Cheltenham Festival - “Transparent tactics” no obstacle as defending champion Frodon eyes fairytale follow-up in the Ryanair Chase

Frost became the first female jockey to lift a Grade One title over jumps at the Festival when steering the Paul Nicholls-trained gelding to a length-and-a-quarter success after a game, front-running round of jumping.

Though conceding the race is a tougher assignment this year, with the likes of Henry de Bromhead’s A Plus Tard and Willie Mullins’ Min, among others, providing stiff competition, Frost still believes the eight-year-old can prevail.

“He A1, he’s squealing and he’s boisterous,” she said.

“He’s getting extremely cocky – everything you want out of a horse that’s going to go to one of the biggest tests in the racing calendar.

“Cheltenham is the heartbeat of National Hunt racing, it’s where the best of the best go and only the bravest come out on top.

“Opinions are the race is harder than last year, but with Cheltenham Festival races, I don’t think any of them are a gift.”

Intending to employ last year’s proactive running style, Frost stressed a flawless round of fencing would be crucial for a repeat of 2019’s victory.

“You have to be beyond brave and everything has to go right, that’s the Festival,” she said.

“Sometimes in other races you could miss one, or slightly get hampered somewhere, and you could maybe come back. But at Cheltenham you can’t make a mistake, you can’t get held up anywhere or it’s game over.

“We’re slightly transparent in our tactics, we’ve got a big target on our backs. They all know what we’re going to do so we’ve got to be switched on and try to keep 10 steps ahead to make it as easy as possible.

“We need a bit of luck, we need a lot of confidence, we need some bravery and a lot of people shouting us home. Can we do it again? We’ve got to believe we can.”

Frodon returned this season with wide-margin defeats in both the Old Roan Chase at Aintree and the Betfair Chase at Haydock.

He was subsequently diagnosed with ulcers and bounced back after treatment to regain his form when winning the Grade Two Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton in January.

Frost now reports Frodon working as well at home as he did before last year’s fairytale success – and can feel the confidence building among the team at Nicholls’ Ditcheat yard.

Also back to defend his title is 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle winner Paisley Park. Trained by Emma Lavelle, this is another horse to captivate the imagination of racing because the horse’s enthusiastic owner, Andrew Gemmell, has been blind since birth and follows races by listening to the radio commentary.

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