Owner Broom staying grounded ahead of big test for Alexei

Owner Garth Broom is trying to keep his feet on the ground ahead of Alexei’s next potential step up the hurdling ladder in the Rotary Club Festive Handicap Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday.

A former Flat horse in Germany, the five-year-old took his record for Joe Tizzard to four from seven when easily winning the usually competitive Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.

He is being talked of in some circles as a Champion Hurdle candidate, but Broom, while admitting to have had a glimpse of that dream, is trying not to get ahead of himself, with a big prize this weekend commanding his full attention.

“He’s got plenty on his plate with 12st, so we’ll just have to see what happens before we start dreaming too much,” said Broom, who owns Alexei with his wife, Anne, under the Brocade Racing banner.

“You always like to dream and given hoe he won the Greatwood we have allowed ourselves a little one, but sometimes when you dream too much you get disappointed.

“I remember when we first started to have horses with Colin (Tizzard), he said his horses were operating at a very healthy 20 per cent strike-rate – but he also said that meant 80 per cent of them were losing!”

He went on: “He’s a different type to what we normally have. We bought him off the Flat from Germany and just thought he’d be a bit of a fun horse really, but this season he’s really surprised us. We’re still trying to keep our feet on the ground.

“We thought he must be pretty decent after he won the charity race (October 2024, in memory of Keagan Kirkby) with Tom (Malone, bloodstock agent) on! Poor Tom, he gets that thrown at him by a lot of people.

“We’re just hoping he can go well on Saturday, but it’s another step up.

“We weren’t 100 per cent sure whether to run him on the soft ground at Cheltenham, but we looked through his form and he did handle a bit of cut it seemed.

“I think the Greatwood suited him as they went a fast pace, which helped him settle better, but he did surprise us with what he showed after the last, he’s got a real turn of foot.”