The buildup to Saturday’s Badger Ales Trophy started some time around the turn of the century, when a battered old-time jump jockey fobbed off his tiny daughter with a promise that she could sit on a racehorse one day, maybe when she was nine. Jimmy Frost, who had ridden the 1989 Grand National winner, hoped he would hear no more of the subject but Bryony did not forget and described in the winner’s enclosure here how she had bounded through to her father’s bedroom at dawn on her ninth birthday to insist he make good on his words.
Thirteen years after that moment of domestic tension, Bryony Frost delivered a brave, attacking ride on Present Man to land a race her father had won when she was a toddler. It was a vindication of the faith shown in her by Paul Nicholls, who took her on as an amateur jockey a couple of years ago and is giving her plenty of work now that she has turned professional.
Frost was quick to express her gratitude to the 10-times champion trainer, hinting that she may have struggled to have similar chances at other stables. “It’s a massive thing, because you’ve got to break the mould, being a girl and everything,” she said. “And he’s got the backbone to say: ‘No. I’ll put her up and you watch what she can do.’”
Frost Sr was on hand to share the moment and was by his daughter’s side before her horse had even walked off the track. He recalled spending 12 years trying to dissuade her from being a jump jockey before giving up the unequal struggle. “I know what a tough life it is. But she wouldn’t hear it,” he said.
“She had that fall 10 days ago and I said: ‘You want to take a few days off.’ She said: ‘No, they’ll think I’m a wuss cos I’m a girl. I can’t do that. I’ve got to keep going.’ So if anything, it works the other way for her. She’s got to be tougher and work harder.”
Like her brother, Hadden, Frost Jr is already a winner at the Cheltenham Festival, having landed the Foxhunter on Pacha Du Polder in March, beating the best amateur jockeys from Ireland as well as England. Nicholls is now happy to make the most of the 5lb allowance she is allowed for her inexperience and praised her at various times for “a fantastic ride” and “a peach of a ride” as he celebrated his eighth success in this contest.
“She’s a very talented girl,” Nicholls said. “She’s been brought up right. She rides as well as all those lads.”
The trainer fielded three in the race and, after persistent rain for the previous 12 hours, was beginning to fear that Present Man had less chance than the others. “I knew he’d go in the ground, it’s just whether he’d stay in the ground. He’s a great example of, in this game, Rome wasn’t built in a day. He’s took three years to get where he is, from being fairly ordinary as a novice hurdler.”
Being owned by the sponsor, Present Man has had this race as the target for some time and it may be a mistake to expect much more from him this season. But the Grand National is reckoned to be a long-term target and there must be an excellent chance that Frost will keep the ride if the horse shows up at Aintree in April.
A fine day was also enjoyed by the trainer Ian Williams, who sent Saunter to win the November Handicap at Doncaster and also landed the Elite Hurdle here with London Prize.
Williams said: “It’s not a bad 20 minutes to have in any training career. It’s lovely to do it on the Flat and over jumps.”
He may have another go with London Prize at Cheltenham next Sunday in the Greatwood Hurdle, which had been the horse’s original target. “We went to Wincanton because the owners weren’t available on Greatwood day. It depends on what the handicapper does and if he’s bucking and squealing.”
Chris Cook’s tips for Sunday
Sandown
12.45 Stonemadforspeed 1.20 Jameson (nap) 1.50 Trust The Man 2.20 Might Bite 2.55 Garo De Juilley (nb) 3.30 It’s A Gimme 4.00 Mercy Mercy Me
Ffos Las
1.00 Holdbacktheriver 1.30 Billy Bronco 2.00 Juge Et Parti 2.30 Gamain 3.05 Firebird Flyer 3.40 Bonobo 4.10 Timely Gift
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