Mr Bravery's big ambition

Listen to some people, and this year's Darley July Cup boils down to a battle between two horses. In the blue corner is Choisir, the Australian raider who came halfway round the world to show Europe's fastest horses what true sprinting power is all about twice in five days at Royal Ascot last month.

In the red corner is Airwave, the Wantage-based filly who was rated a shoo-in for champion sprinter until Choisir showed her the way home in the Golden Jubilee Stakes.

But could it be that a live danger to the big two in Europe's premier sixfurlong race is based just a few hundred yards away from where Thursday's £250,000 contest will reach its climax? Striking Ambition could hardly be better named, given the leap of faith which accompanies his imminent move from the relative calm of a Listed race to the white heat of a Group 1 sprint.

And his trainer Giles Bravery is equally well named, given his approach to making that leap with a colt who cost just 7,000gns as a foal.

Bravery is one of a large band of trainers who snipe away at the margins of British racing hoping to find a horse good enough to take them to a new level. He is also one of the more colourful members of a profession which is hardly replete with characters you would walk a mile in tight shoes to share a pint with.

"That Jack-the-Lad image has been cultivated by others more than me," he argued. "Yes, we've all done a few rash things in our younger days, but it's frustrating when you hear that someone has decided not to send you a horse because they've heard that you haven't grown up yet.

"That happened to me recently. At first it upset me, but on reflection I take the view that the guy in question probably needs to lighten up a bit."

Bravery didn't take long to twig that Striking Ambition was out of the ordinary and harks back to a morning on the Newmarket gallops with jockey Jason Weaver last summer to prove the point. "The first time I worked him I told Jason to drop five lengths behind a couple of decent winners and sit quietly. He did just that, but the horse came past me 10 lengths clear on the bridle and we knew we were in business," he said.

Striking Ambition's first public business came with a gambled-on success in a Nottingham maiden. The disappointment of defeat from a poor draw at Doncaster was erased by a smooth success at Saint-Cloud in November, and Striking Ambition lines up on Thursday fresh from wins at Ascot and Newbury this season.

Bravery added: "He had Baron's Pit back in third at Ascot and that one finished third behind Choisir at Royal Ascot, while Avonbridge and Membership have both given a boost to the form of his Newbury win.

Providing the ground isn't too quick, we'll find out just what we've really got on Thursday."

It was at this meeting in 1999 that Bravery recorded the biggest success of his career when Torgau won the Cherry Hinton Stakes. And in the aftermath of victory he gave one of the most vivid descriptions of the trainer's lot. "It's unbelievably idiotic and anybody who wants to start up should do something sensible instead," he said. "You lose all your money that you may never have had, anyway. You're owned by the banks, you never get enough horses and nobody pays you."

And yet Bravery feels those who drone on about the stresses of training horses for a living would do well to take a reality check.

"Yes, you need a wife with a strong stomach and a bank manager with lots of patience," he said. "A lot of trainers would give up in a heartbeat if they had a more attractive option, but anyone who moans ought to try working in a casualty ward," he said.

"The thought of a big winner keeps dragging you back and, with any luck, Striking Ambition is the horse we've been looking for. Choisir showed amazing speed at Ascot, but leading all the way in a July Cup is a tall order.

"I'm not saying that we can pick him off. Even if we do, Airwave might go sailing past us. But there's no way Striking Ambition is a 25-1 shot."

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