Death of successful owner breeder Tim Frost aged 86

Tributes have been paid to successful owner-breeder Tim Frost, responsible for the likes of high-class chaser Sam Brown, following his death at the age of 86. 

The Dorset-based farmer bred horses for more than 50 years from Childhay Manor Farm at Beaminster, which his father Arthur took on in the 1940s. A winner of a point-to-point as a jockey, Frost had horses in training most recently with Anthony Honeyball, but also over the years with Philip Hobbs, Paul Nicholls, Robert Alner, Richard Barber, Simon Christian and Robin Blakeney.

Sam Brown, a son of Black Sam Bellamy, has won eight times for Honeyball so far, including the Grade 2 Altcar Novices' Chase at Haydock in 2020 and Grade 3 Betway Handicap Chase at Aintree's Grand National meeting in 2022. Only last season he won the Veterans' Chase Series Final at Warwick in January and a leg of the series at Ascot in March. He will be targeted at the Veterans’ Final again in 2025.

Honeyball said: "We had stacks of winners for Tim with the horses that he'd bred and they'd been with us for a good few years. He was very loyal to us and was a very good owner-breeder, very shrewd. He was very switched on with his farming, he was a big family man and he'll be sorely missed. 

"I think the family line they've gone with has ended up finding many winners, and of course they landed on Sam Brown, who's rated 156 at 12. At his best he was a solid Grade 2 horse and just a little bit below being a Gold Cup horse. He's a really good horse to have bred."

Frost's children, Will and Lucy, have always been closely involved with their father in the breeding dynasty and Honeyball added: “It’s lovely to see that the next generations are taking on and enjoying breeding the horses. Tim had a few health issues in the last two years, so it was really nice that he saw Sam Brown win at Warwick and a few other good runs."

Sam Brown and Aidan Coleman win at Aintree in 2022Credit: John Grossick Racing

Paying tribute, Frost's daughter Lucy Blackburn said: "He passed away peacefully in his sleep. As a farmer, he was always very matter of fact about life and death, and it's the way he would have wanted to go. 

"He first had point-to-pointers and took them over from his father. Dad was the youngest of three brothers, and his middle brother Patrick rode a lot of point winners. Some were bred by my grandfather and others by other people in the area. 

"My dad famously had one point winner – he fell off, remounted and then won! He also hunted with the Cattistock and then the Seavington; he was chairman, then a trustee, and the point-to-point secretary for many years. Richard Barber was a great friend of his. 

"When it came to his racehorses, Dad had a lot of success early on with point-to-point trainer Anthony Fortescue-Thomas and his wife, [jockey] Gillian, who won lots of points for him. Then when his great friend, Richard Barber, started training locally at Seaborough, he always sent his horses to him, having great success with horses that he’d bred such as Lewesdon Hill and latterly the foundation mare of Sam Brown’s line, the lovely Cream By Post. 

"Dad started down the National Hunt route after that, having horses with Philip Hobbs, Robert Alner and Paul Nicholls – Dad always had a huge amount of respect for Paul. In 2011 he went to Richard Barber with a mare he'd bred, Taradrewe. Richard said he had this new, young trainer who'd just started up and asked 'Why don't you give him a go?' Anthony is only two miles away, so Dad would pop in every week, or even more, in his wellies and boiler suit, and chat with Anthony. 

"Even when we were children he'd train a couple of pointers from home, although farming was his main life. He also started a creamery back in the 1970s. Because of where we are in the West Country, he and Mum saw there was a gap in the market for clotted cream and double cream. It became a very successful business and he went on to develop Childhay Manor Ice Cream, a much loved local product in the West Country. With my brother, Will, he saw another opportunity, and developed a goat dairy business, which has evolved to become one of the largest goat farms in the UK."

Blackburn added: "He was a very good communicator and always took time to stop and talk to people. He had the unique skill of being able to communicate with people from all walks of life – no matter where he was he would walk up to someone he wanted to talk to and simply say 'Hi I’m Tim, I don’t think we have met'. He was always interested in what the young were up to, as he would say, and was very supportive to his six grandchildren.

"Even with the onset of dementia towards the end of his life, he'd always start that initial communication. He was very kind and generous and particularly so with his time."

Frost also bred the prolific pointer Prince Rock, who he then sold to Michael Buckley, he went on to be a fine second in the Welsh and Irish Grand Nationals, as well as multiple winner and Listed-placed Cream Cracker, the dam of Sam Brown. She has produced the gelding's sister Hard As Nails, a three-time winner under rules for Fergal O'Brien and owner Raymond Treacy.

In 2022, he was awarded the Shade Oak Stud Trophy for leading chaser at the TBA National Hunt Breeders' Awards as a result of Sam Brown's exploits. 

Frost is survived by his wife Monica, children Will and Lucy, and his six grandchildren.