First jumps runner obliges on debut for Beeches Stud sire Ocovango

Ocovango, a Group 2-winning son of Monsun and fifth in the Derby won by Ruler Of The World, got his stud career off to the perfect start when Langer Dan, his first runner in Britain and Ireland, obliged on debut in the two-mile juvenile maiden hurdle at Ludlow on Wednesday.

Langer Dan was kept up to his work by Harry Skelton all the way to the line, seeing off the Canford Cliffs gelding Brambledown by two and a quarter lengths, with the Zebedee gelding Sarasota Star a further two and a half lengths back in third.

Bred by Hugh O'Connor and trained by Dan Skelton, Langer Dan is the first foal out of the unraced Milan mare What A Fashion, a half-sister to three Graded performers, namely Klepht, Welsh Shadow and Whatzdjazz.

Offered by the Premier Consignment, Langer Dan sold for €12,000 to Ballinaroon Stud at the 2016 Tattersalls Ireland November Sale, and made his first start in the colours of owner Colm Donlon.

"Langer Dan is National Hunt-bred and didn't have the experience of some of the ex-Flat types in opposition," said Tom Messenger, assistant trainer to Dan Skelton. "He's always jumped well and has a fantastic attitude, which has stood him in good stead."

Trained by Andre Fabre, Ocovango landed the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud before his Epsom fifth and was a close third to Flintshire in the Grand Prix de Paris as well as a three-year-old.

Ocovango, who also supplied a first-crop Flat winner with La Shaba successful in a mile maiden at Kincsem Park in Hungary, stood his first five seasons at the Beeches Stud at a €3,500 fee.

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