Bryony Frost: 'I stood up for the fact that racing had no code of conduct'

Speaking exclusively to BOYLE Sports, Bryony Frost opens up on her decision to move to France following the bullying scandal, and the lifestyle change she is undergoing, being a female rider in France and if she will ever return.

The King George win in 2020 was blissful - Frodon emptied his petrol tank that day

That day in the King George, it was just the current underneath the river that you can't see.

It was one of those races where it was just blissful.

We cruised around and we took these amazing opportunities to get oxygen into his lungs and he was faultless in his jumping.

I remember getting halfway around the apex of the last bend and I said to him, ‘We’ve got to go Frody, we’ve got to try and keep going.’

I still get goosebumps now thinking about the moment that I tell him we had to go. He went and he drove his hind legs into the ground for one last drive.

We went to the very end of our tank that day, but he gave everything, I gave everything to take one of our biggest victories.

I remember rolling down to the last, just praying that it comes right for him.

Where he was most lethal and where his talent was, was the way he got away from his fences.

He was lightning from the back of the fence. His first stride on landing was so fast he could make up two lengths just in that first stride away.

He landed and he was gone. He had so much power behind him, he was just a ball of energy. He was magic.

He made you feel like you could fly over every fence. I would love to know how many fences I jumped in my life with him, but every single fence we jumped, there was never a moment, never a small doubt that he was going to unship me or we were going to make a bad mistake. Not once.

In every race there's one fence you go whoa, that was a bad mistake or lucky there. With him there was never one.

His intelligence, the organisation of his own body is just exceptional. I'll never meet anybody like him like that.

Racing with horses you’re close to gives you moments that you can’t find in day-to-day life

From the back of the last to the line you’re foot down hard on the pedal.

There’s nothing else but getting to that line in your head. Keep the rhythm, stay with him, keep him straight, just drive and tell him to keep going. Your voice is so important.

They need your backing because you know at this point too, they're feeling the pinch.

They need your strength, you need theirs. It’s that combination, it's that partnership that you can't find anywhere else.

Racing with your horse gives you moments that you can't find in day to day life.

There was one horse of my dad’s we couldn't make ends meet with in Britain - we went to France and have won €45,000 since

A lot of races and the wins are important not necessarily because they’re top of the tree races, but because there’s something associated with them in your career, in your life.

They all have their different sentimental meanings and what they meant to you at the time, even the smallest races, say around Taunton.

I rode Asian Spice for Dad [Jimmy Frost] to win at Exeter this time last year. It was a massive moment. I just rode my first winner for my Dad here in the family silks, in the Compagnie Les Arlequins Handicap Chase at Fontainebleau on a little horse called Caitlin's Court.

Bless her, I won one 0-100 race on her in England, but the rest of the time we were scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I said to Dad we can't make ends meet in England with her, she’s not paying her way. I said let’s take the chance and bring her out to France and I’ll see what I can do.

She jumps and she loves the jobs.

She's been here six months and she's put €45,000 in our pockets and she won £10,000 in four years in England. She won £27,000 in a big race at Fontainebleau on December 2.

It's fantastic. My emotions were the same if not more than my Grade One’s at this point because it's my Dad’s little mare, she's come out over, she's petite but she's as strong as an ox in her will and she loves her game.

She keeps kicking home for you. My first win in my family’s silks out here in my new life was pretty emotional. What a day.

It was a pretty big moment because Dad trusted me, believed in me. We've done 12 months here now and these sorts of moments are starting to happen.

My French isn’t great at the moment but my understanding of the racecourse language is bang on

This is my first full season now. My French is not great. My understanding of the racecourse is pretty on it now but my understanding of the French language is absolutely horrendous.

I mean I want to blame it on my dyslexia, but I can't really!

I do need to put more effort into it. But it will come, slowly, slowly. I can understand more than I can speak, that's for sure.

The lifestyle is completely different to the UK. We're not racing every day. You do three days on, sort of three days off. It’s that sort of rota.

We’re soon going down to Pau for two months. We race down there solidly and we've just bought a log cabin!

There'll be lots of time to go walking in the mountains.

The racing schedule in France for the whole industry is much better because it gives time for life.

Because of that you get to spend more time in the yard, you get to spend more time with your team, with your horses and that is all a massive benefit.

Don’t get me wrong, there's still a big challenge. For me it is like jumping from secondary school to college, or primary school to secondary school.

You go from what you were so comfortable with and everything you knew. Now I have no idea where I am or where everything is and you're sort of learning on the job.

The support from the Double Greens has been a huge turning point for me

No doubt the support I have received from Isaac Souede and Simon Munir, the Double Greens. When I was heading over, they gave me the opportunity to be their French jockey and start really focusing on their team out here.

I love this. I think one of my strengths is seeing my horse, feeling my horse and connecting with him and working out who he is and how he can be the best.

This is now really playing into all of those years of experience and knowledge I've taken from my family, my gran, my dad, my mum, my brothers, all of their knowledge is here. Even though I’m now 30 I am still like a sponge.

I'm really enjoying that, especially with the young horses out here.

I've become part of the team, part of the family. They have your back. That’s so important.

I’ve not always had that. You know they're not going to cut you loose. You're in the team and working with the young horses out here for the future is a privilege.

It's just so exciting, the responsibility and the trust that they're putting into me is amazing.

