Exeter Winner Bravemansgame Bids for Ballymore Glory at Cheltenham Festival
Racehorse trainer Paul Nicholls has had a magnificent season with his runners, and will be looking to cap it off with strong showings at the spring jumps festivals. Among a strong Cheltenham team representing his Ditcheat stables is the improving Bravemansgame.
Little did anyone know that when this horse won an Exeter novice hurdle in November, he would go on to make rapid further progress. A recruit from the Irish point-to-point scene, Bravemansgame joined Nicholls and ran in some very competitive National Hunt Flat races at Ascot during the winter of 2019.
Those events, colloquially called bumpers, have produced a whole host of winners since. One horse that consistently had more speed than Bravemansgame in his early races under Rules was Soaring Glory from the Jonjo O’Neill stable.
That rival has since landed a valuable graded handicap at Newbury. Soaring Glory is now a leading British contender for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
A comfortable follow-up victory for Bravemansgame to his Exeter exploits during the Newbury Winter Carnival when tackling a longer distance meant Nicholls looked at stepping his horse up in grade. The Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle back at the same racecourse just after Christmas was their next port of call.
Opposition there had black type, meaning Bravemansgame had to step up against Sandown Ballymore Winter Novices’ Hurdle winner Star Gate and top class bumper mare The Glancing Queen. He routed them at Newbury, making virtually all the running for an impressive 10-length victory.
Recent Challow winners like Champ and Messire Des Obeaux have gone on to place at the Festival, so it’s not surprise to find Bravemansgame among Cheltenham day 2 predictions this year. As with old rival Soaring Glory in the Supreme, he is regarded in similar term for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.
The Cheltenham Ladies Day opener promises to be an equally if not more compelling contest than the Challow. That is because Bravemansgame must now test himself against the best middle-distance novice hurdlers from Ireland, who should come over and take him on.
Like him, both Gaillard Du Mesnil for Willie Mullins and Bob Olinger representing Henry De Bromhead have Grade 1 victories under their belt. Both have made similarly rapid progress and come to Cheltenham on serious upward curves.
It sets their meeting up perfectly as an absorbing race that could steal the show on a day when living Festival legends like Altior and Tiger Roll could be appearing on the grand stage for the last time. Speaking of equine greats, Nicholls could not resist making a comparison between Bravemansgame and the mighty Denman, who took the Challow but not the Ballymore in 2006 before scaling even greater heights as a chaser.
There is obviously a long way to go before he can be talked of in the same breath, but the trainer’s faith is plain to see. Bravemansgame may just be aptly named for the rigours of Cheltenham competition ahead of his Ballymore bid.
