Drew entitled to dream with ‘real deal’ Final Demand

It has already been a dream season for owner Bryan Drew, but the best could still be to come when Final Demand continues his exciting chasing journey.

The Midlands-based owner is riding a crest of a wave after Dan Skelton’s Panic Attack became the first horse since Celestial Gold in 2004 to do the Paddy Power Gold Cup/Coral Gold Cup double at Newbury last weekend.

However, attentions will soon divert to Limerick at Christmas where dreams could really be ignited following Final Demand’s excellent chasing debut at Navan.

“He looks the real deal, it’s early days yet but he did everything you could have asked him to do at Navan,” said Drew.

“He’s entered in the Faugheen Novices’ Chase at Limerick over Christmas and we hope he can kick on and put in another good performance there.

“It makes the bad days worthwhile when you come across one like him and for a smaller owner like myself it is difficult to get hold of a horse like that. You have to do your homework and keep in touch with the right people because horses like that can often get snapped up by the big guns.

“Joey Logan tipped me off about him, I remember being at my grandson’s birthday party and Joey rang me to tell me he had just won a point-to-point at Lingstown and to take him seriously. We had a good look and decided to take the plunge.”

Partnering Drew on his Final Demand venture is Professor Caroline Tisdall and having joined forces for Cheltenham Festival success in the past with the likes of Un Temps Pour Tout and Moon Racer, they now have an acquisition capable of giving them Gold Cup dreams at Prestbury Park.

“I offered half to Caroline Tisdale, who was a bit in the doldrums with racing and hadn’t had a lot of luck or success for a while,” added Drew.

“It’s nice to be on the journey with Caroline, I asked if she wanted to get involved with this fellow as he looks good. I was very pleased when he won his first race quite easily as when you’ve brought someone else in on the horse, it’s nice to see it worked out.

“It’s very exciting and he does look very promising over fences. If we can keep him in one piece we could have an interesting time with him.”

Final Demand may have his best days ahead of him, but Drew is hoping one of the finest to ever sport his colours, Bravemansgame, will be able to serve a reminder of his class if recovering from the injury that has delayed the twilight of his career in France.

A winner of the King George VI Chase when trained by Paul Nicholls, he was switched to Marine Pineda near Chantilly in the summer, but is currently back in Britain recuperating with Tom Scudamore after a setback

“He picked up a small injury in France and broke a small bone in the back of his knee,” said Drew, who will have no hesitation to pull stumps if Bravemansgame fails to recover sufficiently.

“He came back here and had surgery in Newmarket which went well and the prognosis is good for him to come back in training. Everything went as well as could have hoped, but he’s going to need some time.

“He’s recuperating at Tom Scudamore’s at the moment, but I’m hoping we can get back on track in six months’ time and hopefully get another season out of him.

“As long as there is sufficient flexibility in the joint then hopefully he can go back into training. However, if he can’t cope with the training we’ll retire him as he owes us nothing.

“He will probably go back out to France if he’s able to.”