Hollow Games will go for the Ballymore, or at least stay at the intermediate trip this season, IMO, and here is why.
Without wanting to make direct comparisons too much against other horses, his similarities to Samcro (on a performance basis), at this stage of his career, are striking.
Samcro hit RPR's of 92 (from his p2p), 118 (NHF debut) & 120 (second bumper run) - he did then run again in a bumper, where his performance improved dramatically, but for the purpose of race by race comparison, Hollow Games did not run in a third bumper last season, so I have left this out.
Hollow Games recorded RPR's of 93 (from his p2p), 116 (NHF debut) & 120 (second bumper run). It also worth noting, whether it has any bearing is another thing, that Hollow Games started out in the exact same bumper as Samcro did.
Going on from the figures, the actual performances in the bumpers were very similar too, Samcro winning by 9 1/2 & then 1/2 length in his two runs, Hollow Games winning by 7 & then 1 3/4 lengths in his two runs. Unfortunately it is hard to compare the first bumper runs as Samcro was among the fog and you could barely see a thing, the replay is no help at all, but the second race both horses travelled well, Samcro led his one throughout and had to battle all the way to the line, whereas Hollow Games settled in midfield, got a lead and swept by without any fuss, before staying on nicely to the line.
I would definitely have Hollow Games in the mould of Samcro rather than a Faugheen, Yorkhill or Bob Olinger whereby he will probably travel as well as anything, and will be played later rather than kick on for home using a turn of foot like the other three mentioned. Though I don't think he is completely devoid of pace.
Both of Gordons Ballymore wins have come from a p2p background, so he ticks this box. Gerri Colombe is also in this bracket but I'll touch on him in a bit.
On from a performance & ratings view, is his breeding. Hollow Games is out of a mare (I'm Grand) that hasn't produced a great deal as of yet, best RPR of her progeny prior to Hollow Games himself was 114, but going back a bit further to his granddam & great granddam you can find horses that produced RPR's of 153 and even 172 (Remittance Man for Nicky Henderson), so there is cause for hope that Hollow Games could become his dams first graded winner. There is a mix of speed and stamina produced with the three generations, so I have no concern on this front for Hollow Games. On his sires (Beat Hollow) side of things I can see why some think he'll be a Bartlett type, because the highest rated horse produced by Beat Hollow over the jumps is of course, current Gold Cup champion, Minella Indo, which is all well and good, but the next three horses in that list have all performed well at the festival over two miles, including two winners over the distance, being the ill-fated Wicklow Brave (County Hurdle winner) & Cinders & Ashes (Supreme Novice Hurdle winner), the third horse is Not So Sleepy, who was 5th in this years Champion Hurdle, so again, there is no real lack of pace in the breeding on this front either.
His trainer, and the other options. As noted, Gordon is fond of sending horses with a p2p background to the Ballymore, and he also has Gerri Colombe, who takes high rank among the novice hurdlers he has from this background. I have nothing to suggest that Gerri Colombe couldn't go for the Ballymore besides the fact his sire has yet to produce a festival winning novice hurdler, unlike Hollow Games' sire, and they also usually benefit from a bit of time to grow/mature, and a fence. I have backed Gerri Colombe as well for the race, as my argument against him is a fairly weak one, and Gordon knows what he is doing when it comes to this race.
For those who do think Hollow Games could still be Albert Bartlett bound I done a small amount of research on Gordons Bartlett runners. In the past 5 seasons he's had 7 runners, two of them (Fakiera & Dortmund Park) started life out over 2m over hurdles and were subsequently well beat in the Bartlett, his main hopes usually start out at 2m 3f+, so entries may be worth keeping an eye on for both, though his stable tour noted he'd be happy to start both out over 2m, which would be a positive for the Ballymore, IMO.
Both Hollow Games & Gerri Colombe are priced at 40/1 (can be boosted to 45/1) for the Ballymore and I couldn't put anyone of either, though preference is for Hollow Games.
