- Bravemansgame could make his season debut in the Charlie Hall Chase
- Trainer Paul Nicholls said he will be entered for Wetherby alongside Pic D’Orhy
- Jetoile won the Grade Two Jewson Old Roan Chase at Aintree for Ryan Potter
Bravemansgame, winner of last year’s King George VI Chase and runner-up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, could make his seasonal debut in Saturday’s Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.
Bravemansgame used the race as a stepping stone to a fruitful 2022-23 campaign and trainer Paul Nicholls said the eight-year-old would be entered on Monday along with stablemate Pic D’Orhy.
The latter would be trying three miles for the first time after finishing last season with victory in the two-and-a-half-mile Grade One Melling Chase at Aintree’s Grand National meeting.
Nicholls said: ‘I will enter them both and make a plan later in the week. It’s going to be soft ground and both of them won’t mind that. If I run Pic D’Orhy, I can leave Bravemansgame until the Betfair Chase (November 25). All I want is one run before he goes for the King George again.’
Some of Nicholls’ horses have needed their first runs this season but the champion trainer won the Masterson Holdings Hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday with Blueking D’Oroux and was successful yesterday with Liari and Oscars Moonshine (Wincanton) and Inthewaterside (Aintree).
Bravemansgame could make his seasonal debut in Saturday’s Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby
Trainer Paul Nicholls said the eight-year-old King George VI Chase winner would be entered
He added: ‘One or two have needed a run but the ones I have targeted like Rubaud, Captain Teague and Blueking D’Oreaux all won. I’m happy where we are.’
Trainer Lucinda Russell is due to run dual Grade One winner Ahoy Senor in the Charlie Hall Chase after she enjoyed a fruitful afternoon at Kelso on Saturday with four winners.
The one disappointment was the unplaced effort of Grand National winner Corach Rambler on his comeback run in the Edinburgh Gin Handicap Chase, but he could still head to the Betfair Chase.
Russell’s assistant and partner Peter Scudamore said: ‘It was a bit of fitness. Derek (Fox, the jockey) said he got very tired. He needs a bit better ground. His best runs have been on good to soft and it was soft, heavy in places. I think he will still go to Haydock (for the Betfair Chase) but it depends on the ground.’
The Grade Two Jewson Old Roan Chase, the feature contest at Aintree on Sunday, was won by Daryl Jacob-ridden, 25-1 shot Jetoile to give 35-year-old trainer Ryan Potter his biggest win.
After Jetoile had beaten Minella Drama a length and three-quarters, Potter said: ‘The bookmakers might have dismissed his chances but I didn’t.
‘I ride him every day and he has been working unbelievably at home. He is a yard superstar and I will probably never have another one like him.
Jetoile won the Grade Two Jewson Old Roan Chase at Aintree on Sunday for trainer Ryan Potter
‘I’m only in my third season training and this is extraordinary. I’m nearly crying.
‘At the start of last season, we thought he was going to be one of the top novice chasers in the country. He slipped at Cheltenham and lost his confidence and it took him until the end of the season to get it back.’ Potter may now aim Jetoile at the Grade Two Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon on December 10.
Japan’s Equinox, rated the best Flat horse in the world, made it five Group One wins in a row with an easy, course-record victory in Sunday’s Tenno Sho (Autumn) in Tokyo.
The colt, trained by Tetsuya Kimura and ridden by Christophe Lemaire, will now head to the Japan Cup on November 26, when his opponents could include Aidan O’Brien’s St Leger winner Continuous.