My journey didn't quite match Bryony Frost's rise - but how does someone with no racing connections make it in point-to-point?

When, in April 2011, five-year-old Prudent George unseated his rider in a Devon point-to-point, he had no idea he had just launched a career of some note.

Rising from the turf, Bryony Frost went on to finish second in a subsequent race on the card and eventually rode 66 point-point and hunter chase winners before becoming a conditional jockey.

There can be little doubt that the 300-plus rides she experienced in the sport stood her in good stead when the likes of Black Corton and Frodon came her way. 

As the daughter of a Grand National-winning jockey and from a family of trainers, Frost was teed up for rides from the moment she turned 16, but how do those with no racing connections gain chances? It takes time, as I discovered when, in 2001, I made my debut in the sport on an eight-year-old maiden owned jointly by my mum.

I was working for Henrietta Knight at the time, so I shared transport to the meeting at Dunthrop in Oxfordshire with her stepson, Robert Biddlecombe, who was set to ride the very useful Rectory Garden in the open race. He weighed out looking a professional jockey in waiting; I wore a woollen jumper and white hunting jodhpurs. He won; I crashed through the wing at the third fence.

Bryony Frost: had her grounding in point-to-point racesCredit: Edward Whitaker

Over the coming seasons I had a few rides, but it was not until I went to work for Warwickshire-based Julie Wadland that, in 2005, I rode my first winner on a mare called Lava, who had shown little under rules but at a lower level proved to be talented, albeit quirky. At that time I had been introduced to and gained a few rides for Fran and Christopher Marriott, who owned the yard that Charlie Longsdon moved into in June 2009. I approached him for a job and was to gain so much confidence from him and head lad Alan Roche.

Felix de Giles and Paddy Brennan rode out regularly and helped me, while schooling and galloping good horses was brilliant experience. I soon realised that for me, with little background in the sport, there was virtue in being attached to a licensed trainer surrounded by professionals. My mindset changed.

My uncle, Simon Hart, started training point-to-pointers, which led to further success, and then in 2011 a chance ride on the prolific Welsh mare Lady Myfanwy resulted in a win. Later that season I reunited with her to land the ladies’ hunter chase at Stratford. This sparked the beginning of a new era for me; I felt like a jockey rather than a girl having a go.

My association with the Longsdon yard led me to good horses, and through him I had many seasons riding Palypso De Creek, who had lost his confidence but was rejuvenated by pointing. We won 24 races together, while the Marriotts’ Dabinett Moon, a tiny mare I also broke in, provided me with 18 winners.

Another favourite from that time was Alskamatic, who improved with each run and gave me four fantastic rides around Cheltenham when twice finishing second at the hunter chase meeting and when running in the Foxhunter at the festival. Alskamatic was trained by Richard Bandey, who has since gone on to have success with a full licence.

Proving I could ride winners led to further success. The Julie Wadland-trained Golden Tobouggan and Midnight King were star performers, while riding under rules for the Longsdon stable against professionals was a huge help to my career, improving my skills and giving me a tactical brain.

Over 20 happy seasons I rode 101 point-to-point winners and 17 under rules, and the associations I made then continue to this day through my pre-training, breaking and rehabilitation yard. Lambourn-based Jamie Snowden is one of my biggest clients and it was through him that we bought Midnight Chill, on whom I rode my last winner in 2021.

Weekend preview

Great Trethew is host to this weekend’s sole meeting, at which the mixed open and conditions races have attracted entries for some useful ex-rules horses. 

The eye is drawn to Ask A Honey Bee, now trained by Gloucestershire-based Myles Osborne; My Drogo, now with Devon’s Ed Walker; and Angels Breath, from the Tim Vaughan yard. 

Osborne says: ‘‘We'll make the seven-hour round trip and take all four we have entered, including Ask A Honey Bee and a well-related five-year-old mare in the flat race, Green Bonnet.’’

Walker says of My Drogo: ‘‘It's a fact-finding mission. He clearly has an engine and, having been such a good hurdler, he found it high pressure over fences. Polly [Walker’s wife] has been doing some different things with him, hunting and hunter trials, and we can dream that if he's the horse he once was, some bigger assignments could be on the cards later in the season.’’

Sunday

Great Trethew, Cornwall, PL14 3PZ. First race 12.00. 7 races, 75 entries.

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