned star, the Joey Ramsden-trained Variety Club, will be aimed at the G1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and then depending on the status of the export protocols will head overseas for feature races in Singapore and Dubai.

Variety Club has a great chance of being named South Africa's Horse of the Year, having won two G1 miles, a G2 mile and finishing second in both the G1 Queen’s Plate and G1 Cape Derby.

Stablemate Bravura, a former Cape Derby winner, would be kept in training and will be set for the J&B Met.