'He schooled brilliantly on Thursday' - Frodon bids to raise Wincanton roof with another Badger Beer success

Paul Nicholls, who has won the race an incredible 11 times, doesn’t think it is the “strongest Badger Beer”, and holds high hopes of adding to his tally via Frodon or Threeunderthrufive.

Winner of 19 races, including this £70,000 contest 12 months ago, Frodon again bids to make light of a crushing 12st off an identical official mark of 158.

The Wincanton roof may have survived the worst of Storm Ciaran last week, but it could well be raised if Frodon, one of the most popular jumps performers in training, goes back to back in the Badger Beer at his local track.

Nicholls said: “He’s had exactly the same preparation as last year with an away day last week. He schooled brilliantly on Thursday.

“The ground will be slower than it was when he won the race under 12st last year, but that won’t bother Frodon. He’s won on all sorts of going. He’s a wonderful horse and gets on so well with Bryony [Frost].”

The three-years-younger Threeunderthrufive, the mount of Harry Cobden, also makes his first appearance of the season.

“He had a wind op in the summer after running a great race in the Scottish National,” Nicholls said. “He stays very well and has a lovely chance.”

The Big Breakaway ‘might just love it around Wincanton’

The Big Breakaway, fourth to Envoi Allen in the 2020 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, returned to the festival 12 months later over fences when third to Monkfish in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.

Clearly a horse with a touch of class, he is better than a strike-rate of just one victory from 12 starts over fences would suggest.

Trainer Joe Tizzard believes The Big Breakaway will be well suited by the demands of the Badger Beer and hopes that his class can shine through.

“He was unlucky in the Grand National as he got knocked over at the second fence and his first two runs last season were right up there with his best,” Tizzard said.

“I think he might just love it around Wincanton and we’re going there hopeful he’ll be a bit better than the horses who usually win the race.”

What they say

Anthony Honeyball, trainer of Sam Brown, Gustavian, Blackjack Magic and Forward Plan
Sam Brown is our best chance technically. He would have won or finished second had he not fallen two out at Punchestown on his final start last season. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about him. Conditions will also be fine for Gustavian. He’s prone to the odd blunder, but if he put in a ten-out-of-ten round, I think he could get involved. Blackjack Magic’s jumping is a bit more professional. He has a nice racing weight and the heavier the ground, the better for him. Forward Plan has been trained for this race. He needs good ground so hopefully it will dry out a bit for him.

Peter Bowen, trainer of Courtland
He’s in good form. It was too short for him at Aintree last time and he could never get into the race, but I was pleased with how he ran. He’s done brilliantly for us this year. Can he win off his current mark? The handicapper clearly thinks so because he didn’t drop him after Aintree.

Lydia Richards, trainer of Certainly Red
I’m very pleased with him. He’s very well but might just need the run. The ground should be fine for him. He likes good to soft and wouldn’t want it to go heavy.

Dan Skelton, trainer of Ashtown Lad and Ballygrifincottage
Obviously Ashtown Lad’s going back to the Becher, but this is a nice race in its own right and I’m looking forward to getting him started. I think he’ll run well. He ran very well first time out last year when he was not beaten far over hurdles and he wasn’t really a hurdler. Having started last season so well, a few things went wrong for Ballygrifincottage and we’re putting them all back together. At some point it’s all going to come right for him and when it does he’s a very talented horse. The quicker it comes right, the better.

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