Bravemansgame - Horse Profile & Next Race Odds

Paul Nicholls (26 February 2024): "I don’t think I covered myself in glory training him in the autumn. The ground was heavy in the Charlie Hall and quite soft again in the Betfair Chase and he had two runs on very testing ground. He was staying on strongly at the Kempton and I don’t think there is a lot between him and Shishkin to be honest. He still got interfered with when Shishkin had that hiccup and winner would probably have won anyway but he got stopped there and Harry thought he ran a real solid race. We have had him nowhere near his best yet because of the circumstances in the autumn. He is right back there now and looks great and Harry schooled him last Tuesday and he jumped really good. He is going to Kempton tomorrow and having an away day working with Captain Teague. I think at 20-1 each way he is a massive price. He was second last year, and I think he is great value. Galopin Des Champs is the one we all have to beat but there three or four like Shishkin that are all on par. If he runs like he did last year, he will be thereabouts."

Paul Nicholls (18 October 2023): "We tweaked a few things with his training routine last season, and he fulfilled our ambitions for him and developed into one of the best staying chasers in Britain. Bravemangame made an impressive return in the Charlie Hall, and he went on from there and provided us with a 13th King George winner at Kempton on Boxing Day with a slick display of jumping. We purposely didn’t give him a trial for the Gold Cup as I wanted him fresh for the day and I had little doubt that he would get home over the extra two and a half furlongs, but he came up against an absolute superstar in Galopin Des Champs. An ownership wrangle ruled him out of Aintree but that was sorted before Punchestown, and he put another great display. His big three targets will be the King George, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Punchestown Gold Cup and he would probably start off in the Charlie Hall again or the Betfair Chase. He is a cracking horse to have around, and I think there’s a lot more to come from him. "

Paul Nicholls (27 February 2023): "Bravemansgame has done nothing wrong at all and won the Charlie Hall and won the King George. I don’t think a lot of ours were right last spring and we re-cauterised his palate in the summer. I didn’t make the same mistake of running after Kempton and he is brilliant when fresh. He didn’t look right in the spring and this year he is a different model and it didn’t go right but he is a different model this year and he looks great. One thing we did at Kempton was that he stayed on really well after not getting the best passage into the straight. Horses that win King Georges win Gold Cups and I think he is one of our best chances of the week. Any Gold Cup is hard to win, and we all have the favourite to beat. Bravemansgame is the finished article now and when he was third in the Ballymore, he wasn’t the horse he is now."

Paul Nicholls (11 October 2022): "Bravemansgame was really good last year and won the Kauto Star at Kempton on Boxing Day. I think the first part of the season will be geared to the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and Paul is not 100 per cent where he is going to start him and there are three options - he can go to an Intermediate Chase at Sandown, the Charlie Hall at Wetherby or the Amlin Chase at Ascot. He is in great form and looks to have strengthened up again and improved."

Paul Nicholls (05 April 2022): "He is fine, and Paul was obviously not keen on running him on the wrong ground at Cheltenham on the Wednesday and it was a tough decision he had to make. Bravemansgame has won his four chases which included a Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase. He is a high-class horse, and we are looking forward to running him in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase."

Paul Nicholls (04 March 2022): "He is a fantastic looking horse that has done everything right. We got put in our place last year by Bob Olinger well and truly, but he still ran well. He was second at Aintree and I think there he had one run too many. He was quite weak and still a shell, but he has improved enormously for a summer at grass this season. I think he will be even better next season when he is even stronger. He has won four from four. He won that handicap very nicely at Newbury the other day and is rated 164 which is a high mark for a novice. He does everything nicely. He jumps well, relaxes nicely and has plenty of speed. He is a super horse. He doesn’t take a lot of training we just let him tick over. We had to go somewhere for a run as season we didn’t run him between Newbury and Cheltenham. I’ve always used that Newbury meeting for those good horses as a prep run. I thought it would get a bit more experience into him as he is a novice and he won really nicely, and he wasn’t fully wound up by any stretch of the imagination. We were setting him quite a big task, but good horses can do it. He looks great now and I’ve not had to do a lot with him. That race would improve him. He has got class and he jumps. A lot of horses can be big and good but if they don’t jump fences, they never fulfil their potential. If you can jump like him then they have got a chance of fulfilling their potential. I’d like to think next season he would be a serious contender for the King George and Gold Cup. He is a lovely horse and has a lovely chance next week. No one knows what is going to turn up and run until the declarations and the ground and he will run in the three-mile race unless it was attritional. If it got very heavy ground, we might think about the other race but I keep looking at the weather forecast and it doesn’t look too bad between now and Cheltenham. You can only beat what you are up against and if the good ones turn up it will be an interesting race. I think you are always nervous (if a horse like Galopin Des Champs) turns up but we are going into the meeting with a stronger horse than last year. Harry (Cobden) said he would be better with a lead as he doesn’t do much in front, but he is dead straight forward really. I think he is rated higher than when Denman won this race as he was 161 and this lad is 164 already. There are a lot of similarities in what they have done but you can’t compare generations. He has certainly gone the right way. Denman never had as much boot as him as he was an out and out galloper, but he has got plenty of speed and jumps well. He is dead relaxed and is a lovely horse that has a lot of class. For a big horse in our school, he is electric. He enjoys everything and he is a pleasure to train. "

Paul Nicholls (08 October 2021): "Bravemansgame had a cracking novice hurdle campaign last season and probably enjoyed his finest hour in the Challow at Newbury when slamming Star Gate. He was always a horse I thought would be much better as a chaser and he is a very imposing individual who has size and strength. With a bit of luck, he will take high rank in the novice chasing division this season."