Neil King aiming to better best season with second call on 'great asset' Frost

Neil King is aiming to build on his best jumps season with the Wroughton trainer hoping to use first-choice jockey and 'great asset' Bryony Frost as much as possible during the winter.

King has second call on the services of Frost, based with Paul Nicholls, and they enjoyed 16 winners and 25 other first-three finishers from 90 runners when teaming up last campaign.

Veteran Chase series-bound Milansbar provided the trainer-jockey combination with big-race success in the Classic Chase at Warwick last year and King is hoping their partnership will continue to blossom.

Milansbar: winner of the 2018 Classic Chase at WarwickCredit: Dan Abraham

He said: “It’s a big positive to have second call to Paul [Nicholls] for Bryony and she’s a great asset. We all need enthusiasm in this game to pick us up on the dull days and she’s got plenty of that.

“Horses run and jump for her and she rides very well. The owners love her riding for them and she gives plenty of thought into things before giving her feedback.

“If she has second thoughts on a horse she calls me on the way home and that’s what you want as you have to work as a team to get the best results.”

40 winners, accruing over £470,000 in prize-money, ensured King had the most successful small jumps yard in Britain – those housing 50 horses or less – and he has carried on in a similar vein since April with 12 victories from 56 runners during the spring and summer.

Around 125 people attended the trainer’s open day on Sunday and King is eyeing a potential tilt at the National Spirit Hurdle – a race he landed with Lil Rockerfeller in 2016 – for three-time Plumpton novice hurdle winner Brandon Castle.

Talented mare Farne, who finished fourth in Aintree's Grade 2 bumper, will embark on a novice hurdle campaign and Newbury juvenile handicap hurdle winner The Knot Is Tied is expected to thrive over further.

Brandon Castle: National Spirit Hurdle is a potential long-term targetCredit: Alan Crowhurst

King said: “We’ve started the season very well and the horses are in great form so the aim is to carry that on through the winter and try and better last season’s achievements.

“We’ve got some nice novices and bumper horses to come through and hopefully we can find the next Brandon Castle and Lil Rockerfeller as the season goes on.”

Of his leading hurdling prospects, King added: “Brandon Castle has had a lovely break and I’m hopeful there’s a nice race in him. He’s an ideal type for the National Spirit Hurdle so we may have a look at that later in the season.

“Farne is a proper mare and should be very smart in the mares’ novice ranks. She loves the mud and was never meant to be a bumper horse so did very well last season, while I really like The Knot Is Tied. The more we step him up in trip, the better he will be.”

Canyon City, a four-time winner between October and May, will bid to climb the staying hurdle ranks, while dual Grade 2 scorer Lil Rockerfeller is set for another run over fences before deciding whether to revert to the three-mile hurdling route.

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