John Dance and Tom Malone play the Bravemansgame with Festival Sale spree

Not content with cleaning up Group 1 wins on the Flat with his high flying filly Laurens, charismatic owner John Dance has joined the ranks at Paul Nicholls' all-conquering Ditcheat yard with Bravemansgame.

The four-year-old son of Brave Mansonnien, who fetched £370,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale and was acquired in partnership with Bryan Drew, was signed for by Nicholls and bloodstock agent Tom Malone, and the pair also snapped up Jeremy Pass, who will run solely in Dance's colours after the hammer came down at £100,000 later at the festival sale.

"We've got a lot of Flat horses to look forward to, but without many all-weather runners in recent months it's been the longest winter – I can't tell you how painful it's been waiting to have horses running again!" said Dance.

"I'd been thinking about getting a couple of National Hunt horses for a while and I spoke to Paul and Megan Nicholls and they'd said if I ever wanted a jumper I knew where to send one. We'd been recommended a few by Tom Malone and whittled down a shortlist so it seemed like the perfect time to get involved."

Coincidentally, the owner also welcomed his first winner over obstacles on Friday when Im Too Generous bolted up in the Introducing RacingTV Novices' Handicap Hurdle at Musselburgh.

The Rebecca Menzies-trained nine-year-old had won a bumper earlier in his career, but was then kept off the track for a mammoth 1,423 days having suffered a recurring tendon injury.

"He's a bit of a miracle really as he's literally been in a field for three and a half years," said Dance. "He's such a gent though that we couldn't bear to get rid of him. I thought it was utter madness when Becky suggested bringing him back into training, but we've given it a go. The dream today was just that he'd get around but he's gone and absolutely hosed in!"

Despite his Musselburgh success and having secured two eyecatching recruits, Dance said he was unlikely to be giving the likes of JP McManus and Michael O'Leary a run for their money just yet.

"The jumpers will just be something to occupy the mind during the winter, but we won't be getting involved in the way we do with the Flat," he said.

Dance is not the first notable Flat owner to add National Hunt horses to his string in recent times, with Cheveley Park Stud having gone to £400,000 to buy subsequent Weatherbys Champion Bumper victor Envoi Allen through Malone last February.

Tom Malone: 'The game has elevated to a new level from a purchase price perspective'Credit: Patrick McCann

"It's great to have John on board," said Malone. "Bravemansgame is a beautiful animal, he's 17 hands and went out and won a point-to-point by 15 lengths. A lot of people reckon these horses are too dear when they do that, but it's the impression they make – no ordinary horse can do that.

"The game has elevated to a new level from a purchase price perspective, but these horses are going out and doing it," he said. "You're always going to have horses that are too dear and don't excel, but these point-to-pointers are actually going and winning Cheltenham Festival races and competing at the highest level."