Perfect start

Grade 1 winning novice hurdler Bravemansgame made the perfect start to his chasing career when scoring by five and a half lengths in the intermediate chase at Newton Abbot on Sunday. Bought for £370,000 having won his only Irish point for Donnchadh Doyle, the six year old developed into a top flight novice over hurdles last winter winning the Challow Hurdle at Newbury over Christmas. Placed at Cheltenham and Aintree during the spring, he has always been viewed as a chaser in the making. In receipt of twelve pounds from Fusil Raffles (rated 156) and The Big Breakaway (146), Harry Cobden's mount made all the running and jumped beautifully throughout. The Brave Mansonnien gelding always looked in control and won eased down. Paul Nicholls indicated afterwards that the Grade 2 Rising Stars Novices' Chase at Wincanton (6th November) will be his next target - the champion trainer has won the two and a half miles event on ten occasions and it will take a very good horse to beat him. Paul also added that the gelding is likely to continue over the intermediate trip for the time being and is in no hurry to return to three miles at the moment. With that in mind, the Grade 2 Berkshire Novices' Chase at Newbury (26th November), Dipper Novices' Chase at Cheltenham (1st January) and Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices' Chase at Sandown (5th February) are all likely to come under consideration.

It was disappointing to see The Big Breakaway fall at the last fence and hopefully he was none the worse afterwards. Colin Tizzard's gelding had run poorly at Aintree on his final start last term and the drop back to two and a half miles on such a tight track was unlikely to play to his strenghts. Three miles plus handicap chases will bring out the best in him.

The Talking Trainers section in OJA had another productive afternoon with 3 more winners at the West Country track. In addition to Bravemansgame (4/6), stablemate Skatman (6/4) and the David Pipe trained Grangeclare Glory (5/1) also scored.