Sunday Times
14th December 2025
Football is tribal, racing is families. That truth was never better exploited than when 33-1 shot Glengouly held off Vincenzo and favourite Jagwar in the splendidly prefixed Support The Hunt Family December Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
The utterly horrific murders of BBC commentator John Hunt’s wife Carol and daughters Hannah and Louise last year shocked the whole nation, but the hurt was especially acute within the racing world where he has been a much admired operator for all of 30 years.
Yesterday he called Glengouly home on BBC radio with all the phlegm of the policeman he once was and all the verve which has seen him light up races all over the world not only on the racetracks but in the Olympic swimming pool.
It was thrilling race to call with all ten runners still in contention behind the front running Glengouly as they came down the hill to the third last, eight of them still battling at the final fence, and then a vintage piece of Sean Bowen energy getting the 9 year old home a length and a half ahead of Vincenzo with the massive Jagwar thundering on despite another imperfect round of jumping.
Two questions immediately jumped at us. Racefans were immediately asking two questions: was this a fluke result and who was Glengouly’s trainer Faye Bramley? The queries were easily answered. Two years ago Glengouly was rated 18 lbs higher when running for Willie Mullins for whom he last appeared in this year’s Grand National. After wind surgery in the summer, he has had a race over hurdles and two promising runs over half a mile shorter than yesterday’s contest. Sean Bowen also managed to set such a steady pace that the last three fences were all crossed at 33 mph, a sprint finish that always favours the front runner.
As for Faye Bramley, that’s where another family connection comes in. Because despite an earlier life when she rode 10 winners as an amateur when working for trainer Paul Blockley, Faye first came to her present situation in A.P. McCoy’s yard above Lambourn as stable manager to A.P.’s show jumping daughter Eve whose already international progress is now basing itself with Sean Breen at Hickstead.
“We had always had some pre-training racehorses here and when Eve moved to Hickstead Faye asked if she could take out a licence,” said McCoy after post race discussions with the Jagwar team in his role as advisor to owner JP McManus. “She is new to it. She will make mistakes, but she is always asking the right questions and I tell you what she is a worker.”
It takes one to know one. This was just the fifth as well as by far the biggest winner of her first jumping season but she has also won nine races this year on the flat operating at a 15% and 19% strike rate. “I’m gob-smacked, he’s such a star,” the trainer said of Glengouly. “I couldn’t have been any happier with where Sean had him and the speed he was going. I can’t believe I’m here with a runner never mind a winner.” Before yesterday all but insiders had never heard of Faye Bramley. They will now.
Her prospects are enhanced by the closeness of the ownership group. Glengouly now runs in the name of The Cheeky Pups, a hostelry in Quinta De Lago much frequented by this team of Irishmen headed by JP McManus friend Justin Carthy. He and the other “Cheeky Pups” immediately pledged £10k to the Hunt Family Fund as, individually, did one of the syndicate Ronnie Bartlett.
But while Cheltenham closed out its year in bright sunshine, the battle continues to lift the clouds of doom gathering over racing’s future. Whether the Jockey Club’s praiseworthily bold effort of injecting 2million into extra prize money and hiring the expertise of Frank Warren to reenergise the public occasion can revive the Derby to anything like past glories may be open to question. But what has happened at Cheltenham this weekend stands as an example of how wide the game has appeal.
For on Thursday night the course hosted stars from many sports to an extraordinarily moving and yet enjoyable fund-raising evening for the Hunt Family Fund as a prelude to Saturday’s retitled December Gold Cup. Amidst much entertainment John and his remarkable daughter Amy spoke with a depth and courage beyond belief.
75 years since I first came to the course and 125 since my grandfather built the railway from Evesham to the station next to the car park, there is pride in what racing still can and could do.