Elsewhere on this site you can read about Hollie Doyle, who is a hero to many women in the flat racing side of the industry. In some ways, Bryony Frost is her equivalent on the jump racing side of proceedings. She made a name for herself in 2019 when she became the first female jockey to win a Grade 1 event during the week of the Cheltenham Festival.
It wasn’t the only time that her name appeared in the headlines, also making waves a year later when she won the King George VI Chase, becoming the first women to win the Kempton Park Racecourse event, becoming the all-time leading female jump jockey.
About
Bryony Frost was born in the market town of Buckfastleigh in Devon on the 13th of April 1995. As is often the case with those that enter the world of horse racing, she was practically born into it. That is on account of the fact that her father, Jimmy Frost, won the Grand National in 1989 on the back of Little Polveir before become a racehorse trainer. He followed in his own father’s footsteps, Bryony’s grandfather, who had also worked as a trainer. Her brother, Hadden Frost, had also been a jockey, winning the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival in 2010 on the back of Buena Vista. In some ways, therefore, she was destined to become a jockey.
Even so, her first experience of riding came on the back of a donkey, eventually graduating to ponies. It was on ponies where she got her taste for winning, picking up several Devon and Cornwall Pony Racing Championships. That gave her the confidence to move on to point-to-point racing, with her first ride under rules coming in the February of 2013, riding as an amateur. Within two years she had won her first race under rules, taking the Rose Loxton-trained Current Event home in a race at Musselburgh. In 2016, Frost began racing for Paul Nicholls, although she remained an amateur even as she won at Cheltenham.
That came in the Foxhunter Chase in 2017, with Frost riding Pacha Du Polder across the line in the Festival race. From there, the obvious decision for her to make was to turn professional, which she did in the July. It took her just a matter of weeks to get her first win as a conditional jockey, riding the Nicholls-trained Black Corton to victory in a race at Worcester. It was the start of a professional career that will have seemed like a distant dream back when she was riding donkeys and ponies, but that some might suggest was written in the stars thanks to the family background in jump racing that Frost was born into.
Sadly, Frost’s experience is also something of a cautionary tale for female jockeys, if not women in all walks of life. In the September of 2020 she loaded a complained with the British Horse Racing Authority regarding bullying and harassment by Robbie Dunne, a fellow jockey. The BHA upheld the claim after hearing evidence from Frost, Dunne himself and several other jockeys. Dunne was handed an 18-month ban, which was reduced to ten months after an appeal. For many women, it is a reminder of the kind of experience that they go through regardless of their work or their ability, just because they’re women.
Frost’s Major Achievements
It is obviously entirely fair to point out that winning any race at the Cheltenham Festival can be considered to be a ‘major achievement’, yet better things were to come from Bryony Frost once she turned professional. Wincanton was the location of one such achievement, taking the Nicholls-trained Present Man home in the Badger Beer Handicap Chase.
Black Corton
By the end of the year she was in the Winner’s Enclosure for a Grade 1 race, enjoying success on Black Corton in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day. That made her just the second female jockey to win a Grade 1 event over obstacles, at the age of just 22.
Frodon, Milansbar & Present Man
In January of 2018 Frost enjoyed another win at Cheltenham in another Graded this, this time the Grade 3 Crest Nicholson Handicap Chase. She won the race on the back of Frodon, with the pair going to enjoy 11 victories together. In the April, Frost took on the Grand National for the first time and came fifth with Milansbar. In the November of 2018 she won the Badger Beer Handicap Chase with Present Man once more, which was part of the reason that she was able to ride out her claim by the end of the month. In doing so, she became just the fifth female jockey based in Britain to achieve 75 victories over jumps.
Frodon & Frost: An Unstoppable Pair
The relationship with Frodon was one that would see Frost continue to rack up those Graded wins. She won the Grade 2 Old Roan Chase at Aintree Racecourse and the Grade 3 Caspian Caviar Gold Cup, as well as the Cotswold Chase, another Grade 2 event, both at Cheltenham Racecourse. It was at the Gloucestershire course where the pair would achieve their finest achievement to that point, winning the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase. By doing so, Frost became the first woman to win a Grade 1 event during the Cheltenham Festival. She ended up with 49 wins for the season, being awarded the British Conditional Jockey title in April 2019.
In the January of 2020, victory for the pair in the Grade 2 Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton Park was celebrated, but they finished fourth when looking to achieve back-to-back wins in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham. The year would end on a positive note, however, when Frodon would go on to win the King George VI Chase, making Frost the first woman to win the event. It was also her 175th victory, which made her the all-time leading female jockey when it came to National Hunt jump races. Four months later and she won the Oaksey Chase, a Grade 2 event at Sandown, and the Grade 1 Celebration Chase on the same day.
Retained Jockey Role
More Graded wins came in the 2021-2022 season, winning the Ladbrokes Champion Chase in Ireland, which was a Grade 1 race, and the Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown. The following season she won the Badger Beer Handicap for the third time, then enjoyed success in the Grade 3 Red Rum Handicap Chase during the Grand National Festival at Aintree in April of 2024. In May, Frost was given the role of retained jockey by owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede in France, having seen the number of rides she was being given in the United Kingdom reduced for no discernible reason. Paul Nicholls said she was still ‘riding as good as ever’, believing that the public liked her more than some trainers seemed to.