Cheltenham Festival News: Frost expecting Nicholls' form freeze to thaw by March
- Planet Sport writer
- 10 February 2022
The Don of Ditcheat Paul Nicholls is having a form wobble of late but jockey Bryony Frost isn't worried. She expects Nicholls' top string to be back in the mix come March at the Cheltenham Festival.
Bryony Frost is confident that boss Paul Nicholls' faltering form will be sorted by the time the Cheltenham Festival starts in March.
Frost rode two of Nicholls' best horses at the Dublin Racing Festival but Frodon and Greaneteen didn't put up much of a show.
Top horse-woman Frost felt rain hampered both her Grade 1 winner's chances but admitted that neither gave their true running.
"As you can imagine, I'd been really excited about both Frodon and Greaneteen in the build up to the weekend, but my optimism drained away with the change in the weather, and besides that, anyone can see now that Paul's horses aren't quite right at the moment for some reason," she said.
"As you will probably have read, Paul is going to take a minute with the horses now as there's a pattern to the way they are running. It's almost unheard of for us to not be turning in knowing we are going to be there or thereabouts, but they are the top team, and they'll soon be ready to rock and roll again.
"If there's a positive, it's that there's time to find the reasons before Cheltenham."
Frost and Frodon have become one of the most compelling pairings in the sport and she wasn't going to ride her old friend into the ground once Conflated went in for the kill.
She told Betfair: "Frodon's odds started to stack against him when the weather rolled in on Saturday. It just wasn't his ground and once he was swallowed up two out, the white flag had to go up and we looked after each other.
"He's not entered at Cheltenham so will have a good freshen up now, and we'll make sure he has his ground next time you see him."
Greaneteen ran similarly in the Dublin Chase, with Frost once again choosing the inside line, tactics which didnt go without criticism.
"I thought Greaneteen travelled and jumped brilliantly on Sunday, but we had to admit defeat at the same point. Unlike Frodon, I don't think he minded the ground. He moved very well on it and jumped very well, so I wouldn't be too worried if Cheltenham came up softer than usual," she said.
"I'm told there was a bit of comment about me going around the inside on both horses, but Davy Russell followed me on Conflated in Saturday's Gold Cup, so the winner came from the inner line.
"I'd walked the course and I went where I thought the best ground was. There was a strip of fresh ground that wasn't galloped on down the back, and both of my horses have a slight tendency to jump left, so it made no sense for me to go wider.
"Also, Greaneteen can be quite keen, and if he'd been in amongst them that would have got him beat before anything. It wasn't the weekend I'd been looking forward to, but they've both come home safe and sound and that's the main thing."
