Double Or Bubble wins Abernant to delight of Ukranian head lad

_By Graham Clark _

Travelling head lad Oleg Sheylets admitted it was “quite special” to start the season with a Group race winner after Double Or Bubble secured victory in the Connaught Access Flooring Abernant Stakes just two weeks after rescuing his mother from war-torn Ukraine.

The 38 year old, who has been based in England for over 20 years, was on hand to greet the daughter of Exceed And Excel following her short-head success in the Group Three prize, which was trainer Chris Wall’s first winner since October.

Although pleased to see the five year old mare make a triumphant return to action Sheylets, who previously worked for James Fanshawe, admitted it has been a challenging time for his family.

Sheylets, who hails from Pirytin which is around 50 miles from Kyiv, said: “We’ve not had a Group race winner for a while and to start the season with a Group winner is quite special. We were quite confident even though there was a Group One winner (Ebro River) in there.

“We managed to get my mum over to Newmarket two weeks ago. It is nice to spend a bit of time with her at home.

“She has seen it all and every time she reads the news or watches the television, she is in tears with what is going on.

“To see it all in real life with dead bodies in the streets it is not easy. It is nice for her to be here but she has quite a lot of family back home and she is still worried about them.”

As for Double Or Bubble, who is a full sister to Wall’s former stable star Mix And Mingle, an outing in the Group One Platinum Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot could be on the agenda providing conditions are suitable.

Wall said: “We’ve had a winter off and been old school. We turned the horses out and lots had a winter break.

“She has done very well and matured well again. She is five now but she has strengthened further from where we were with her last year. She has always been a narrow leggy filly but she has put a bit more on. That’s a good start and it was always the plan to keep her in training.

“She has got plenty of speed for six and we know she stays seven. As long as we have a sound surface, that is what she likes. We’ve got a nice conundrum what we might do next.

“As she has got a lot stronger she has got a bit quicker. When I saw she was travelling well at the bushes I thought we will take a hand in the finish here.

“That was a good effort first time up. There are some fillies only races nbut we might try go up in grade a bit.

“It (the Platinum Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot) is a possibility. I think that closes next week but we will pop her in it. If it is fast ground she would be a player and it would be interesting to see how she stands against the better ones.”