SHARP FROST Queen B reigns for the first time in King George as Nicholls bags 12th title
BRYONY FROST and Frodon shone through the gloom with a never-say-die Ladbrokes King George VI Chase victory that brought the feelgood factor back to racing.
The 20-1 success at Kempton, ending a deeply-troubled year for the sport on a high, carried the 25-year-old jockey to not one but two milestones.
Not only was it the first by a female rider in one of jump racing’s unofficial ‘Classics’, but it took Frost to the record number of National Hunt winners – 175 – by a woman in Britain.
It also gave her boss and Frodon’s trainer Paul Nicholls an unparalleled 12th King George triumph.
“That’s a few boundaries crossed today – a few moulds broken,” smiled Frost.
“I’ve got a tiny little book at home. It’s got your ride, where it was, the horse owner and the trainer – from my very first pointing ride at Fleet Park, where I fell off at the last – to today.
“To put that in my book – I’ve won a King George on Frodon, for Paul and the team – that’s the big thing for me.
“Regardless of the ‘girl’ stuff, it’s the horse I’ve been able to do it on, it’s the team I’ve been able to ride for, and it’s the race.”
Frost set out in front on the eight-year-old, on whom she had lifted the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in March 2019, and the pair still held the lead on the final turn of the three-mile test.
“Once we saw that home straight and I asked him to go into top gear – I said, ‘ Go, Frode!’” added Frost.
“He just leant into that bit and started to elevate himself again.
That was the moment I thought, ‘My God, they’re going to have to be really something special to come back at me today.”
With Frodon’s stablemate – and dual King George hero – Clan Des Obeaux toiling at the final fence, it was northern challenger Waiting Patiently, trained by Ruth Jefferson, who ran on best of the winner’s pursuers to take second at a distance of two-and-a-quarter lengths. The winner’s odds suggest Frodon’s name was at the top of few punters’ lists, but Frost beamed: “He’s one in a million.
“When you have a horse that jumps and gains as many lengths as he does over his obstacles, is as athletic as he is, and who just loves to go out and compete, anything is possible!
“You shouldn’t be in the game if you don’t love your horses – and I just adore him.” Frodon was cut to 12-1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 19, and a delighted Nicholls admitted: “I wasn’t expecting that – although he’s a very good horse on his day. He keeps winning, he keeps surprising.
“And he absolutely loves the course, so you’ve got to let him take his chance.”
Nicholls, who has saddled See More Business (1998), Kauto Star (2007 and 2009) and Denman (2008) to land chasing’s blue riband, added: “I’m not saying he’s Kauto Star or Denman.
“And I’m not going to say he’ll definitely win the Gold Cup, but he deserves his place and you know full well he’ll give a good account of himself.”