Wincanton Saturday

THERE are few more popular chasers in training than former King George winner Frodon (Paul Nicholls/Bryony Frost), and the 10-year-old deferred talk of retirement with a typically bold round of jumping to land the Badger Beer Chase as a well-backed 9/4 favourite, beating the in-form Lord Accord (Neil Mulholland/Richie McLernon) by two and a half lengths after the latter had put down at the last when asked for a big jump. That is not something Frodon has ever done, and he and Frost are a wonderful partnership to watch, with the veteran always willing to answer his rider’s call when needed.

Frodon was in control but just beginning to get weary at the last where another spring-heeled leap sealed the race. Cap Du Nord (Christian Williams/Jack Tudor) was a further 11 lengths away in third, but was unlucky not to finish closer, having been badly hampered by the fall of Enrilo at the water jump on the final circuit.

Real chance

The handicapper had given Frodon a real chance by dropping him 6lb to 158 after his below-par run at Cheltenham in March. He’s been put up the same amount for this performance, and Paul Nicholls explained afterwards that handicaps are off the table for now.

“It’s an amazing performance,” said a visibly delighted trainer after the race. “Frodon is just a legend of a horse. After he jumped the first three, I was confident as he settled and got into a rhythm. I had a few doubts whether he was quite as good but those older horses, until you get them on the course, you don’t know.

“He was fit and well and she gave him a great ride. He’ll go straight to the King George now. It’ll be a good race and he always goes well there.”

PAUL Vogt has been an owner at Ditcheat for some time, and he had the distinction of seeing his royal blue and white colours carried to victory in two of the feature races, with Knappers Hill (Harry Cobden) making it a double for Vogt and a treble for Nicholls in the Grade 2 Elite Hurdle.

Knappers Hill, owned in partnership with Paul Barber, was sent off joint favourite with Sceau Royal (Alan King/Daryl Jacob) in the four-runner Elite, and he made all the running under an excellent ride, with Cobden pressing on again early in the straight to ensure the gallant Sceau Royal was never really able to engage with his main rival, and the gap was still two and a half lengths at the line.

The winner had seemed best at slightly farther last season and drawing the sting out of his rivals was a sensible ploy from the winning jockey; those tactics are not easy to pull off, however, and Cobden got this spot on.

The winning trainer confirmed afterwards that he felt the only way to win the race was by turning it into a test, and he expressed himself delighted with the performance, particularly Knappers Hill’s jumping, which stood up well. His one disappointment in recent times came when tackling very soft ground in Sandown’s EBF Final in March, and he is likely to prove best away from winter ground. He’s entered in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, and it will be encouraging for connections that the Northumberland venue held racing on good ground on Thursday.

EMMA Lavelle’s 5/1 chance Hang In There (Tom Bellamy) scored a rather hollow victory in the Grade 2 Rising Stars Chase with hot favourite McFabulous pulled up sharply after jumping the sixth fence when Harry Cobden felt him lose his action, while second favourite Sebastopol also pulled up on a surface his trainer Tom Lacey called slippery after rain fell on ground described before racing as good to firm.

In truth, only two of the field gave their running, with Mortlach (Fergal O’Brien/Paddy Brennan) making much of the running and still in with half a chance when making a mistake at the last after Hang In There had taken the lead approaching the penultimate fence.

Hang In There is not one to be slogging through the mud, and will be put away until the spring, with part owner Tim Syder suggesting that he will be aimed at Aintree given his liking for good ground and a flat track.

Both fancied runners who failed to complete were examined by the vet, who found no abnormalities, and they can have a line put through their respective runs. The track was sanded after this contest to make it less slippery.

Dancer all out in Sefton for Thomas and Walters and WA

Aintree Saturday

THERE were no blacktype races at Aintree at the weekend, but the card did feature the Grand Sefton Handicap Chase.

The two-mile–five-furlong contest over the Grand National fences was revived as recently as 2003 having disappeared from the racing calendar after The Fossa’s win in 1965’s centenary edition.

The latest running proved a thriller, with Al Dancer winning for Sam Thomas and Charlie Deutsch in the silks of the hospitalised Dai Walters, but only after jumping markedly right at the last two fences, and he was all out to withhold the late lunge of Gesskille (Ollie Greenall & Josh Guerriero/Henry Brooke), with just a nose separating the pair at the post.

The winner has been sweetened up by Thomas having threatened to lose his way, while the runner-up is just a six-year old who ran in hunter chases in the spring, and looks an excellent find by Greenall, whose father, Lord Daresbury enjoyed success over the big fences on Lone Soldier in the 1982 Fox Hunters’.

Doncaster Saturday

THE turf flat season drew to a close at Doncaster on Saturday, with the November Handicap going to Metier (Harry Fry/Saffie Osborne), winning on his first flat outing in over three years to score at 13/2 from another dual-purpose performer in the shape of the Emmet Mullins-trained Teed Up. The winner will go back hurdling next but needs “proper National Hunt ground” according to trainer’s wife Carrie Fry.

There were two listed contests on the card, with heavy ground sorting the runners out in both races. Karl Burke’s Fast Response landed the six-furlong Wentworth Stakes from Tarhib, comprehensively reversing recent handicap form from Nottingham 10 days previously. Clifford Lee rode the 8/1 shot.

The Gillies Fillies’ Stakes over an extended 10 furlongs saw many with chances in the straight, but it was Something Enticing who stuck on best to prevail at 9/1, winning for the proven partnership of Andrew Balding and David Probert. Join us again in March.