Frodon may have to be as tough as Denman to make a winning return to the track on Sunday afternoon, according to his trainer, Paul Nicholls. The popular little chaser was front-page news when last seen in public, winning the Ryanair Chase in March and making his jockey, Bryony Frost, the first woman to ride a Grade One winner over fences at the Cheltenham Festival.
On Sunday, he and Frost are reunited as he begins his winter’s work in the same race as last year, Aintree’s Old Roan Chase, carrying at least a stone more than all his rivals. That is a direct consequence of last season’s exploits that raised his rating to 169. “I think the only horse I’ve ever had close to winning a handicap off that sort of mark was Denman,” Nicholls said.
Denman is still remembered for one of the all-time great weight carrying performances, defying a rating of 174 to win his second Hennessy Gold Cup 10 years ago. The Old Roan is nothing like as competitive as a standard Hennessy but it is still asking a huge amount for Frodon – who lacks Denman’s impressive build – to carry so much more than classy rivals such as Kalashnikov and Flying Angel, both Grade One winners.
“It’s a huge weight, so he’s got to put up a huge performance,” Nicholls said. “It’s his prep for the Betfair Chase, so this is not the be-all and end-all. He always comes on for a run.”
Nicholls, who was among the winners here on Saturday, has been finding that most of his horses are in need of their first run at this early stage of the new jumps season. That should not be such a factor for Frodon or Clan Des Obeaux, his contender for Down Royal’s Champion Chase next Saturday. In order to put an edge on their fitness, he took the pair for a racecourse gallop recently. “They’re fit enough to run very, very well,” said the 11-times champion trainer.
Quel Destin, who won a juvenile hurdle for Nicholls at Cheltenham, was typical of his recent runners, in that he improved enormously for a recent run on the Flat at Bath, having been arguably disappointing in defeat that day. Black Corton will have to be further forward when he represents the yard in the Charlie Hall at Wetherby next Saturday, when Elegant Escape is likely to line up against him.
It seems unlikely there were many serious Festival clues on offer on Saturday’s Cheltenham card, though Saint Calvados improved for a wind operation to win a handicap under top weight. He could be a challenger for December’s Altior-free Tingle Creek.
But the joy of this card was that racing was taking place at all, on a day when quality Flat-racing cards were abandoned at Doncaster and Newbury, both waterlogged. Cheltenham had expected to miss most of the rain but an inspection proved necessary, less than an hour before the first race, a total of 30mm having fallen in the previous 24 hours.
Few horses were as comfortable sloshing through the resultant muck than Tobefair, who battled to a narrow victory in the Pertemps Qualifier. It was the second time this year he has made it to the hallowed winner’s enclosure here, surrounded by his 17 owners, all of them regulars at the Cresselly Arms near Pembroke. It is expected the celebrations will continue until at least kick-off time in Wales’s Rugby World Cup semi-final on Sunday morning.
The Vertem Futurity, which was to have been Doncaster’s feature race, is to be restaged on Newcastle’s Tapeta track on Friday evening, with the entries thrown open to new runners. Neither the timing nor the switch to an all-weather surface seem ideal but evidently the ARC racecourse group was determined to keep the contest at one of its tracks. John Dance, whose Newcastle-based firm of stockbrokers sponsors the race, said he was delighted the Futurity would be held in the north-east.
Aintree 12.40 Imperial Alcazar 1.15 Mr Muldoon 1.50 Burtons Well
2.25 Stoney Mountain (nap) 3.00 Flying Angel 3.35 Django Django 4.10 White Hart Lady
Wincanton 1.00 Searching 1.35 Soldier Of Love 2.10 Kiltealy Briggs 2.45 Coup De Pinceau 3.20 Sir Psycho 3.55 Eritage 4.30 Jembug Drummer (nb)
