Nicholls puts Bravemansgame in Denman class after Challow Hurdle win
The spectre of Denman, the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, was abroad in the gathering gloom after the Challow Hurdle here at Newbury on Tuesday, as Paul Nicholls landed the Grade One with Bravemansgame, his first success in the race since Denman’s victory in the 2005-2006 season.
“He’s won a Challow, which is good, he’s a big scopey horse and he’s probably got a bit more boot than Denman, to be honest,” Nicholls said. “It’s hard to draw comparisons really, Denman was a superstar, but at the same stage of his career, he’s heading that way.
“From the back of the last to the post, all he does is gallop. He’s going down the same route as Denman and we’d like to think he might turn out to be as good as Denman. That’s saying something if he ever could do that, but there’s no reason why he might not head down that direction, because he’s going to a better chaser.”
Denman’s only season over hurdles ended in a narrow defeat in what is now the Ballymore Hurdle at Cheltenham. It was the only blemish in three years at the outset of his career, a sequence that concluded with his epic front-running defeat of his stablemate Kauto Star in the Gold Cup.
“He’ll be going to Cheltenham for the Ballymore,” Nicholls said. “It’s whether we give him one run beforehand or not. He’ll get three miles in time, but he’s got plenty of speed at the moment.”
Bravemansgame is the new 7-1 favourite for the Ballymore Novice Hurdle at the best prices available, and the Champion Hurdle betting also saw some significant moves on Tuesday after Sharjah’s third consecutive win in the Grade One Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown. Saint Roi and Abacadabras, the second- and third-favourites for the Champion before the race, could finish only third and fourth.
As a result, Epatante, the reigning champion, shortened for a second success without leaving her box.
She is now a clear favourite at 9-4 even though her defeat at 1-5 in Saturday’s Christmas Hurdle is still fresh in the memory, while Sharjah is the new 8-1 second-favourite and Saint Roi and Abacadabras have been pushed out to 10-1 and 14-1 respectively. Aspire Tower, second behind Sharjah on Tuesday, is a 12-1 chance.
Prospects for Cheltenham’s big New Year’s Day card are fading, meanwhile, after the track called an inspection at 8.30am on Wednesday with parts of the course waterlogged.