Oscars Brother is widely expected to take the step up to Grade 1 level on his next start having claimed the second Grade 2 success of his career on Sunday.
Now owned by JP McManus, the promising son of Malinas is trained by former jockey and fledgling handler Connor King, who currently only has two horses in his yard, and he looked a fine recruit for his powerful owner when beating fellow McManus horse The Wallpark by six lengths in Sunday's William Hill Racing Bet Builder Ten Up Novice Chase.
King was delighted with what he saw from Oscars Brother, ridden by the trainer's brother Daniel, and the horse was subsequently cut to a best-priced 14/1 for the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at Cheltenham, while Sky Bet and Paddy Power make the eight-year-old a 40/1 shot for the Randox Grand National at Aintree on April 11.
King will let the dust settle on the Navan victory before confirming a next intended target, but he told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: "It was an amazing day and we're delighted to get off to a good start for Mr McManus. Hopefully we can get a few more winners. It was a brilliant day but it doesn't stop, you just have to keep going forward now, so we'll try and keep going.
"Dan was delighted with the horse, he knows him inside out and to be honest it all happened so fast yesterday I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Dan so I'll hopefully get the chance to have a good chat today but from what I gather he was delighted with him. It was good.
"I was very happy with how he looked and how he behaved, just the way he jumped and handled that ground. Dan felt he didn't go that quick but on that ground (heavy) he was probably going a nice pace. Just the way he finished out the race, and he seemed in such good form afterwards. So it was all good really."
Unlimited Replays
of all UK and Irish races with our Race Replays
Discover Sporting Life Plus Benefits
As for the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham and potentially racing on a less taxing surface at Prestbury Park next month, he added: "The ground doesn't really matter but I suppose if it was softer then it might suit us, but if it was good ground it wouldn't really matter, so we're lucky that way.
"We will see how the horse is first and we'll go from there then."
A lack of experience certainly wouldn't be a concern for the trainer, with those big-race entries at Cheltenham and Aintree in mind.
King said: "He had plenty of runs over hurdles, he ran in a 20-runner handicap hurdle in Navan last year (season), so he has plenty of experience, I suppose you don't know until you try but I wouldn't be too worried about it anyway."
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