The winners are coming now, the system has changed and we've tightened the belt, and the future is glistening a bright green for sure. I'm really excited for it.

Coming to France was a challenge I needed and wanted

For me the time was right to come to France. It was the challenge I needed and I wanted. I felt like the tide was turning and it was time to turn with it.

It's great. In my first season I could not have asked for better. We are well over the £1million mark in prize money and I am on 29 winners.

I'm in the top 20 in France now, I'm leading the way for the champion female in my first year and I'm gunning hard for that title because I think it'd be cool.

Big prize money won, big races won. I got my first graded race a Grade 3 here and have packed in some Listed winners so it’s really great.

There’s no difference being a female rider in France - you just have to learn what you can and can’t get away with

No, not really, it’s the same. It's a sport. You've got to hold your own space.

People have to learn what they can and can't get away with. How do you ride? Learn that and then how they learn. It took me a minute.

The starts are different, the riding lines are different and the obstacles are all different as well.

Pace sections can be different but on the whole at the end of the day what wins races is rhythm and jumping.

People need to find the confidence in you and the trust because you come over with a good CV but they have to see it themselves in practice. It takes a minute.

I had a few people who were trying to change me drastically to become more like a French jockey, but that was never going to happen.

They ride more on top of the withers in France. English and Irish jockeys ride slightly behind the shoulder blade, whereas the French jockeys ride very much on top of the shoulder blade.

That is their strategy. At the end of the day, in my opinion the main thing is being inconspicuous to your horse. You must fall into his rhythm and his body and his movement and try to lessen your movement as much as possible and move with him. Water on water, it all moves together. That's how you have to feel your horse and listen to him.

One criticism of me is that sometimes I respect my horse a little bit too much but for his longevity you always get the best result from that.

But that's who I am, that's me and that's why you know I've been backed by Double Greens.

People are starting to have confidence in me that I can get the job done. I've already fallen into the category of best front rider!

I had to give up my Grand National ride because I am committed to my trainers

I had some very important rides for Double Greens coming up and I had a bad fall so I couldn't take the chance in the Grand National and not be there for my team.

My bosses knew that that was the case. I had this small niggle that I had from the bad fall and I was on the brink. If I had taken a hit I definitely would not have been able to ride my very good horses the week afterwards.

So I had to pump the brake so I can be there for them 110%. It was a no-brainer for me. Double Greens are my priority and my future.

As a female jockey, getting the support of people behind you has been one of the biggest leg ups

I don’t think it matters who you are or what you class yourself as.

It’s the support of the people behind you. You could be the world's best jockey, but if you haven't got somebody supporting you, then it's not going to happen. It really is that simple.

It's about those very important moments in your career where somebody offers you the opportunity and then it's up to you to make that opportunity happen and that's it. You have to work hard as well. I haven't got to where I am without working hard.

I'm lucky, of course. I have years and years of experience behind me from my family and I've been able to learn quickly. And that for me is one of my biggest leg ups.

You just have to work very hard, and you have to be given the opportunity. Someone has to believe in you along the road like anything I suppose.

I wasn’t enjoying the moment in Britain after the fallout from the bullying scandal - that’s why I left for France

You go through life and you go through things for a reason. I stood up for the fact that racing had no code of conduct at that point and it needed to be noticed.

Without going too far into it, I kept myself in England long enough to show that you can go through it. You can have a lot of people turn their backs on you for whatever their reasons.

My thinking was that you must love the moment you're in - and I wasn't. So, I needed to change.

It’s not quite au revoir completely to Britain, however

You have got to follow your heart. Sure, it was a big scary thing to up sticks and come to France.

I said to myself, ‘Well if it all goes wrong, I can go back to show jumping or go and be a cowgirl in America.’

Horses take you anywhere in the world. The one thing that you can guarantee, I'm not plotting a route, but I can guarantee you there’ll always be a horse in my life, whatever I do, wherever I go, I'll have a horse next to me.

Before everything happened, France was always an interest of mine because of the jumping and the strategy and the rhythm and everything like that.

I always had a little bit of an eye to it. I thought, France, you know, it's an avenue, and I never closed the door on it. When it came to the point of moving there was no real thinking about it.

I didn't really tell anybody. I pushed hard for another year, and I got some amazing winners, and then I got to the point and I went, ‘Yeah, now’s the time.’

It wasn't just for the summer or short term. The chapter had turned. I told the trainers that I worked for, I told my closest owners what I was going to do.

A good handful of them were really upset that they were going to lose me. But it was a moment that needed to happen. So away I went, I packed my life into my car and got on the boat.

When the word got out a little bit, that's when Simon and Isaac gave me the call, Daryl Jacob was actually the one who started quizzing me a little bit. He asked me if I was definitely going.

So, within a couple of days, I got the retainer job with Double Greens which very much put the cat amongst the pigeons!

France is where I am at now. I do come back [to Britain], I rode for Mickael Seror at Ascot and really enjoyed that, then I rode one for Rebecca Curtis and my Dad the day before in the bumper who ran really nicely.

I come back and ride for the people who I love to ride for. I think Seror is really taking an interest in these bigger meetings with a few of his horses and I enjoy dropping in and riding around the tracks and that's so comfortable for me, you know.

So, you never say no.

A few of my old owners asked me to come back and ride a few of their horses. So, if I'm not out here for Double Green then yes, I'll drop back in.