THEY say that all roads lead to Cheltenham in March, but they damn near didn’t last spring, and a blithe assurance that it will be business as usual in 11 weeks time betrays either a lack of comprehension of the current state of affairs or a healthy dose of denial which keeps you from underneath the wheels of the 10:27 to Swindon.

Each to their own. At least jump racing’s road through Christmas made it to its destination, with the postponement of the Welsh National rather more traditional than its timely celebration.

Many questions get asked at Kempton on those two days after Christmas, and some are answered, while others – like a journalist’s earnest enquiries to the late Sir Henry Cecil – are merely reworded and batted gently back.

A lot of those questions were rephrased this festive season, but that wasn’t to the detriment of the sport as a whole.

Ladbrokes King George VI Chase (Grade 1)

WITHOUT doubt, the big story over Christmas in Britain was the sensational win of the 20/1 outsider Frodon (Paul Nicholls/Bryony Frost) in the Grade 1 King George VI Chase.

The race had been billed in places as a duel between Nicholls’s other pair, Clan Des Obeaux (Sam Twiston-Davies) and Cyrname, and understandably so.

However, it was the relatively unconsidered Frodon, winner of the 2019 Ryanair, who stole the show in every conceivable sense, winning by two and a quarter lengths from Waiting Patiently (Ruth Jefferson/Brian Hughes), who stayed on late in the day to grab second, with Clan Des Obeaux depriving Saint Calvados of third on the run-in, over eight lengths behind the winner.

Although the supplemented Santini led briefly after the start, it was Frodon who soon got to the head of affairs, and once there, the mercurial Bryony Frost allowed him to maximise his strength, namely fast and accurate jumping, to the detriment of others, with Frost ensuring that she didn’t press on to turn the race into a stamina test which might have suited her rivals better.

Frodon has shown that he stays three miles, but he excels when calling the tune, and asking others to match his quicksilver jumping.

That tactic can backfire, and he looked flat when taken on by Native River in the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree, but here he and his rider were in perfect harmony, Frost playing conductor and lead violinist as she controlled the tempo.

She certainly got a marvellous tune out of her partner, whereas Clan Des Obeaux missed an early beat, and failed to find his usual rhythm throughout the contest. If Sam Twiston-Davies was playing second fiddle, it appeared that Robbie Power on Lostintranslation and Harry Cobden on Cyrname had simply picked up the wrong instruments altogether, that pair beaten a long way out and pulled up.

Santini wasn’t disgraced given he’d been practising the sheet-music for a race at Cheltenham, while there was much to like about the run of Saint Calvados, who can blow his own trumpet, but just ran out of breath on his first start since March. He was the eyecatcher among the vanquished, and can be expected to at concert pitch next time.

Frodon is a remarkable horse, and while it’s easy to overplay the role of Bryony Frost in his transformation from nearly horse to top-notch chaser, the facts are that he has run to a BHA rating of 160 or higher nine times since Frost was given the job of riding him in public.

In a dozen races over fences prior to that, he failed to get within 8lb of that benchmark, and this is truly a partnership of horse and rider.

He has earned a crack at the Gold Cup on the back of this win, his fourth in last year’s Ryanair suggesting that he struggles to dictate terms to top- class rivals at the shorter trip these days.

If his rivals in the Gold Cup decide that they want to prevent him winning, then he’s not hard to shackle, as has been shown when he’s been put under pressure by more relentless front-runners in the past, but the secret to his success is that his opponents have tended to pay him scant attention, and he’s at his most dangerous when he’s being ignored. They wouldn’t let it happen again. Would they?

YOU should never be afraid of one horse, they say, but it doesn’t prevent small fields in many of our top races outside of the major festivals, and there weren’t many willing to have a crack at champion hurdler Epatante (Nicky Henderson/Aidan Coleman) in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle, with her only credible challengers from other yards coming in the shape of International Hurdle’s placed runners Silver Streak (Evan Williams/Adam Wedge) and Ballyandy (Nigel/Sam Twiston-Davies) in a five-runner field.

As a result, Epatante started a hot favourite at 1/5, but it was 13/2 second choice Silver Streak who took the honours under a change of tactics, the seven-year-old winning by six and a half lengths under a well-judged ride from the front.

Epatante was not helped by a bad blunder at the third-last flight, and was unable to quicken in her usual style in the straight, although still came home eight and a half lengths ahead of Ballyandy, on whom patient tactics were of no benefit granted the sharp test.

Full credit

Before asking why the favourite failed to deliver, the winner needs and deserves full credit for an improved display. Silver Streak is a horse who is ideally suited by a test of speed over hurdles, and setting the pace allowed him to utilise conditions, this win bringing his Kempton record to 1211.

It’s understandable that he used to be held up to conserve his stamina, but four places in five runs at Cheltenham show that he stays well these days, and making the running took out the element of luck which has not been in his favour of late.

He himself made a rare error at Kempton’s bogey obstacle when second to Epatante on soft ground a year ago, and in terms of absolute ability, he’s of similar merit to the champion. He copes with soft ground, but quicker turf plays more to his strengths, and he’s capable of a big run at Cheltenham if the going comes up good.

Since disappointing in the Dawn Run at the Cheltenham Festival in 2019, Epatante has impressed with the slickness of her jumping and her potent turn of foot, and in that regard, she is in similar mould to stablemate Buveur D’Air, who was beaten in this race in remarkably similar circumstances two years ago.

On that occasion, he also made a bad mistake at the same hurdle, and was unable to produce his usual acceleration afterwards when beaten by Verdana Blue.

It’s dangerous to suggest the parallels go further – Buveur d’Air went on to fall in the Champion, and both he and Epatante gain limited clearance at their hurdles – as Epatante is not as straight-backed as him, and this was her first error in a season and a half, whereas Buveur d’Air had shown his tendency to get too low on previous occasions.

It’s worth pointing out, though, that the perfect hurdling technique is only an inch or two removed from disaster.