Nicky Martin on ‘Plan H’ with Ballymore hope Bear Ghylls
Cheltenham runner’s prep plans were scuppered by the weather.
Nicky Martin is down to “Plan H” as she prepares the unbeaten Bear Ghylls for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. The six-year-old has won each of his four runs so far, taking a bumper by 19 lengths on his racecourse debut before going on to score a hat-trick of victories over hurdles. His last success was a five-length triumph at Exeter in January, after which Martin found her preferred path to Festival blocked by a spell of race abandonments. A waterlogged track prevented the trainer from introducing her charge to the Cheltenham hill when Festival Trials Day was lost, with an intended run in Huntingdon’s Sidney Banks Memorial Novices’ Hurdle scuppered for the same reason. Despite the interrupted preparation, Bear Ghylls remains on course for his first venture into Grade One company. “At the moment everything is going to Plan H, which we are on as it all got a bit messed up at the beginning, but we’re back on course,” Martin said.
Bear Ghylls runs wild in the @MansionBet‘s Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap Hurdle, his unbeaten record survives.@mattgr1ff1ths the winning jockey, Nicky Martin the winning trainer. pic.twitter.com/c7ff0fbV9F
— Exeter Racecourse (@ExeterRaces) January 10, 2021
“He could be one of the best I’ve ever ridden” – high praise from @mattgr1ff1ths on the “exceptional” Bear Ghylls pic.twitter.com/CJbCKl9ls3
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 22, 2020
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