Bravemansgame
29th October 2022 – Wetherby – This was such a good round of jumping as I doubt he made a semblance of a mistake. Apparently, his main early season target is the King George. If the ground remains as sound as it was today, then he would need to do something wrong not to be competitive and finish in the three as a worst likely outcome.
The biggest negative with him is that there may be little benefit in being swept along by all the post-race eulogising. He is already 9/4 for the King George and could be close to even money if Allaho takes in the John Durkan instead of heading to Kempton. If the ground happened to come up soft at Kempton on Boxing Day, I would have minor concerns regarding his ability to last home in an attritional race. As good as he was in the Charlie Hall, the least impressive part of the race for him was from the last fence to the winning line. During this part of the race, he only managed to maintain his advantage over two tired rivals despite Harry Cobden being relatively vigorous on him on the run in. In addition, I am fairly confident that his outside track position was a positive help to his chances; furthermore, the two horses to follow him home both spent too much time close to the inside rail.
Eldorado Allen
29th October 2022 – Wetherby – I remain uncertain regarding the limits of his stamina. I know he won the Denman Chase over just shy of three miles; however, on that occasion he was allowed the run of the race and was followed home by a horse that would be at his best in a bog and a short priced favourite having a prep run for his main targets in the spring.
Here, although he was able to join the tiring Sam Brown, he was unable to go on from him despite that one enduring a tougher trip in the latter stages. He is another horse to spend too much time close to the inside rail. As things stand, I would be happier considering him when competing over an intermediate trip.
Sam Brown
29th October 2022 – Wetherby – He was given a very interesting ride here as he ran like a not off for most of the race. Clearly his jockey was keen to allow him to pick up any pieces in the home straight and, in that respect, the outcome justified those tactics. Conversely, along with the Tizzard horse he spent too much time near the inside rail which did not help him and probably disadvantaged him – possibly significantly.
In addition, he can be marked up as comfortably the second-best horse in the race having gone clear with the winner over the third and second last fences. The time of the race was faster than standard which was more evidence that the rain had not got into the ground too much. He would have been even more suited to softer conditions which may not have played to the strengths of the winner quite as much.
Paint The Dream
29th October 2022 – Wetherby – The time of the race was 2.3 seconds faster than standard which may not have been in his favour. His trainer mentioned after his previous run that he would need more rain to be seen at his best. That said, he has still performed extremely well here and even took up the running early in the home straight. He was soon left behind by the front three horses before ultimately finishing in front of a favourite that failed to fire.
Ahoy Senor
29th October 2022 – Wetherby – His trainer said that he ran like a schoolboy who was too excited to be back in the classroom. One can understand what she means, and I suspect his exuberance played a part in his disappointing finish to the race. The time of the race would strongly suggest that the ground would have been too quick for him even if he had proved to be more retractable through the race. Not for the first time he jumped out to his right at a few fences. This doesn’t appear to do him much harm, even when he has been on a going day. He has drifted from 8/1 to 25/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup which seems a bit of an overreaction as this apparently poor performance can be easily understood.
