Eventful 35 minutes for Norton as he lands big-race double and nine-day whip ban

In the space of 35 minutes on Thursday, Franny Norton showed just why he remains such an important part of one of British racing's most powerful and successful yards with victories in both of York's feature races - although the gloss was taken off the latter after he picked up a nine-day whip ban.

The 49-year-old Liverpool native – probably still floating on cloud nine after the Anfield outfit ended their 30-year wait for a league title recently – enjoyed his own moment in the spotlight when winning York's Musidora on the Mark Johnston-trained Rose Of Kildare and quickly following up in the Dante on her stablemate Thunderous, an afternoon's work that equalled his Group-race haul for the whole of the last three years.

Rose Of Kildare: kicked off an excellent afternoon for Franny Norton by winning the Group 3 Tattersalls Musidora StakesCredit: Dan Abraham

A dying breed in terms of lightweight riders, Norton packed a powerful punch as a talented amateur boxer and could have turned professional, but – metaphorically speaking – continues to floor his weighing-room rivals, despite the fact his next birthday will be his 50th.

Perhaps it is that fight and wisdom that has made him such a favourite with Johnston, who has used only stable linchpin Joe Fanning more.

"It's fantastic for Franny," said Charlie Johnston, assistant to his father.

"Every year that goes by people try to write off our stalwart jockeys and we get the odd troll or others sending us emails and messages saying they're passed it and to get some new blood in, but they've proven it year on year that they're still riding at the top of their game.

"The two most important factors for a jockey are experience and confidence and Franny has that in spades."

Thumbs up: Norton returns aboard Thunderous, a gutsy winner of the Group 2 Dante StakesCredit: Dan Abraham

Norton was fined £850 on top of his ban for using the whip above the permitted level on Thunderous, who was providing him with his second Dante after Permian in 2017.

The jockey's biggest victory in terms of prize-money came on The Gold Cheongsam for Jeremy Noseda in the 2012 Weatherbys Insurance £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes at Doncaster. His most prolific campaign was 2018 when he partnered 112 winners, of which 49 were provided by Johnston.

Lethal around Chester, the evergreen, grey-haired Norton credits, in part, his longevity to the nutritional advice from experts at Liverpool John Moores University and the hunger is certainly still there.

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Keeping the winter chills at bay: how jockeys (and horses) beat the cold

Franny Norton Chester Cup masterclass shows that Miracles do happen

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