In a development that might be – in one way – a tad surprising but in another shouldn’t be at all, Simon Munir and Isaac Souede have announced the appointment of Bryony Frost as retained rider of their National Hunt horses in France.
29-year-old Frost, who, has, for a long time been a key member of the Paul Nicholls team in Ditcheat, announced in the aftermath of the Grand National meeting at Aintree that she would be operating a la Francais over the summer months. Linking up with trainer Noel George.
Now, the official line from the Nicholls camp is that it’s only a summer arrangement as the 14-time Champion Trainer won’t have many runners in that timeframe and those he does will be the preserve of newly crowned Champion Jockey Harry Cobden.
However, it would be no surprise if there were other factors at play too. For example, the fact that prizemoney in French racing puts that in Britain firmly in the shade. Or perhaps there’s an inclination the retained rider role in Britain may also shortly become available.
Most recently, there have been indications that Daryl Jacob may, in fact, carry on working, having initially intimated this year’s Cheltenham Festival was to be his last. Even if that is the case, the Wexford man is surely in the final furlongs of his career, so the position is liable to come up for filling sooner rather than later.
Outside of Frost, the two obvious candidates to fill the role would be JJ Slevin or Ben Bromley. However, with the greatest of respect, it’s unlikely either would be perceived as being possessed of sufficient experience to assume the mantle as retained rider for team #DoubleGreen.
It will probably be the autumn before anything concrete becomes clearer regarding the arrangement, but the #DoubleGreen team’s Racing Manager Anthony Bromley, in relation to Frost’s appointment, said “Simon and Isaac are thrilled to have secured Bryony’s services for their string of horses in France.
“She brings a wealth of experience to the table and, amazingly, is allowed a 2kg allowance over there which we all feel will be a great advantage”
Now there’s the understatement of the sporting year so far!
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