“I had to leave to love racing again” Bryony Frost on finding freedom in France

Bryony Frost says she knew it was time to leave Britain the moment she realised she was no longer enjoying the life she had fought so hard to defend.

Frost was speaking exclusively to BOYLE Sports, who offer the latest horse racing odds.

In the wake of the high-profile bullying scandal that shook British racing, Frost found herself standing alone in ways she never expected — and facing a sport without the code of conduct she had publicly pushed to change.

“I kept myself in England long enough to show that you can go through it,” she reflects. “You can have a lot of people turn their backs on you for whatever their reasons. But you must love the moment you're in — and I wasn’t.”

So she made the biggest decision of her career: to up sticks, leave the noise behind, and start over in France. There was no grand announcement, no farewell tour. Just Frost, her car, and a quiet conviction that a new chapter needed to begin. What followed was a fresh start, new opportunities, and a rediscovery of the joy that first drew her into the saddle.

“You go through life and you go through things for a reason,” said Frost. “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. 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.

“France is where I am at now. I do come back [to Britain], I rode for Saeed Bin Suroor 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 Suroor 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.

“I miss the crowds [riding in Britain], the atmosphere and the buzz and the enthusiasm that they can bring to a moment for you is insane and the love that they share with you is fantastic. Unfortunately, they don't have that here. They have it a little bit but nowhere near the level of England and Ireland.

“But the amount of English people that I have seen on the racetrack that have come to watch and combined it with a bit of a getaway holiday is amazing. I hear, ‘B, B! We’ve come to watch you race and have a little bit of a getaway.’

“I'm starting to be supported from owners from England as well, which is amazing. They can see that out here you can have the best of both worlds.

“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.”