The six-year-old is likely to come into this race off the back of three consecutive wins, with Harry Cobden riding him to victory at Exeter at the beginning of November before triumphing twice in succession at Newbury, with the charge particularly impressive when obliging in the MansionBet Challow Novices' Hurdle on 29 December.
That ten-length victory over Star Gate has seen Bravemansgame shorten considerably for the Ballymore and it was a Grade 1 success over a similar distance and on soft ground, with the horse as short as 3/1 and potentially going shorter as we get closer to race day.
However, this is a race that takes some winning and Appreciate It is trading at 8/1, with the Willie Mullins horse also trading as favourite to win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and it’s plausible that the Irish raider will be tilted at the Day One opener rather than this race although the trainer will keep all options open for now.
Bob Olinger looks a likelier runner in the Ballymore and Henry de Bromhead looks to have a horse capable of challenging over this distance, having seen him score a victory at Navan just before Christmas when tearing up the field to win a Maiden Hurdle.
However, it’s hard to know exactly how good the horse is considering that he was sent off as the 1/8 favourite on that occasion, with the six-year-old relatively untested although a second-placed finish behind Ferny Hollow on his previous outing at Gowran Park suggests he could go close in this race.