Five young jumps sires to follow this season

MASKED MARVEL (oldest horses aged 7)

Masked Marvel is ‘one that got away’ as far as breeders in Britain and Ireland are concerned. Despite being bred in Britain, where he was also trained by John Gosden to win the St Leger before racing in Australia later in his career, it’s in France that he’s making a growing reputation as a jumps stallion and where his fee has risen from just €3,000 when he started out to a new high of €12,500 this year.

Masked Marvel is by Montjeu – also the sire of other successful jumps stallions such as Walk In The Park, Fame And Glory and Scorpion - and his pedigree has been given added lustre since he retired to stud. One of his half-sisters produced the 2019 Arc winner Waldgeist, while another half-sister is now the grandam of high-class hurdler Vauban.

Gordon Elliott’s high-class hurdler Teahupoo leads the way among Masked Marvel’s runners in the British Isles, with longer trips proving to suit him well last season when he won the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle and Galmoy Hurdle and finished a close third in the Stayers’ Hurdle. Masked Marvel did have a Cheltenham Festival winner, though, with Henry de Bromhead’s mare Maskada winning the Grand Annual.

Dan Skelton’s Heltenham ran up a hat-trick in handicaps over fences last season and should be another of his sire’s more interesting jumpers this term. The highlight of Masked Marvel’s stallion career to date, though, came back in France when his son Sel Jem won the 2022 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at the age of just five.

OCOVANGO (oldest horses aged 7)

Ocovango didn’t lose his unbeaten record for Andre Fabre until contesting the 2013 Derby in which he was beaten only a couple of lengths into fifth behind Ruler of The World, looking unlucky not to finish closer still. While he failed to win another race, the son of Monsun already had a Group 2 success to his name and was snapped up by Coolmore for their jumps division at Beeches Stud.

However, earlier this year Ocovango stood his first season at Dan and Grace Skelton’s Alne Park Stud in Warwickshire. It’s perhaps not surprising he’s ended up there because one of his best hurdlers, Langer Dan, was already an Imperial Cup winner for the Skeltons in 2021 before adding the Coral Cup to his cv last March.

Also from his first crop, Ocovango’s highest-rated jumper (149 over hurdles) to date is Champ Kiely whose wins for Willie Mullins last season included the Grade 1 Lawlor’s of Naas Novice Hurdle before finishing third to stablemate Impaire Et Passe in the Ballymore Novices’ at the Festival. Barnacullia and Pinkerton are a couple more useful performers for Ocovango in Ireland, while the likes of Mofasa and General Medrano have made promising starts to their chasing careers this autumn for Paul Nicholls and Emma Lavelle respectively.

JET AWAY (oldest horses aged 7)

Jet Away perhaps didn’t have the most obvious profile for a jumps sire as he's the son of miler Cape Cross out of a sister to Juddmonte’s star broodmare Hasili. He was trained by Sir Henry Cecil to win six races at around a mile and a quarter for Khalid Abdullah, his biggest win here coming in a listed race at Goodwood in which he beat the future Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente.

Jet Away was later exported to Australia himself where he became a Group 3 winner, but he ended up at stud in Ireland where his size – he was a big, useful-looking horse in his racing days – must have counted for plenty in making him an attractive prospect as a jumps stallion.

Pick of his runners so far is Brandy Love (rated 148), from his first crop, who won the Grade 1 novice hurdle for mares at Fairyhouse in 2022 for Willie Mullins. She runs in the colours of the Donnellys who looked to have a really exciting prospect by the same sire when Jet Powered, a 350,000 guineas purchase from Irish points, made an impressive debut over hurdles for Nicky Henderson at Newbury last season but disappointed on his only other start.

Three Card Brag, a useful novice hurdler for Gordon Elliott last season, and Space Tourist, another Mullins mare who has won three races over hurdles already this term, are also among Jet Away’s best runners to date.

JEU ST ELOI (oldest horses aged 6)

Jeu St Eloi was in the news recently when he became the latest French-based jumps stallion to be head-hunted by an Irish stud, joining Constitution Hill’s sire Blue Bresil at Rathbarry & Glenview Studs in County Cork. If the horse himself isn’t a familiar name on this side of the Channel, his trainer will be because he raced for Guillaume Macaire.

Oddly, though, he failed to win any of his six races, though he was runner-up three times at Auteuil, including in both his runs over fences. On the other hand, he’s got a fine jumping pedigree, by former French champion jumps sire Saint des Saints and a half-brother to Oculi, a dual Group 1 winner over fences at Auteuil as a four-year-old.

Apart from having some useful winners in France, Jeu St Eloi has a foothold in Britain too with Paul Nicholls latching onto him from an early stage as he trains not only useful four-year-old hurdler Blueking d’Oroux, a winner at Cheltenham recently and a contender for the Greatwood Hurdle, but also Inthewaterside who kept his unbeaten record when making a winning debut over hurdles at Aintree last month.

Willie Mullins also has an interesting winner by Jeu St Eloi as It’s For Me’s bumper debut at Navan last January was impressive enough to make him ante-post favourite for the Champion Bumper in which he finished fifth, looking a good prospect for novice hurdles.

KARAKTAR (oldest horses aged 5)

The Aga Khan’s Karaktar started favourite for the 2015 Prix du Jockey Club and while he disappointed on that occasion after injuring his back, that was the only defeat of his three-year-old campaign during which he won Group 3 contests at Longchamp either side of that run. Karaktar is by High Chaparral who deserves to have a son in the National Hunt stallion ranks given he bred some very good jumpers himself, his standout performer in that sphere being Altior.

Although it’s still very early days in Karaktar’s stallion career, he’s already making a mark with his imports from France, including Jit Langy, who impressed with his jumping on his debut for Willie Mullins in the J P McManus colours at Tipperary in May and holds a Grade 1 entry at Fairyhouse next month.

Jagwar, another McManus recruit, went down narrowly on his recent British debut at Aintree, while Ikarak was a fairly useful winner over hurdles at Worcester last month. Much the best of Karaktar’s winners to date though is French gelding Il Est Francais who had some very smart form over hurdles at Auteuil last season and made it 2-2 over fences at Auteuil on Sunday.

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