'You can't be upset with a horse who cost £18,000 and has won 14 races'

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Never mind Jonbon, Edwardstone or JPR One, there won't be many horses with a bigger following than Tommie Beau running at Sandown tomorrow.

He might be trained in a quiet corner of Wiltshire, but thanks in part to victories in the Norfolk, Surrey and Durham Nationals, Tommie Beau's fanbase stretches far and wide. And as anyone who has read Chris Cook’s column this week will know, it very much includes the regular writer of this newsletter.

• I've got a bad case of the Tommie bug - and I expect you'll all soon have it too 

Another regional Grand National, this time the Betfair-backed London edition, is Saturday's target. He runs at Sandown having forfeited a winning opportunity when running out after jumping the third-last obstacle in the lead in last month's cross-country chase at Cheltenham's November meeting, although that mishap did nothing to dent his growing popularity.

A horse with Tommie Beau's charisma deserves to be paired with a colourful owner and in Simon Prout, who shares the nine-year-old with his wife Christine, that is exactly what he has.

The owner's day at Cheltenham was documented by a film crew and the way he took Tommie Beau's freakish misfortune on the chin has been a smash hit on the Jockey Club's social media channels.

"Cheltenham was a huge rollercoaster," Prout tells The Front Runner. "With a camera crew filming me all day there was added excitement and I enjoyed the fun of that.

"I'm a Plumpton, Fakenham, Cartmel sort of man and I've never had a runner of my own at Cheltenham. To go there with a horse who ended up as favourite was just surreal.

"It was very sad the way it ended but I never shed a tear or kicked the cat over it and you can't be upset with a horse who cost £18,000 and has won 14 races. He's never let us down. 

"My real pity was with Micheal Nolan because he was absolutely mortified. He persuaded us to go the cross-country route and the horse was loving it. As you probably saw on the film, I was joking to everyone that as long as the horse doesn't lose his way, we'll win this!"

Prout embracing and comforting Tommie Beau's rider Nolan after the race was caught on film and the rider has since been exonerated of any blame on appeal having initially been handed a 12-day suspension by the raceday stewards for taking the wrong course.

The Seamus Mullins-trained Tommie Beau will always be Nolan's ride according to Prout but as his regular rider is required by his employers Philip Hobbs and Johnson White at Aintree on Saturday, James Best will be the man in the saddle at Sandown

"James has won the Durham National on him before, so he's a good substitute, but there's absolutely no way in the world Micheal has been jocked off," says the owner.

"I talked with Micheal for a couple of hours after Cheltenham. He's a cracking lad and knows the horse inside out. He was mortified over the circumstances at Cheltenham."

Tommie Beau, a belated Christmas present for Christine in early 2021, has won ten of his 27 races over fences and victory on Saturday would take his career earnings through the £200,000 mark.   

"There's a lot more debate about where to run when you've got a decent horse but we're set on Saturday and the extreme distance will suit him fine," says Prout.

"He's won lots of regional Nationals in the past and we're hopeful. Ideally we don't want too much rain. He has won on soft and heavy ground but he's definitely better on some decent ground."

Simon Prout with Michael Nolan after Tommie Beau won at Cartmel in AugustCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Beyond Saturday, Prout - who has owned horses for more than 20 years - would love to see Tommie Beau line up in the Randox Grand National in April and has not given up on conquering the cross-country circuit either.

"We're going to go the cross-country route at some stage," he says. "We've been looking at the Crystal Cup challenge which involves a series of races all over Europe but the jury is out as to whether we do that this season or next. 

"If he wins another race he'd have a rating in the high 140s which would get him into the National. If that were the case you'd have to have a go, although the jumping and stamina test the race used to offer would have suited him better."

At 63 it sounds a tad ambitious when Prout says he has recently started riding lessons but it is all for a good cause, with a charity ride at Mullins' base planned for Christmas.

Having been diagnosed with prostate cancer last summer, his treatment has been a great success and he now wants to raise funds for children experiencing their own battles with cancer.

"I haven't sat on a horse since I was eight but I'm going to ride a horse up the gallops between Christmas and New Year," he says. "I'm desperately trying to raise money and hopefully off the back of what happened at Cheltenham my JustGiving page can gain some exposure."

Read these next:

I've got a bad case of the Tommie bug - and I expect you'll all soon have it too 

Why this horse can win: free tips for all eight televised races on ITV4 on Saturday 

Join Racing Post Members' Club for the very best in racing journalism - including Patrick Mullins' unmissable trip to see Gordon Elliott 

The Front Runner is our unmissable email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, the reigning Racing Writer of the Year, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content.