Brighterdaysahead set to go chasing as per RacingPost
If anyone has the full article that would be very much appreciated!
Brighterdaysahead, one of the most exciting jumps horses in training, is set to be sent straight over fences this season at the age of five.
The Gordon Elliott-trained mare has been beaten only once in a shock defeat when odds-on favourite for the Mares' Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, where she couldn't fend off the Jeremy Scott-trained Golden Ace in the closing stages.
Elliott has never hidden his admiration for the prolific mare and she finished off last season in style by beating the boys by a wide margin in the Mersey Novices' Hurdle at Aintree's Grand National meeting.
Her average winning margin in the six races she has won has been eight and a half lengths, and Eddie O'Leary, racing manager to owners Gigginstown House Stud, is already looking forward to seeing how she fares over fences.
He said: "The plan at the moment is very much for Brighterdaysahead to head straight over fences. We've always thought she was made for chasing, so there's no point in hanging around over hurdles when you have a mare like her.
"She's a lovely young mare and we hope her best days are ahead of her, but we'll take it one race at a time and see how she gets on."
Brighterdaysahead is on her summer holidays and Elliott expects her to return to Cullentra early next month. He said the plan would be to find a beginners' chase for her in October or early November.
Brighterdaysahead: winner of six of her seven startsCredit: Caroline Norris
Elliott said: "She'll come back in after Galway and we'll start making plans for her then. She struck me as a chaser from day one, so that's the road we'll go down with her now.
"She hasn't done a whole lot wrong over hurdles and you'd be hoping she'll continue to progress over fences. It goes without saying, she's one we're looking forward to this season in Cullentra.
"I'd imagine it will probably be around October-time or the first part of November when we will look to get her back out. We'll try to find the right sort of race, a nice beginners' chase at a nice track."
Brighterdaysahead is quoted for five different races at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. She is a best price of 5-1 for both the Mares' Chase and Mares' Hurdle, is 16-1 for the Arkle and Turners Novices' Chase, and 25-1 for the Brown Advisory.
While the markets suggest she might stick to her own sex at the festival in March, Elliott and Gigginstown teamed up to win what was then the JLT Novices' Chase, now the Turners, with the mare Shattered Love in 2018. They also combined to win the same Grade 1 two years later with Samcro.
but doesn't seem that is in the plan (Could all change of course) Could Willie throw 3 darts at the Champion Chase, El Fab, Enurgemene and Gaelic? I think Gaelic Warrior will be campaigned as a Gold Cup horse myself for Ricci. I think they will wok backwards from there and leave every option open.
