Bravemansgame heads eight in contention for Charlie Hall

King George winner could again return at Wetherby this weekend.

Last year’s winner Bravemansgame is one of eight entries for the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday.

The eight-year-old provided trainer Paul Nicholls with his fifth victory in the West Yorkshire highlight last season before going on to lift the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.

He subsequently finished second to Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup before rounding off his campaign with a third-placed finish in the Punchestown Gold Cup.

With a defence of his King George crown nominated as his primary objective, Bravemansgame could again make his comeback at Wetherby on Saturday, although his participation is likely to be ground dependent.

Nicholls has also entered Pic D’Orhy, last seen winning the Grade One Melling Chase at Aintree.

Lucinda Russell’s Ahoy Senor disappointed in last year’s Charlie Hall, but has the option of contesting the Grade Two feature again, while he has also been entered in the bet365 Hurdle on the same card.

The sole Irish contender is Gentlemansgame, trained by Mouse Morris. Aye Right (Harriet Graham), Dashel Drasher (Jeremy Scott) and Dan Skelton’s pair of Midnight River and Sail Away are the other contenders.

Ahoy Senor has two options at Wetherby
Ahoy Senor has two options at Wetherby (Tim Goode/PA)

With significant rain forecast for the coming days, Wetherby’s clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson expects conditions to be testing for the track’s two-day fixture.

He said: “We had six millimetres of rain overnight and I’d say ground is probably slightly nearer soft than good to soft.

“The weather forecast is mixed, to say the least. They’re saying we might get 5mm overnight tonight, 4mm overnight tomorrow night and then this storm is brewing.

“From Thursday into Friday it looks like being a wet 24 to 30 hours, so we’ll see what happens. At the moment they’re saying something between 15mm and 20mm of rain through that period.

“The track will take that, I would hope. Our issue is when we get heavy rain in a short period of time, the dykes lift up and you get water pooling on the track, as opposed to the track being waterlogged.

“I don’t think 20mm will cause that, it would be more like 40mm or 50mm. There’s nothing in the forecast at the moment that would give us concern, but if we get what’s on the horizon, the chances are we’re going to be soft ground Friday/Saturday.”

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