Underdogs hoping for their day in the sun

TRAINER PROFILES:NOTHING GRIPS the public imagination at Cheltenham more than a top horse in the mould of a Kauto Star or Denman.

But if there is something else that warms the popular cockles it is an underdog and there are a couple of those this afternoon who might just have their day of days before a dramatic Cheltenham 2008 finally winds up.

In Irish racing terms, the phrase 'small man' carries much of the meaning in 'underdog' but with possibly even more of a sense of someone fighting the odds.

The popular Co Monaghan trainer Oliver Brady has been fighting some desperate medical odds for almost six years now and is still winning.

Today he pitches Maralan into the Grand Annual with a life's dream of victory at the festival real enough to put any thoughts of cancer and a heart bypass firmly into the background for at least a while.

If anything, his fellow trainer Michael Bowe looks to have an even greater shout at success in the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle with the family-owned and bred Sweet Kiln. A win for either would be a wonderfully encouraging occasion for 'small men' everywhere. If both can win, then there may be no limit to the emotion.

Of course the small man phrase is relative. Brady's working life consists of being boss of a recycling plant that turned over €9 million last year. Having a sizable stretch of prime Kilkenny farm land to train on is no mean asset for Bowe to operate from either.

But in a game which can generate prices like the 530,000 guineas JP McManus paid to purchase Tuesday's Cross-Country winner Garde Champetre, both men are operating at a scale that most of us can at least recognise. And both have a desire to win at Cheltenham that is only too easy to identify with.

"If it never happens before I die, I might just have to come back to life again and keep on trying!" grins Bowe whose family's breeding and training operation has been a remarkable success story on the Irish jump racing scene for the last decade.

Limestone Lad's exploits were enough to get them noticed but the subsequent achievements of Solerina, as well as other smart horses like Earth Magic and Florida Coast, testify to a consistency of achievement that has had ostensibly more powerful teams scratching their heads in amazement at how Bowe does it.

He himself insists there is no great secret but despite all their Grade One victories, both Limestone Lad and Solerina came up short at Cheltenham. It leaves Bowe with a combination of ambivalence and ambition ahead of Sweet Kiln's race today.

"I would have mixed feelings about all the hype there is at Cheltenham but at the same time, the longer you go without winning there, the hungrier you get. It is something I would like to do, just to prove to myself I can do it," he says.

Brady's affection for the festival is unquestioned and his eagerness to share his feelings with fans when his horses do well here means a Maralan win could become the snapshot of the week.

"I wouldn't worry about any of the opposition or his jumping but I am scared the hill might just find him out. He only just gets two miles," says the 66-year-old Brady.

"But I would say he has the best chance of any horse I've brought here and I've backed him at 33 to 1." Since this will be the first time a specialised mares race will be run at the festival, there is an element of the unknown to Sweet Kiln's bid. One thing Bowe is sure of though is that it at least appears an ideal opportunity.

"If I'd rang them and asked them to put on a race for her, these are pretty much the conditions I'd have asked for," he says.

"Most of the others have been running against their own sex in mares races but there's no opportunity like that for Sweet Kiln in Ireland. She's been running against the best geldings around. Without wishing to sound sexist about it, this might be a drop back in company."

Even more encouraging is that despite a busy season, Sweet Kiln appears to be blossoming at just the right time.

"She had a viral infection for a while and was down in the dumps as you would be with a virus. But only last week her skin started to blossom. The eye is gleaming in her head now," he reports.

"I know she was like lightening all the way back in October for the Lismullen Hurdle but she's had a break now and is fresh and well."

In a week where the stories haven't always been upbeat, the omens for a feel-good finale look good.