BLOODSTOCK agent Richard Busher must love his racing at this time of the year.

The man who first purchased Monkfish as a foal also bought the December 2020 Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle winner Bravemansgame at the same age. Both horses won Grade 1 races within an hour of each other just 12 months or so ago.

Donnchadh Doyle bought Bravemansgame from Richard after the agent purchased him privately in France. The son of Brave Mansonnien (Mansonnien) sold at the Derby Sale for €48,000, but his debut point-to-point success at Lingstown by eight lengths resulted in him being sold at the 2019 Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale to Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls for £370,000.

Incredibly, given his subsequent performances, he was beaten on his two bumper starts and was denied victory on his hurdling debut by half a length. He then ran up a sequence of three successive victories over the smaller obstacles, and that Grade 1 Challow Hurdle win came in a race Nicholls won previously with Cornish Rebel and Denman. Third to Bob Olinger in the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, and runner-up in the Grade 1 Sefton Novices Hurdle at Liverpool to Ahoy Senor, Bravemansgame then had a summer break.

Last week he won a third successive chase when he added a second Grade 1 to his tally, the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton. That £370,000 price tag is looking better value with each run, and he is a horse to remember for the future. His trainer is certainly sweet on him.

Poorly supported

The seven-year-old’s sire Brave Mansonnien has been poorly supported at stud and stood for a number of years for just €1,500. His fee for 2022 has been announced for €2,500, all thanks to Bravemansgame. A winning hurdler, Brave Mansonnien has been at stud since 2010 and is also sire, from his first crop, of a listed-placed hurdler. He has had few runners.

In November 2020, Haras de Saint Maur offered an unraced four-year-old full-sister to Bravemansgame, Tikinik (Brave Mansonnien), at Arqana and she was unsold at €2,000, in spite of being in foal to Morpheus (Oasis Dream), a half-brother to Frankel (Galileo). Their dam is the Nickname (Lost World) mare Genifique who is now also owned by Richard Busher.

Genifique has a four-year-old full-brother to Bravemansgame, a three-year-old gelding by Diamond Boy (Mansonnien) and a yearling filly by Mahler (Galileo). Genifique is a half-sister to Grade 2 winning hurdler Gray Steel (Turgeon), the listed-placed hurdler Tropical De Cuta (Kadrou), and to the successful dam of Grade 3 winning hurdler Raffles Sun (Poliglote) who was also placed at Grade 1 level.