It is a measure of how far and fast Bryony Frost’s career has progressed that the anniversary of her breakthrough win on Present Man in the Badger Beers Chase at Wincanton in November 2017 has her looking back to a time when she was “still a proper kid”.
“P Man”, as she calls him, was Frost’s first winner in one of jumping’s weekend features, and having followed up in 2018, horse and rider will be back in the ITV Racing spotlight at Wincanton on Saturday to attempt a third win in a race that is sponsored by the 10-year-old’s owner, Mark Woodhouse, of Hall & Woodhouse brewing.
“The first time we won it was 21 years on from when Dad [Jimmy] won it,” Frost said on Thursday, “It was a first big win for Paul [Nicholls, the trainer] and in a race that means so much to his owners, Mr and Mrs Woodhouse. When I say it’s their Gold Cup, it really is. They’d rather have a Badger winner than a Gold Cup in some ways.
Of Present Man, she said: “He’s magnificent to sit on. He holds himself proud and his jumping is just phenomenal when he’s out there. He’s an exceptional athlete.”
Frost and Present Man were fancied to complete a hat-trick in last year’s race but pulled up when out of contention with two fences to jump. He returned to winning on his first start since, however, landing a handicap at Chepstow by the narrowest of margins at the beginning of Octoberlast month.
“It was an old warriors’ battle down the straight at Chepstow and luckily he’s got an extra-long neck with a few whiskers on the end of his nose to get me a picture taken. That was a brilliant way to start and it’s great to have his confidence high. He’s got a lot of weight but the best horse carries the most weight and he’s a very big, impressive horse.”
In the three years since Present Man’s first win at Wincanton, Frost has ridden out her claim, landed the conditional jockeys’ championship in 2018-19 and taken two Grade One chases, including a memorable win on Frodon in the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last year.
The same horse supplied her latest big-race win, under top weight in a valuable handicap chase at Cheltenham two weekends ago, a performance that could earn him a place in the field for the Gold Cup in March.
“The Gold Cup is furious with its speed, it’s constant from flagfall to post,” Frost said, “but he lives for his jumping and makes time in the air without any effort, and his fluency and accuracy is one of his keys. He loves to attack his fences and there’s always a fence he’ll take half a stride out and catch you out, and you land smiling.
“He’s a horse that makes you really enjoy life and forget about anything that’s happening off that track. You feel very lucky to be out there with him.” GW
Friday’s best bets
The ex-Irish conditional Kevin Brogan had a low strike-rate in his native land but has caught fire here in the past week, riding four winners from nine rides, albeit two short-priced chances for Gordon Elliott at Sedgefield yesterday did not work out well. Two of his winners were for Jonjo O’Neill and he gets the legup today on the trainer’s Write It Down (2.45), a young chaser with more to offer at Warwick.
This one won here last autumn when young Jonjo was still able to claim. Soft ground has been a problem for him on a couple of occasions since then and Huntingdon didn’t work out last time, when he was ridden to get the three miles and never got into the argument. This step back in trip must be good news and he is fairly priced at 7-2.
The market has had a good slurp at Sorbet (1.35), down to 11-4 favourite for her handicap hurdle. She bumped into one when second here last month and the third has won since.
The Dan Skelton yard is whizzing along, having been slower than I expected to get going in the early autumn. A few of his horses may be able to improve on their reappearance efforts, including Accordingtogino (2.10), who undermined his chance on Lingfield soft by racing too keenly. He appears to be attracting support at 11-2.
Anthony Honeyball could have a double at Fontwell to follow up his Ascot treble from the weekend. He runs Windance (12.50) and Gustavian (3.10). Windance is available at 7-1 but I’m not sure anything from that yard is a 7-1 shot just now, including this son of Shirocco making his hurdles debut.
Warwick
11.55 Lustleigh 12.25 Wilde About Oscar 1.00 Allmankind 1.35 Sorbet (nb) 2.10 Accordingtogino 2.45 Write It Down (nap) 3.20 Let's Get Real 3.52 Blue Sans
Fontwell
12.50 Windance 1.25 Deja Vue 2.00 Eglantier 2.35 Shintori 3.10 Gustavian 3.45 Kiwi Myth 4.15 Precious
Hexham
1.10 Western Rambler 1.45 Rayna's World 2.20 Sophie Fatale 2.55 Border Victor 3.30 McGinty's Dream 4.05 Kings Cave
Newcastle
4.00 Little Jo 4.30 Silvestris 5.00 Basic Beauty 5.30 Buniann 6.00 Fashion Free 6.30 Dame Joan 7.00 Chosen World 7.35 The Thin Blue Line 8.05 Sin E Shekells
Finally, look out for Tom “Frankel” Queally making his chasing debut on one of Gary Moore’s in the 2.35pm race. I’d bet against him but let’s hope he, and everyone else, comes back in one piece. CC
