  About 100 steep spectrum radio sources from the RATAN--600 RC catalog were
mapped by the VLA and identified with optical objects down to 24$^m$--25$^m$ in
the R band using the 6 m telescope. An updated list of calibrators with known
redshifts of the same class RGs was compiled to evaluate the accuracy of
photometric redshifts estimates. BVRI photometry for 60 RC objects was
performed with the 6 m telescope, and by standard model fitting we have
estimated colour redshifts and ages of stellar population of host gE galaxies.
The mean redshift of FRII RGs from the RC list happened to be $\approx$1.
Several objects were found in which active star formation began in the first
billion years after the Big Bang.
