A select number of guests enjoyed a very special evening with Britain’s foremost female jockey Bryony Frost on Monday, 6th March, at Aston Martin Cheltenham to gain an exclusive insight ahead of the Cheltenham Festival commencing on Tuesday, 14th March.
As accomplished behind a microphone as she is in the saddle or behind the wheel of her Aston Martin DBX, the H.R. Owen Aston Martin brand ambassador kept guests enthralled with tales of her exploits on the racecourse. Cheltenham was, of course, the scene of one of Bryony’s most famous victories, where she became the first female to win a Grade One race over obstacles at the festival in 2019 with an epic charge over the jumps on her beloved horse, Frodon.
Hosted by former England Rugby Captain and World Cup winner Phil Vickery M.B.E DL of Gloucester, Bryony gave visitors a sense of what it is like to live life right on edge, to hurtle down the course in a thunder of hooves and soar high over the jumps. Bryony also revealed how she was born with a passion for horses in her blood. Her grandfather Richard Frost was a trainer, her father won the 1989 Grand National and her brother, Hadden was also a successful jockey.
During the evening, the assembled Aston Martin owners, and their guests, enjoyed canapés, soft drinks, and for those not taking the wheel on the way home, a range of cocktails served by Steeplechase Distillery, paying homage to the history and heritage of horse racing with their signature gin, aptly named ‘Frodon’ after Bryony’s flying steed.
Bryony had guests in fits of laughter with tales of her first mount, not a horse, but a donkey named Nosey, who was her designated ‘babysitter’ and chief ‘keeper-outer-of-trouble’ when she was two years old: “The rule was, if I was off him, I was not allowed back on him. So, I stayed on him, even when I rode him into my gran’s kitchen!”
Before the evening ended, guests got the chance to quiz the Devonshire-born jockey about her life. And while Bryony was more than happy to oblige, she remained decidedly tight-lipped when asked for insider tips for the forthcoming Cheltenham Festival.
