Trainer Roger Varian ventures into the unknown with Fakenham bumper runner

Classic-winning trainer Roger Varian will break new ground at Fakenham on Tuesday as Shinji becomes his first runner in a bumper when lining up in the 2m newcomers' contest (3.22).

The powerhouse Newmarket trainer sits fifth in the Flat trainers' championship this season having won £3,489,311 in total prize-money, having landed the St Leger with Eldar Eldarov and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes with Bayside Boy this year from a registered string of 158 horses.

By Kingston Hill, who Varian saddled to win the 2014 St Leger and to finish second in the same year's Derby, Shinji is a half-brother to the Listed performer Mackaar, who defeated future Queen Elizabeth II winner and 2,000 Guineas runner up King Of Change as a juvenile.

Varian has previously saddled only one runner under National Hunt rules since taking out a licence to train in 2011, with Central Square finishing eighth in a 2m novice hurdle at Huntingdon in December 2016 in the colours of owner Steve Parkin's Clipper Logistics.

Shinji will race in the colours of Varian's wife Hanako, and the trainer said: "We're in unfamiliar territory with a runner in a bumper. I don't know how strong a race it is, but I do hope that he'll run well.

"I won't be there myself but will be watching on television, and at least there's no jumps to worry about as we take on those on the other side of the sport!"

Prior to starting training, Varian spent three seasons riding over jumps as a conditional jockey, recording seven wins from 78 rides in Britain and Ireland.

Shinji will be ridden by Aidan Coleman at Fakenham and is predicted to start favourite despite being the only three-year-old in the field. His four rivals include Damarta, a €90,000 purchase from the yard of Olly Murphy, who was successful in this race in 2020 with Washington.

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