It wasn’t Nurlan Bizakov’s idea to take Charyn to Kyoto to round out the colt’s career: that’s the doing of Roger Varian who has set in motion the most welcome rarity of a genuine big-hitter from Europe taking on the Japanese milers in their own end-of-season championship. But the Kazakh oil billionaire is happy to take on the challenge.
It was only two weeks ago that Bizakov’s pale blue silks with the yellow half sleeves were front and centre on Australian shores at Rosehill, Sydney, when the Jerome Reynier-trained Lazzat went down by a half-length in the Golden Eagle. Running second there pocketed AU$2 million (US$1.3 million).
Charyn will vie for first-place money of ¥180 million (US$1.27 million) in Japan, and that’s not to be sniffed at either: nor is the participation money down to ¥3.6 million (US$25,000) in 10th place, but this rare venture is about more than money, and certainly not about boosting stallion fees, although a win wouldn’t hurt on that front.
“Roger Varian convinced me to take the horse to Japan,” Bizakov told Idol Horse in Sydney. “Roger has some Japanese connections, his wife Hanako is Japanese, and he loves racing there.”
Victory for Varian would be a sizable feather in his cap in a mixed year, when he lost the notable patronage of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum and Kia Joorabchian’s AMO Racing, and gained support from Godolphin.
British-trained winners in Japan have been almost as rare as hen’s teeth in the last two decades, and the last was Snow Fairy for trainer Ed Dunlop in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup of 2011. There has never been a foreign-trained winner of the Mile Championship – the French mare Sahpresa came closest when third in both 2009 and 2011 – and no British-trained raider has attempted the test since Eva’s Request was 10th in 2009.
But Varian’s connection to Japan through his wife, the former director of racing for Darley in Japan, has prompted him to tackle the Mile Championship with the strongest candidate Europe has ever sent to the race.
“We are always very ambitious and we’re enthusiastic to have a runner in Japan,” Varian told a JRA-hosted press conference after Charyn had worked on the Kyoto turf on Wednesday morning, to the satisfaction of his Mile Championship pilot Ryan Moore.
The trainer pointed out that he had learnt a lot from his only previous runner in Japan, the Group 2 winner Sri Putra, hammered when last of 17 behind Gentildonna in the 2012 Japan Cup.
“It was a very exciting moment to have a horse to race in Japan but it was a very harsh lesson of how good a horse has to be to deserve to come to Japan to compete in a Group 1,” Varian continued. “After the trip, we said we would not come back to Japan until we could bring a champion horse.”
Now he has that champion. Charyn is Europe’s top miler, hands down, thanks to brilliant wins in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes, G1 Prix Jacques le Marois and G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and a pair of unfortunate reversals when second in the G1 Lockinge Stakes and G1 Prix du Moulin. That makes him a worthy challenger against Japan’s current crop of elite milers, which is not the strongest the home nation has ever produced but will still require peak performance to defeat.
“We have respect for Japanese racing and Japanese horses are successful all over the world,” Varian said.
And that respect includes Serifos, the 2022 Mile Championship winner and a significant opponent on Sunday. The five-year-old is trained by Mitsumasa Nakauchida, whose wife is Hanako Varian’s sister.
“We understand it’s a very big challenge to bring a horse to Japan and be successful, but it is a challenge we want to do, this time with Charyn and hopefully in the future as well,” Varian added.
So, thanks to the Varians, after a near-miss in Sydney, Bizakov has a shot at another late-season international major on the other side of the world from his burgeoning Sumbe operation, which incorporates Hesmonds Stud in England, purchased in 2010, Haras de Montfort et Preaux, bought in 2019, and Haras de Mezeray, added in 2021.
It has been a fairly rapid expansion for Bizakov, who bought his first yearlings in 2006 out of Book 2 at Tattersalls, a batch that included the Group 2-winning stayer Askar Tau.
Sumbe now stands the stallions Mishriff, Blue Angel, Golden Horde, Belbek and soon Charyn, who developed from a talented nearly-horse at two and three into an exciting champion at four.
If he could land the Mile Championship to cap his career, it would further signal Bizakov’s ambitions as an international player seeking to not only develop his own breeding programme, but also to have runners competing in more of the world’s top races.
“Winnning the Mile Championship won’t affect his stud value,” Bizakov told Idol Horse in Sydney, emphasising that Charyn’s participation is a sporting decision, and also pointing out that his fee had been set and would be announced that week. The grey son of Dark Angel will stand at Haras de Montfort et Preaux in France for €35,000 (US$37,000).
“I guess if he wins it would give it a boost next year though,” he added as an afterthought.
And it would be a big boost for Varian, too, at home and in Japan ∎
