Badger Beer Handicap Chase Tips: Nicholls to reign once more at Wincanton
We preview the 2023 Badger Beer Handicap Chase, which is one of the highlights of the season at Wincanton and it will see former Cheltenham Festival winner Frodon look to retain the crown he won 12 months ago. It's set to be a hugely competitive renewal and our man Steve Chambers previews the event here and picks out his best bet...
A spectacular winner of this race 12 months ago, 11-year-old Frodon is back again on Saturday to try and retain the Badger Beer Handicap Chase for Paul Nicholls and off the same mark the former Ryanair Chase winner will prove hugely popular with the betting public. Arguably, one of the most loved horses in training, Frodon may not have the class to compete at the highest level at the Cheltenham Festival these days, but the Ditcheat inmate showed last year when carrying top weight to glory in this event that he can still land some big prizes and he will be vying to reign supreme once again at Wincanton in the 2023 renewal.
Adopting his customary front-running tactics for most of this race last year, Frodon jumped sublimely once again for Bryony Frost and they duly got rid of their rivals one by one before beating Lord Accord by over two lengths. Sure to head to the front from the flag fall once again, Frost will look to use Frodon's jumping to get his rivals playing catch-up and off 158 he's certainly set to run a big race. However, for a horse that has been delivering the goods at the highest level over fences for the last few seasons, there has to become a time when some potentially younger, more progressive horses step forward and off top weight in what is likely to be testing ground Frodon may just fail to bag victory once again.
The Nicholls team have a fabulous recent record in the race having saddled the winner in four of the last six renewals and while Frodon may not be the one to follow another of the Ditcheat team that can storm to victory is the well-fancied THREEUNDERTHRUFIVE, who has always shaped like a very smart stayer. The eight-year-old was a dual Grade 2 winner as a novice chaser, but failed to kick on over fences, but did end last season in promising fashion. Eighth in a red-hot Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival, he then finished fourth in the Scottish Grand National at Ayr. That run north of the border came off a mark of 147 and it's that figure he lines up off again on Saturday afternoon, so if Nicholls can get him in similar shape then he looks more than capable of landing the prize. With stamina assured he certainly makes more appeal of the Nicholls duo that dominate the betting, at the time of writing.
Another one in the same mould of Threeunderthrufive is The Big Breakaway as Joe Tizzard's eight-year-old was an extremely promising novice chaser, but he has struggled in recent seasons to deliver the goods over fences. Last seen falling in the Grand National at Aintree back in April the Tizzard team will be eager to get a confidence booster into him and he's dropped 2lbs to a mark of 149 for this outing. If he can reproduce the display he put in when second in the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow last season then he has to be considered, but he's one that could really need a marathon trip to produce his best and he's one to avoid here.
A tremendous winner of the Becher Chase at Aintree last season, Dan Skelton's Ashtown Lad failed to improve on that effort and was last seen pulling up in the Topham at Aintree over the National fences. He's still 4lbs higher than that Aintree win, so it could be that he's still in the handicapper's grip and while he has potential on his day he could find this too tough.
Of the others, Sam Brown is now 11 and much like Frodon is one that could have seen his better days and is going to struggle, while the likes of Ballygrifincottage and Certainly Red add decent depth to the race, but may struggle against those more fancied runners at the head of the betting.
