Punters siding with Frodon as he aims to tame big two in Betfair Chase

Frodon and Bryony Frost know all about making headlines and they could steal some off Altior and Cyrname with victory in Haydock's Betfair Chase (3.00) today – and it appears the possibility of that is growing.

Trained by Cyrname's trainer Paul Nicholls, Ryanair hero Frodon had been as big as 13-2 to topple Bristol De Mai and Lostintranslation in Haydock's biggest jumps race, but he has been a mover this morning, being trimmed to 9-2 in plenty of places, although he is generally 5-1.

Bristol De Mai – the Betfair Chase winner for the last two years – is the 5-4 market leader, while Lostintranslation is 2-1.

Betfair's Barry Orr said: "Bristol De Mai and Lostintranslation are both very weak on the Exchange and, as a result, the best-backed horse today, across all the cards, is Frodon, who is now 5-1 from 13-2 and getting shorter."

The trio will race on ground described as good to soft and Haydock's clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright said: "Today's forecast is for a mild afternoon with occasional showers.

"We had 1mm of rain overnight and there is no change to the ground. It is due to be a showery day – it might get to soft ground but it will be no worse than that."

Conditions at Ascot – scene of the Altior-Cyrname heavyweight bout in the Christy 1965 Chase (2.05) – are soft.

Chris Stickels, clerk of the course at the royal racecourse, said this morning: "The ground is currently soft following 1mm of rain since racing yesterday.

"There are some occasional showers forecast but I'm not anticipating a change [in the going] today."

Successful in his last 19 appearances, the Nicky Henderson-trained Altior is by High Chaparral, a firm-ground Breeders' Cup Turf winner, but he has struck in six of his seven starts on soft.

Cyrname, who hails from champion trainer Paul Nicholls' Somerset yard and is rated 1lb better than his big rival by official assessors, also copes with easy conditions, so there should be no grounds for concern.

"I think everybody is looking forward to the race except Paul and me!" Henderson said yesterday.

Altior, it seems, is the one to side with as he is 1-2 in places, but 4-7 is widely available, while his big rival is 13-8.

The weather did threaten Gowran Park's classy card this afternoon, but the meeting goes ahead as planned on ground described as heavy. The interest there is likely to focus on Laurina meeting Minella Indo in the beginners' chase at 2.45.

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