The curtain comes down on the 2022-’23 British jumps season at Sandown where Frodon can shine once more in the featured bet365 Gold Cup.
The 11-year-old, together with jockey Bryony Frost, have become one of National Hunt racing’s most enduring and endearing partnerships.
The King George VI Chase winner of 2020, the front-running Paul Nicholls-trained Frodon will likely set out to make this extended three-and-a-half-mile handicap a thorough test.
The evergreen gelding, who has won over £1.1 million in prize money, is still a very capable conveyance and has fallen just once and won 17 times from a total of 41 chase starts since joining the Shepton Mallet yard from France.
Though he has won just once from five runs this term – in the Badger Beer Chase over three miles and one furlong at Wincanton in November – he has been placed on three other occasions.
The fact he has not tried a trip this far before should not mean he does not have the stamina for it and the hope is Frodon’s class, consistency and accurate jumping can reap dividends in a race where some of his rivals have bigger question marks against them.
Last year’s bet365 Gold Cup hero Hewick can make a successful return to the track in the Grade Two be365 Oaksey Chase for trainer Shark Hanlon.
The eight-year-old bypassed the Punchestown Gold Cup in midweek to run in this, having run well for a long way in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Though he fell two out when beginning to tire in the Cotswolds, it was a cracking effort from the Galway Plate and American Grand National hero, who is rated 10lb or more superior to his rivals this weekend, making him very much the one to beat.
The Grade One bet365 Celebration Chase has attracted a field of five, where the exciting Jonbon has his first start outside of novice company.
Nicky Henderson’s star barely saw another rival as he sauntered to victory in the Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree a fortnight ago and while last year’s winner Greaneteen will prove a tough nut to crack, he was beaten a long way when third in the Champion Chase last month.
On the day he will be crowned champion trainer for a 14th time, Nicholls appears to hold a pair of aces in the bet365 Josh Gifford Novices’ Handicap Chase, with Cap Du Mathan narrowly preferred to stablemate Quel Destin.
Ultra consistent, the selection has won twice and finished second three times from seven starts over fences and has been unfortunate in his last two outings, getting touched off at Wincanton and Kempton.
Harry Cobden has been booked to ride, jumping off stablemate Quel Destin, who was a neck runner-up in a Grade Three over the course and distance last time.
IRISH NEWS YANKEE
Nap: Frodon (2.15: Sandown)
Double: Hewick (2.50: Sandown)
Treble: Jonbon (1.40: Sandown)
Yankee: Cap Du Mathan (3.25: Sandown)
