nothing lifts the spirit like a damn good horse race!

​Will there be a better horse-race this season than Down Royal’s Champion Chase? If the answer is yes, then we are in for one hell of a ride this winter.
What we must appreciate, and all true horse and racing enthusiasts can only appreciate what we witnessed on Saturday, is that when a horse of the tenacity and brilliance of Frodon comes along we must laud him as an equine legend. It doesn’t matter if Frodon is not a genuine Gold Cup contender or how his official rating compares to Minella Indo or Al Boum Photo. Dublin Flyer was never a Gold Cup contender yet people of my vintage still recall his exploits, with many, I suspect, having him in their top ten chasers of all-time.
Frodon is pretty near unique. I doubt if Paul Nicholls has seen his like at Ditcheat. I’m not suggesting he deserves to be ranked alongside the legends of Ditcheat – Kauto Star, Denman, Big Bucks etc -as obviously he is a good few pounds their inferior. But all of the Ditcheat legends down the decades came with solid reputations – they were expected from a young age to achieve all they went on to achieve.
Frodon was not bought with expectations of winning 18-races, of which, as of now, 3 are Grade 1’s. He was purchased with expectation of providing his owner, Paul Vogt, with a fun horse and with hopes of perhaps nicking a nice handicap somewhere. I suspect if someone had said to Paul Nicholls when Frodon was a 5-year-old that he would one-day win at the Cheltenham Festival he would have laughed and noted the teller of such stories as being someone living in cloud-cuckoo land. I doubt if even after the Ryanair Nicholls had any thought that Frodon would win him a King George. Even at halfway at Kempton Park last Boxing Day I doubt if he had any expectations of Frodon bringing home the second-most important chase of the season. Cyrname, yes, though more likely Clan des Obeaux. But not Frodon. He was only there as there was no other race for him. Placed money, at best, perhaps.
Now whether Frodon ran a personal best at Down Royal is a matter of conjecture. Because he has put the Gold Cup winner in his place his official rating will no doubt be extended a couple of notches, though I see no justification for any rise. I am not in any way downgrading the performance. He was, as always, box-office. But Nicholls had him cherry-ripe on the day, whereas Henry de Bromhead very rarely has his horses 100% on their first run of the season. Minella Indo will come on substantially for his effort on Saturday, as will Delta Work, though the latter, in my opinion, remains inferior to Frodon.
Galvin, on the other hand, deserves to have his rating increased by several notches. With Galvin finishing so close to Frodon, on first glance the form will look suspicious, especially as the ‘non-stayer’, Frodon, outstayed the dour stayer. Yet come next March we might see Galvin lining up for the Gold Cup with a healthy outsider’s chance of winning. I suspect Gordon Elliott’s National Hunt Chase winner is the coming horse for this season.
One thing is for sure, it is time the ‘experts’ stopped underestimating Frodon and started to give him due respect. Very few of the experts gave him any hope of beating the Gold Cup winner, as few who considered him a serious contender in last season’s King George. Frodon is a legend of the sport; undoubtedly the most popular horse in training.
Oh, and Bryony? Superb, as usual, during the race and in the post-race interview. She, too, is due respect. As brave and honest out of the saddle as she is in the saddle; she is quite possibly the most tactically aware jockey riding over jumps at the moment, and deserving of many more good horses to ride. Her big race wins ratio to rides in big races is, I suspect, the equal (or better) to Rachel Blackmore. And that is praise enough, isn’t it?