EVERY now and again, looking into the family of a horse I have chosen to review, I go down something of a rabbit hole, or unearth an interesting story about a horse or a sire. This is the case with the recent Grade 2 Prix Georges de Talhouet Roy Hurdle winner Varsovie.

Bred by Joel Denis and Christian Bresson, Varsovie (the French word for Warsaw) is trained by Dominique Bresson and races for the leading jumps owner in France, Nicole Papot. She races her horses as Mrs Patrick Papot. The son of Estejo (Johan Cruyff) is a three-year-old gelding who made an inauspicious start to his race career.

Back in mid-March Varsovie lined up for his debut in Auteuil but was brought down. Less than a month later, he showed no effects from that tumble and finished second, only to be disqualified and placed last for causing another horse to fall. He was given the summer off and reappeared last month in a two and a quarter mile hurdle race at Auteuil, scene of all his runs, and won easily by six lengths.

Last weekend, Varsovie was faced with what seemed an impossible task, taking on the long odds-on favourite Huron Bleu, owned and trained by the same connections and undefeated in three starts which included a pair of Grade 3 hurdle races. However, Varsovie took the step up in class with ease and ran out a three and a half-length winner from his stablemate. The pair will likely reoppose each other in the Grade 1 Prix Cambaceres.

Hinterland

Going back four generations on his dam’s side, Varsovie comes from a family that has often done better outside France. The gelding himself is one of three winners for the unraced Placedesvictoires (Martaline), and she is a half-sister to Hinterland (Poliglote). He started his career in France where he won the Listed Prix Wild Monarch Hurdle, and was then purchased to race for Chris Giles in England, trained by Paul Nicholls.

A smart hurdler, winning a Grade 2 juvenile hurdle at Cheltenham, Hinterland was a better chaser and his finest hour came when he beat Grandouet a neck in the Grade 1 Henry VII Novice Chase at Sandown. While that was Hinterland’s finest moment, his best performance actually came in defeat, again at Sandown. A year after his Grade 1 win, he contested the Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase and was third to Dodging Bullets and Somersby.

Hinterland ended his career in the USA with Jack Fisher, and though he didn’t win again, he was runner-up there in four of their Grade 1 hurdle races, three times in the Lonesome Glory Hurdle. A full-sister to Hinterland, Lofte Place (Poliglote), won five times over jumps in France, ran second in a listed hurdle race at Auteuil, and she has done well as a producer, with two of her offspring being blacktype winners over jumps. Placenet (Network) won listed chases at Auteuil and Dieppe, but his full-sister Thrilling was even better.

Thrilling

Placenet won eight races, while Thrilling won 10, three of them listed chases. She was placed on a number of occasions in graded company, including the Grade 1 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure Chase and the Prix Maurice Gillois Chase.

A most up to the minute piece of form in the family came about two weeks ago. Hinterland’s half-sister Linda Queen (Linda’s Lad), a winning two-year-old, is the dam of the Gordon Elliott-trained El Cairos (No Risk At All). Sold for £410,000 at the Maxwell dispersal, he won a listed hurdle race at Gowran Park.

There is another Grade 1 winner in the family, and another with a Nicholls connection. Georgie Nicholls trained in her own right at the turn of the millennium and sent out the Andy Stewart-owned Phar Bleu (Agent Bleu) to win the Grade 1 Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow in 2004. She then put her career on hold after meeting her future husband Paul, but has resumed it again.

One of the most popular young sires on the jumps scene presently is the Polish-bred Tunis (Estejo), and he was a Grade 2 winner and multiple-placed over hurdles. He was from the first crop of Estejo who was standing at stud in Poland. He went there after he retired from racing. Estejo travelled extensively during his racing career, running in Italy, Germany, France, England, Turkey and Hong Kong.

Stallion career

In spite of being a 10-time winner, twice at Group 1 level in Italy, Estejo did not appeal as a stallion prospect in the major European breeding countries, and so it was to Poland he headed to start his stallion career. With limited opportunities, he sired Tunis and the Italian Grade 3 hurdle winner Ocean Life who placed a few times at Grade 1 level. In 2018 Estejo moved to France.

In his first season at his new home Estejo covered the dam of the two-time Grade 1 Gran Premio Merano Chase winner Speed Emile. However, he suffered from back pain which curtailed his ability to mount mares, and he had to be retired from covering. What a shame that was, as he has shown himself well capable of siring smart runners, given the right mares.

A number of his stock made it out of France, and the coming years could throw up some more winners. Estejo has also had a number of sale stars. Jasmin De Cotte sold for £160,000, Legionnaire Forez realised €140,000, while Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore have taken over training the February pint-to-point winner Lauvergnat, an £80,000 purchase this year.