The wraps came off the National Hunt season proper on Friday with the return of racing at Cheltenham, and it proved to be something of a banner day for Frontiersman with two winners on the card.
Kingofthefrontier, winner of the first £25,000 GB Pointing Bonus in June at Southwell, backed up that early promise with a 20/1 victory in the G2 Oddschecker Novices’ Hurdle for his young trainer, the former point-to-point rider John Dawson.
The five-year-old gelding won on his sole start between the flags back in March and was then placed on his hurdles debut before his easy Southwell victory. Stepping up to graded company for only the fourth start of his career, he was dropped out near the rear of the field by Conor O’Farrell before making his move coming to the last flight to beat two strongly fancied horses trained by Nicky Henderson and Dan Skelton.
Kingofthefrontier was bred by David Topping and Miss A Agerich from the Black Sam Bellamy mare Yoohoof, herself a dual-winning point-to-pointer for William Easterby.
Cheltenham’s first race of this National Hunt season had earlier gone the way of Jimmy Greenley’s homebred Frontier Prince, who brought up the 50th winner at the home of jump racing for his trainer Fergal O’Brien.
A fellow member of Frontiersman’s second crop, the five-year-old was posting his fourth win under rules, having won a bumper last year before notching hurdle victories in Wales, Scotland and now England. Frontier Prince is out of the Scorpion mare Scorpion Princess and is a half-brother to Stungbythemaster (Jack Hobbs).
Frontiersman has made a decent start to the National Hunt season and is also sire of the Jonjo and AJ O’Neill-trained Welsh Champion Hurdle winner Pioneer Pete as well as Uncle Remus, who has won two of his last three starts for Henrietta Knight.
