OLEG
Race entries
Our French agents Peter and Toby Jones have unearthed another gem here, in the form of the 4yo grey gelding OLEG, a son of Kamsin who is a fantastic young sire (sire of last year's French Gold Cup winner ON THE GO and the recent Grade 1 Chepstow Finale runner up ADJALI). OLEG has raced just once over hurdles in France at Pau, and finished second in very eye-catching style. Here is a link to the race.http://www.france-galop.com/fr/course/detail/2018/O/MWFrQkEvd3cyYlJoZ2hvNHpvSVhKZz09
You'll note, OLEG is out of Darshaan mare and is a half-brother to listed and Group performers, OLEG jumps for fun throughout the Pau race and looks like he needs further than the 2m1f. He's a fantastic individual, just take a look at his photo and the video of his walk attached to this page. He has great size and great movement and stands a mighty 16.2 hands high. He's just the perfect size for an embryonic chaser in the making, he jumps his hurdles rather like a chaser would too. We can't wait to see him hit the track for us over here, initially over hurdles.
He's bred to improve significantly with time and distance. He's sharp enough for 2m but will stay much further. He loves soft ground, which will very much advantage him on numerous occasions when the mud is flying, especially over fences. Peter and Toby Jones' French form guru has rated his debut as being a run to an official rating of 128, and they believe this horse will be significantly better than that, when he gets the right conditions e.g. further and more hurdles and even fences.
Paul Nicholls does so well with these French imports, most recently horses like Frodon and Clan Des Obeaux, but Paul has a rich history of buying, bringing over French imports and finding steady improvement over a period of time. Oleg looks to be just another in the long list of winners that Paul supplies for his owners. OLEG is arriving at Paul's this week and ought to be running for us either within 10 days or by the end of the month, depending in how quickly he settles in. Oleg is very much not just a one trick pony however, he's every inch a long-term prospect too, for years to come. You could even see him racing in BIG handicaps on the Flat over distances of ground, whilst he has youth on his side; potentially all year-round action.