Multiple Grade One-winning jockey Bryony Frost made a fleeting return to the weighing room at Ascot on Friday, paying a flying visit from her new home in France. While her French has not improved significantly after 18 months riding there, her way with words remains intact.
“I spoke no French when I arrived [in mid-2024],” Frost said before the first of her two rides, which finished third and eighth, “and I still don’t now. It’s not something that comes naturally to me. But luckily the horses, they speak the language of feeling, so that’s good news for me.”
Frost moved to ride in France, where female riders receive a weight allowance from male jockeys in many races, in May 2024, a few months after a high-profile disciplinary case when Robbie Dunne was found to have pursued a campaign of bullying and harassment against her. As she approaches the end of her first full season there – it runs from January to December – Frost is the country’s leading female rider over jumps, and top-20 overall in terms of winners (24 from 203 rides) and prize money, with just under €1m (£880,000).
It has been an eye-opening introduction to a different approach to racing. “The French system has it sewn up,” she says. “They do it perfectly. You race for three days and then you have two days off. You can be more in the yard and more around your team and that’s just a massive benefit. You can go everywhere by train, and the trains are amazing, which really saves money and also saves time.”
Frost’s base, for the moment at least, is central Paris, which is a fresh experience after growing up in rural Devon. “I miss the people that are close to me and my family,” she says, “but when you spread your wings, you invite people in. The Devon kid, I thought, you’re young so for one year at least, why not live in a capital city for once in your life? And if you’re going to do it anywhere, do it in Paris. It’s not stupid money, but it is a little bit expensive, so I’m in the process of trying to buy a tiny little house somewhere in Chantilly and make a base.”
It took time, she says, to adapt to the French style of racing and fences. “But anything new in life comes with challenges and differences, and it was exciting. There’s little things like turning up to racecourses you don’t know, and you don’t know where the toilets are, tiny things that you don’t really think about because you’ve become so used to them in England. But then you get the understanding and confidence and it starts to feel a little bit more natural and the riding can come to the forefront. It does challenge your riding, because you become so adapted to the hurdles and fences over here, but it’s all still feeling, you know? You’re still galloping, jumping, finding the rhythm.”
