- Planet Sport writer
- 5 December 2024
Bryony Frost to pilot Intense Raffles at Navan
Bryony Frost will partner Grand National second-favourite Intense Raffles over hurdles at Navan on Saturday.
At just 25, Bryony Frost is already the most successful female jumps jockey of all time.
Her win on Frodon in the 2020 King George VI Chase at Kempton saw Frost overtake Lucy Alexander's British record of wins over jumps by claiming her 175th victory.
Affable Frost is known for her expressive post-race interviews and her ability to convey her love of racing to the media and the public.
Born into a racing family
Frost was born in Devon, into a racing family with her father the Grand National-winning jockey Jimmy Frost and her brother Hadden formerly a National Hunt jockey too.
Bryony's equine talent was apparent at an early age, making friends with pet donkey Nosey at the age of just two.
"The rule was if you get off him, you're not allowed back on, so I would sit there all day. I would even fall asleep on him and can remember going everywhere with him, even my gran's kitchen," Frost told BBC Sport.
She got into the pony saddle at four on Dartmoor and graduated to pony racing.
Frost won 50 races and became Devon and Cornwall pony racing champion on several occasions.
She rode in her first point-to-point race aged 16 and went on to win 56 races and nine Hunter Chases in that sphere.
Nicholls sees Frost's potential
Frost's career arc continued to reach new heights as an amateur, first riding races for her father but then given a chance by legendary trainer Paul Nicholls.
On April 3, 2016 she won a minor Hunters' Chase at Ascot aboard Polisky for the Ditcheat trainer but the shrewd Nicholls knew Frost had talent.
"I told her to come as late as you can. Three over the last, the commentator was writing off Polisky and she whipped up the inner. Came to the last, gave him one belt and he won four lengths. Brilliant. Nearly the ride of the season," Nicholls told The Spectator.
Paul Nicholls gave Frost an early career chance
By 2015/16, Frost was Lady Jockeys' National Hunt champion but greater success was to come at the 2017 Cheltenham Festival in the Foxhunter Chase.
Frost was a 16/1 outsider on Pacha De Polder in the red and black silks of the Stewart family but guided her horse over the 22 fences to claim a hard-fought win by a neck.
Waiting for Frost were her delirious father and brother as the 21-year-old announced herself to the jumps racing elite. "I was impressed but not surprised because I knew she was that good," Hadden Frost told the Frost Racing Club.
More success came for Frost aboard Present Man in the Badger Ales Chase at Nicholls' local track, Wincanton, in November 2017.
She then gave a pointer for future success in the King George meeting at Kempton by partnering Black Corton to win the Grade One Kauto Star Novices' Chase, again for Nicholls on Boxing Day 2017.
Her first sizeable win on future favourite Frodon came on January 27, 2018 when she won the Crest Nicholson Handicap Chase at Cheltenham in the soon-to-be-famous blue and white silks. She then followed up on Frodon in the Old Roan Chase at Aintree in October 2018 while still an amateur.
Bryony Frost turns professional
Frost was soon to leave amateur racing behind, riding out her claim in November 2018 with her 75th win under rules.
She won at Kempton on the Neil King-trained Marienstar and afterwards told the Racing Post: "Crikey, I'm a professional now, I've flown the nest and I'm not quite sure what to think…
"It's now a bit of a daunting time but I've got a great team behind me and Paul [Nicholls] and Neil [King] fill me with a lot of confidence."
After turning professional, Frost began to really cement her relationship with gallant bay gelding Frodon, winning the Grade Three Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Cheltenham in December 2018 and then the Grade Two Cotswold Chase at the same venue in January 2019.
The Ryanair Chase Cheltenham Festival win
Frodon was fast becoming a Cheltenham specialist but Frost's ride aboard the horse in the 2019 Ryanair Chase at the Festival was still astonishing. Frost led from the start in an aggressive yet balanced display of jumping on Frodon, taking the fences at speed and seeing off the advances of Aso to win by one and a quarter lengths.
