DARASSO won the Grade 3 Red Mills Trial Hurdle at the weekend on just his third start in Ireland for new connections. Joseph O’Brien is now training the six-year-old gelding for J P McManus. Prior to this the gelding was bred in partnership by, trained by and part-owned by Guy Cherel.

For him, and latterly owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, he won four times over hurdles in France, notably landing a pair of listed handicaps at Auteuil.

Lightly raced Darasso has a lot of potential and future plans for him will be interesting to watch.

One of three winners to date for his dam Nassora (Assessor), Darasso is a half-brother to the Listed Prix James Hennessy Chase placed Eurasien (Kapgarde) and the 11-time winning mare Urallia (Califet). Nassora was no slouch herself and she won twice over jumps at four, also running third in the Listed Prix Sytaj Mares Chase at Auteuil.

Nassora’s dam Debandade (Le Pontet) won four times over jumps in France and bred seven winners. Five of these earned some blacktype, and one in particular will be well known to followers of National Hunt racing in England. Ladalko (Kadalko) was a Grade 2 winning hurdler and Grade 3 winning chaser for Paul Nicholls, and he was runner-up in the Grade 1 Challow Hurdle.

Darasso is from the second crop of Konig Turf, a Group 2 winning miler in Germany by Big Shuffle (Super Concorde). His eight career wins from three to six years also included the Group 3 Prix Edmond Blanc at Saint-Cloud. He actually raced until the age of eight and went to stud in 2011. He stands at a fee this year of €2,000 at Haras du Chene Vert, a new base for 2019.

Konig Turf’s first crop included the listed French chase winner Konig Drive, while Darasso and the dual listed hurdle winner Jubilatoire are from his second crop. He has sired few runners and small crops, but the emergence of Darasso and others may lead to improved support for him at stud.