Cheltenham’s racing return provides romance over jumps and 20-1 shock

The Guardian

Outsider Kingofthefrontier wins Sharp Novices’ Hurdle Trainer John Dawson gets better of Dan Skelton The jumping game increasingly resembles the Flat when it comes to the concentration of racing power in ever fewer trainers’ hands, but the opening day of Cheltenham’s new season – the first, in fact, since Gold Cup day in March – brought a reminder that romance has not been drained entirely from the winter code. Dan Skelton, who dethroned Willie Mullins to become the new champion over jumps last season, had already trained 115 winners in the current campaign before racing on Friday, nearly…