Bryony Frost celebrates on Frodon

Bryony Frost blog including Frodon back for King George at Kempton

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Sun December 18, 2022 · 3y ago

I’m excited to say that all being well I’ll be back on the racecourse at Lingfield on Wednesday, so I should be fit again for Frodon in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day, just as I hoped.

I’ve got another hurdle to jump first, when I return to Oaksey House on Monday for what is known as a ‘return to ride’ test, but while I’m not taking passing it for granted I’ve been through it quite a few times before and I know my body well enough to know that it’s mended.

Ever since the fall at Bangor at the end of last month I’ve had riding Frode again in the King George as my big goal, and my recovery has gone just as I hoped it would. I had my concussion test last week, and you may have seen photos of me riding out again for the first time on Frode at Paul’s on Saturday. The return to ride test is the last hurdle, and then we are good to go.

I know I was lucky at Bangor. It was my third big fall in 12 months and the damage could have been an awful lot worse. Once I knew it was ‘just’ a fractured collar bone I was pretty confident I’d be back in time so long as I didn’t push myself too hard, and here we are.

The 'return to ride' test will be done by the physios at Oaksey House, and then the results are passed on to Doctor Hill at the BHA, who will have the final say.

The test is basically to see if you are ready to take a fall, because we all know that’s an inevitable part of the job. We have to be ready to hit the ground.

We are all individuals, and so better at some things than others, but they know my base line and have that to compare results with. There’s also a ‘watt bike’ test to go through, and that’s three minutes of pure hell as you have to pedal flat out from start to finish, but I’ve got a bike at home and I’ve been doing plenty on that, along with swimming and pilates and so on.

In the first two weeks the most important thing was rest, to allow the fracture to marry up well, and then your body tells you when you are ready to step things up a bit.

My rule is that if you are broken you should take yourself out of the bubble if you can to let your head relax, and I took the opportunity to get away for a few days to Florence, and to take my parents along with me, which was brilliant.

We never had family holidays when I was growing up, because of the horses and ponies, so it was great. We stayed in a lovely little hotel on the river, which had a gym and a pool and a steam room, and we just enjoyed the food and the art and the people - but not so much the driving!

It’s in the last week or so that I’ve really started to pick up and I’ve begun to feel normal again. The concussion test went well, and you'll probably be surprised to hear that I’ve actually got quite a good brain!

The test is a lot more intense than it used to be, but it was the same test as I took after my fall in the spring, so I knew what to expect. It takes an hour and a half while they test your memory and your reactions and so on, and you come away from it knackered but the results were good.

I was absolutely terrible at the numbers, but I was pretty good with the words and as with the other tests, they have baseline results to compare and so you are only being tested against yourself if you see what I mean.

It was great to get back on Frode on Saturday and he’s in fantastic form ahead of our bid to repeat our win in the King George two years ago, where he will be joining a very strong team in the race from Ditcheat.

I’d like to think he was pleased to see me, and he was throwing his head around and squealing when I got on him. We cantered down to the loop, where we did a few circuits before doing a half-speed back towards home. I felt really good, and so did he.

Appropriately. I’m going to be making my comeback on Frode’s half-sister Country Lady, in the Download The At The Races App Mares’ Open Maiden National Hunt Flat Race (12.35) on Wednesday.

She’s never raced, but I’ve ridden her at home and she’s just like Frodon. When I schooled her she was absolutely awesome and jumped just like he does. I’m really keen to partner her there for Frode’s owner Mr Vogt and the Brooks Family, who owned Black Corton.

I always hoped to get a ride or two before Boxing Day, and although the Christmas shut down doesn’t help it looks as if it will happen. It’s a big step towards riding in the King George, so fingers crossed everyone please that all goes well with the return to ride test. I’ll keep you posted.

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