? Jockey targets win on first try over famous fences
? JP McManus buys the winner of the Irish equivalent
Hadden Frost has never jumped one of Aintree's big fir fences in a race of any kind, never mind in the Grand National itself, but the prospect of riding Calgary Bay, a 33-1 chance, next Saturday does not seem to be costing him sleep.
Perhaps that very lack of experience means he feels no need to worry about the challenge or the atmosphere but Frost is almost apologetic about his lack of big-race angst. "I'm excited but not nervous," Frost said at Stratfordhere on Friday. "It sounds boring but I'm just going to stay relaxed and ride a race. Sorry, but that's all there is to it."
Frost's parents ? including his father Jimmy, who won the race on Little Polveir in 1989, before Hadden was born ? are another matter. "My dad's a lot worse than I am," he said, "and my mum's the worst of all. It's a good job we've got Sky+, because she won't be able to watch it, not until I've given her a call to tell her that it's all right."
Victory for Calgary Bay would mark only the second time in the National's long history that a son had followed his father on to the roll of honour, after Paul Carberry's success on Bobbyjo in 1999. Few National winners pass the post without enjoying their share of excitement and incident over the course of 4� miles but Frost Jr could probably do without quite as much drama as his father, by then a seasoned jockey, endured 22 years ago.
"We made him watch the video a few times," Frost said, "though he doesn't like watching it or he pretends that he doesn't. He tries not to watch it too much, anyway. I think he had a lot of luck on the way round. He nearly hit a streaker and he nearly got run off by a loose horse but that's what you need around there. I think if you enjoy it, then you're doing the right thing. I don't want to blank it all out, I want to relax and enjoy it. I remember everything about my first winner at Cheltenham [on Buena Vista, in the Pertemps Final in 2010], so that's what I'll hope to do."
Calgary Bay has form in some of the best races to his name, having finished sixth in the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup, but most of his racing has been over shorter trips and his stamina for the National trip remains in doubt.
"He's definitely classy enough for it," Frost said. "Stamina is the only question mark with him but the form books say that he's the right horse for the race so I'm going to believe them."
The 20-year-old Frost has faced a serious struggle for winners this season and has not enjoyed a success since November. Henrietta Knight, Calgary Bay's trainer, replaced him aboard Somersby in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at last month's Cheltenham Festival.
He says his confidence has not been affected, though, while there would be no better place to break his losing run than in the most valuable race of the National Hunt season.
"It was just one of those things [at Cheltenham]", he said. "I was warned at the start of the season that in the big races I might not have quite enough experience, so I'm just thankful to have had the amount of rides that I have and fingers crossed for next year.
"Everyone keeps saying what a bad season I've had but I'm still on the same number of winners as last year. That's just how it goes, everyone has peaks and troughs. It doesn't matter if I won the last race or lost it. I'll ride it just the same."
Tony McCoy, who needed 15 attempts before winning the National on Don't Push It 12 months ago, was also here yesterday, though he drew a blank from two rides. McCoy will be reunited with the same partner, who is due to carry top weight, in next weekend's race, though given the choice again, he might have opted instead for Bluesea Cracker, last year's Irish Grand National winner, who was purchased on Friday by JP McManus, McCoy's main employer.
Bluesea Cracker is 33-1 for the National but would stand a fair chance if able to recapture the form of her win at Fairyhouse last year, when she was 4� lengths in front of Oscar Time, the mount of the Gold Cup-winning jockey Sam Waley-Cohen and one of the market leaders.
"It's fantastic to be teamed up with Mr McManus for the first time and great that she stays in the yard," James Motherway, her trainer, said on Friday. "If she's as lucky for him as she was for the previous owners we'll be happy.
Andrew McNamara, who partnered Bluesea Cracker to victory in that Irish National at Fairyhouse, will take the ride at Aintree.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/01/hadden-frost-grand-national-calgary-bay
Property Sweden WikiLeaks Nuclear power Public sector cuts Terrorism policy
No comments:
Post a Comment