Wednesday's Sounds Russian race by Ruth Jefferson is scheduled for Perth following his impressive return in the Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock.
The highly skilled Sholokhov gelding took home a nice prize at Kelso in October 2022. He went on to place fourth in the Many Clouds and place second in the Rowland Meyrick and Cotswold Chase.
Based on those performances, he was a strong candidate for the 2023 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Sadly, his race was cut short at the 17th fence when Ahoy Senor tumbled and knocked him down. The fall caused a knee injury that required subsequent surgery to remove 12 chips of bone.
This kept him out of the race for eleven months, but he made a successful comeback in February at Haydock, where he finished fifth. He will now compete in the Listed Gold Castle Novices' Hurdle.
“He came out his race at Haydock really well, there wasn’t much else to run him in without going to a big festival,” said Jefferson. “He was always going to come on for the run so I’ve put him in at Perth, we may as well learn if he goes right-handed. If he does it will open up opportunities next year, if he doesn’t then I’ll know for sure. He’d been out for a long time and when you’re coming back on tacky ground it’s not like the start of the season. I knew in the back of my head I’d done as much as I could and he hadn’t been for a gallop, it was a perfectly acceptable run and we were happy enough.”