British National Hunt ranks boosted as Ol' Man River switches to March Hare Stud

Ol' Man River, the well-bred son of Montjeu, is moving to stand at March Hare Stud in Suffolk this season. His fee will be set at £1,500 as a dual-purpose stallion.

A winner of the Group 2 Beresford Stakes as a juvenile for Aidan O'Brien, Ol'Man River was a €2,850,000 Goffs Orby purchase by MV Magnier and was bred by Michael Ryan out of his dual Guineas winner Finsceal Beo, who was trained by Jim Bolger and also won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and went down by a head to Darjina in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches.

The 13-year-old's oldest crop is seven from his previous residency at Arctic Tack Stud. His highest rated National Hunt performers so far are Ol Man Dingle, who won three on the bounce for Eoin Griffin and was fourth in a Listed handicap hurdle at Leopardstown last time, as well as El Elefante, who has picked up three wins over fences during the campaign for Lucinda Russell.

"He's a proven National Hunt stallion and by Montjeu, a sire of proven National Hunt sires already. We still feel his progeny are improving and he is worth a chance to be offered to the UK market," said Rosie Gedge-Gibson of March Hare, who added that the stallion has progeny with the likes of David Pipe, Rebecca Curtis and Fergal O’Brien.

March Hare's other dual-purpose name is Diplomat, who has his first three-year-old runners this year and is standing for the same price.

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