Bryony Frost: Why victory at Wincanton could be her breakthrough moment

Leading most of the way, the 22-year-old and her willing partner narrowly saw off the challenge of the hugely experienced Leighton Aspell and his mount in a breathless finish; it was the fledgling jockey’s biggest win since turning professional.

Now Frost – again riding for trainer Paul Nicholls, her boss – is set to get the chance to shine on jump racing’s biggest stage when partnering Old Guard in Cheltenham’s Greatwood Handicap Hurdle.

“Wincanton was brilliant, definitely a day I won’t forget,” she said.

“He [Present Man] just jumped for fun – I’ve never got on a horse quite like him to operate over a fence.

“Leighton Aspell was chasing us all the way – he’s not somebody you really want on your outside like that – and the horse dug deep.”

Born and bred into a family of horsemen and women in the rural idyll of Dartmoor, Devon, Frost is daughter of Grand National winning-jockey Jimmy, and sister of professional jockey Hadden.

With a pedigree like that, she was always likely to go into the ‘family business’ and admits, to use an old cliche, to riding practically before she was walking.

“We had a couple of donkeys that did fairground rides down at Paignton,” she said. “Mine was Nosey.

“If I got off him, I wasn’t allowed back on, so I thought where I go, he goes, and we’d go into gran’s kitchen to see her.

“I was hunting with the Dartmoor [Hunt] at four, and showjumping with Mum and Dad; the pony racing was a brilliant start and then [point-to-] pointing, and you get to a crossroads and you have to turn left or right.

“I chose to go professional, and at the minute we’re stepping in the right direction.”

She first came to prominence as an amateur rider with Cheltenham Festival success, again for Nicholls, on Pacha Du Polder – Victoria Pendleton’s mount the previous year – in the 2017 Foxhunter Chase.

The switch to the paid ranks soon followed.

At Nicholls’ base she is competing for opportunities with some of jumping’s outstanding young talent – led by stable number one Sam Twiston-Davies – but the 10-time champion trainer’s support is key.

No other female professional jump-jockey in Britain has been part of such a powerful string, leading to inevitable talk about the prospect of pushing back the gender barriers.