Bryony Frost celebrates winning the 2019 Ryanair Chase
Frost was visibly emotional after becoming the first woman to win a Grade One race at the Cheltenham Festival. "That minute where he got overtaken two out, most horses would quit. But no, he grabbed me by the hands and said, 'Don't you dare give up. Don't you dare not send me into the last. I want this more than you, now come on! Where are you?" she told The Guardian.
Winning the King George VI Chase
2020 saw Bryony Frost and Frodon pair up again for a crack at Grade One glory. The King George had been a staple of success for trainer Nicholls with classy winning horses of the Boxing Day race such as Kauto Star and Silviniaco Conti.
Frost's long-term prep for the post-Christmas event started with a win on Frodon in the Silviniaco Conti Chase in January 2020 before winning the Matchbook Betting Exchange Handicap Chase at Cheltenham in October.
But in the penultimate race before the King George, the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree, Frost and Frodon could only finish fourth of five over three miles and a furlong.
This meant Frodon was priced up at 20/1 for the 2020 King George with the horse seemingly second string to another Nicholls runner, the two-time winner Clan Des Obeaux.
"And it's Frodon, he's got many of them working in behind now," said the Racing TV commentary as Frost led from the front and had the rest straggling with a superb display of jumping.
Frost stayed still in the saddle with just a couple of taps of the whip as Frodon produced a sizable upset to win by a clear two and a quarter lengths from Waiting Patiently in second. Stablemate Clan Des Obeaux could only finish third, unable to live with speed-demon Frost on her beloved Frodon.
Frodon, ridden by Bryony Frost, en route to victory in the 2020 King George
"With a horse like him, anything is possible," Frost told Racing TV as the magnitude of becoming the leading British female jumps jockey of all time sank in.
Despite the lockout of her many supporters due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Frost was soon looking ahead to the 2021 Cheltenham Festival and a shot at the Gold Cup on Frodon.
"I won't be concentrating on the fact it's one of the biggest races I could ever ride in," she told the Racing Post. "I'll be concentrating on the fact it's three and a quarter miles around Cheltenham, a track where Frodon has produced some of his best performances."
The Gold Cup would be a suitable achievement for the talented and personable horsewoman.
"Horses run and jump for her. If she is lucky and stays in one piece she will be as good as any girl who has ever ridden," said master trainer Nicholls told BBC Sport.
A spat in the weighing-room
In January 2021 it was revealed that Frost had allegedly been involved in a weighing-room row with fellow jockey Robbie Dunne over the death of a horse at Southwell racecourse.
The incident was said to be the subject of a British Horseracing Authority enquiry.
"It's a difficult topic at the minute, because there are ongoing things that need to be sorted out and there is protection that needs to be given to others," Frost told The Guardian. "So at the moment I can't go too much into it. But it's something I'm going to be trying extremely hard to make better and move forward in a positive way. But at the minute my hands are tied as to how much I can go into such things."
Bryony Frost's personal life
Bryony Frost's father Jimmy was a successful jockey, riding over 500 winners. Jimmy Frost won the 1989 Grand National on Little Polvier and the 1991 Champion Hurdle aboard Morley Street.
Frost's brother Hadden was a decent jumps jockey, winning the Pertemps Final at the 2010 Cheltenham Festival on Buena Vista for David Pipe. Hadden now lives in the USA where he works with showjumpers.
Nikki Frost, Bryony's mother, is hands-on at the family horse racing yard at Buckfastleigh, Devon, where her husband Jimmy trains jumps horses.
In March 2018, Frost revealed she had been dating fellow jockey Harry Cobden for two years. The pair were childhood friends in Devon. There was extra spice when the couple lined up against each other at the 2018 Cheltenham Festival in the RSA Chase with the race considered the first between a couple at the event. Cobden won the bragging rights by finishing third on Elegant Escape while Frost came in fifth on Black Corton.
Away from racing, Frost enjoys surfing and climbing on Dartmoor.
