Boxing Day racing column: David Ord reflects on the action
David Ord reflects on the Boxing Day action as Paul Nicholls wins a remarkable 12th Ladbrokes King George VI Chase and Bryony Frost a glorious first.
Boxing Day reports
I wonder at what point Paul Nicholls kept his binoculars focused on Frodon?
After all he had four runners to concentrate on in the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase and needed to be across it all.
Clan Des Obeaux eventually usurped Cyrname at the head of the market in his bid to win the Grade One feature for a third successive season. He finished third but never looked happy throughout the contest – and was never going to win.
Neither, after a circuit, was Cyrname, who had his trainer thinking he might have spat his dummy out at being restrained by Harry Cobden.
He should lean over the stable door tonight and have a word with the hero of the hour as you don’t want to upset Nicholls.
Frodon did by returning from a lacklustre run in the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree last time full of beans. The diagnosis was he’d taken the mickey out of connections, the remedy an increased workload at Ditcheat over the last three weeks. The result was the trainer’s 12th win in the Boxing Day centrepiece.
Frodon’s might not be the best of the dozen – but it was one of the more memorable. His partnership with Bryony Frost has been among the most enduring of recent times in jumps racing. He has been the launchpad for her career – she his cheerleader. And this was their day.
Slowly but surely on the second circuit it became clear that the winner might be in front. He’d rather be going the other way round but Frodon was breaking his rivals one by one.
Between the last two only a finishing burst from Waiting Patiently, more akin to an Ascot King George than a Kempton one, was going to deny him and as impressive as that rival’s closing effort was, there was never even the hint of a party-pooper making a late entrance.
It was a moment that deserved the usual full house - how they would have roared Frodon and Bryony back to the winners’ enclosure.
Frost had picked the perfect moment to set a new landmark for most winners for a female jockey in the UK.
The reaction afterwards was one of pure joy but no-one was surprised by the quality of the ride. She’s long since proven herself at the top table. Winning a King George is all about rhythm and she and Frodon found the perfect one from the get-go.
Earlier Silver Streak made all to win the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle, beating Epatante and causing a ripple or two at the head of the Champion Hurdle market.
The runner-up retains her place there but having been fizzy on her way out to the track, she was beaten soon after clattering the third-last.
It was an off-day, something that can happen to the very best of them, but it will be interesting to see now if Nicky Henderson and JP McManus opt to deviate away from the initial plan of heading straight to Cheltenham from here.
After all a confidence-boosting win somewhere might be in order, although the trainer’s usual favoured stopping-off point, the Contenders Hurdle at Sandown, has already been earmarked for Buveur D’Air.
It represented a setback for the Seven Barrows team who take the wraps off Altior for the season here on Sunday and run Shishkin in the Ladbrokes Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase. They’ll be hoping for a more straightforward afternoon.
Over in Ireland Willie Mullins won both Grade One novice chases with his second strings in Franco De Port and Colreevy, the favoured pair of Blackbow and Asterion Forlonges taking early falls.
Gordon Elliott wasn’t at Leopardstown to see Zanahiyr further strengthen his JCB Triumph Hurdle claims with another taking display in the Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle. The trainer is in self-isolation after testing positive for Covid-19. He’ll be hoping for a few more significant pick-me-ups in the coming days too.
Nicholls doesn’t have the same strength in depth when it comes to Grade One horses as the Irish juggernauts, but still has the wonderful knack of winning them.
And in Frodon and Frost he found the perfect partnership to bring about a bit of Christmas cheer in a year when we really needed it.