IT’S ANYONE’S ’GAME NOW!
A DECISION has yet to be made on whether Gentlemansgame runs in the Paddy Power Irish Gold cup.
Grade One-placed over hurdles, the Mouse Morris-trained eightyear-old has only had three chasing start, but has won two of those — including Wetherby’s charlie Hall chase, in which he beat last year’s King George winner, Bravemansgame.
The Robcour-owned gelding was being prepared for Leopardstown over christmas when he would have met Willie Mullins’ Galopin Des champs before a setback intervened.
Clash
However, that clash could still happen precheltenham at the Dublin Racing Festival.
“If he runs anywhere he’ll go to Leopardstown for the Gold cup,” said Morris. “If not he’ll just go straight to cheltenham. Touch wood at the minute he’s well.
“It was just a stone bruise, but it went right up his foot. He wasn’t out of training for too long, which was great.”
Meanwhile, Ben Brookhouse has not lost faith in his star bumper performer Brechin castle, who is set to warm up for a trip to the cheltenham Festival with an outing at Newbury next month.
Field
A €192,000 recruit from the Irish point-topoint field, the six-year-old bolted up on his debut under rules at Sedgefield before successfully transitioning to Listed class at cheltenham in November.
He met with defeat for the first time when filling the runner-up spot in another Listed event at Ascot before christmas, but was far from disgraced in finishing second to Dan Skelton’s exciting mare Let It Rain, to whom he was conceding 11lb.
“I think it was one of his best runs, to be fair,” Brookhouse said of his Ascot performance.