gear, revving it up and going back up to sixth. That’s what he wants you to do and you just wait for that moment. I looked across and Aso was still there and if anything he’s getting the better of us. At two out he’s almost half a length in front and at that moment my determination was slipping.” She may have felt her dream drifting away but her stubborn sidekick had other ideas and all was not lost. Frost says: “I remember landing two out and him leaning down into the bridle as if to tell me, ‘Get a hold of yourself, what are you doing? You might be wanting to give up but I’m not’. “The battle was on coming into the last and we found the stride and went over it and it was just quiet in that moment. Then he landed and it was like a bomb had gone off. He hit the ground so hard and pushed himself away from the last. It was at that moment Aso’s face disappeared and all I can see is
Frodon’s ears flat back. He’s going for all his worth up that hill and I’m right with him. “It was just a blur of green and I can’t tell you where the finish line was. There was no noise – I couldn’t hear the crowd or other horses, it was just him, and he’d gone and done it, which was just a mega moment.” While she was oblivious to it, Cheltenham had gone into pandemonium, with seemingly all 60,000 people at the course behind Frodon and Frost, who had become the first female rider to score in Grade 1 company over fences at The Festival. “For a second, before the world came back, there was just me and him,” she recalls. “Then down the chute, with people leaning over and giving us high-fives, was just unreal. They’ve found common ground with me and him and were buzzed just as much as we were. “I really took a moment to look up and see how many people had come down to clap him back into the winner’s enclosure. When people get behind you and your horse you really appreciate it.” The magic continued when the winning rider dismounted and started to let the rest of the world in on what she had just experienced. Hearing that torrent of joy was the closest most of us will get to riding a finish at The Festival. “I’m just saying what I lived and that’s it. People say, ‘How do you talk straight away?’ But I’m literally telling you what I’ve just seen and what I’ve just felt. I haven’t made any of it up, I’m saying it exactly how it made my heart beat out there. When you feel that connection with your horse I love being able to let people in.” Frost, who is the first jockey to be sponsored by Jockey Club Racecourses, remembers a relay of interviews and still answering questions when the second fairytale of the day came true. “It was epic when Paisley Park then won,” she recalls. “To hear that happen was mega and you’re back on cloud nine. It’s not something that happens every year – this was extraordinary.” It is hard to argue with those sentiments. No wonder they call it the Golden Hour.
two-and-a-half-mile start and ‘Frode’ goes around it like a whippet. I nearly went out the side door and that would have been a disaster but we got to the start together, which was the first mission completed.” Easing to a halt, the pair had a moment to contemplate, Frost telling her partner that the biggest battle of their lives was upon them and it was time to dig deeper than ever before. Then they were racing. “I got a great start, jumped out over the first two and found a rhythm straight away,” she relives with precision. “He knew what he was doing but the Irish had a plan to annoy us up front. They knew what they had to do and, fair play, they’ve got to try to beat us. “We came up past the post for the first time and that’s usually where I find a breather and bring it down a gear, but they wouldn’t allow that to happen. “I thought, ‘Right bud, you’re just going to have to keep pushing through the wall for a minute and we’re going to have to go a mile and a half before we can take back’. “Then at the ditch down the back he came out of my hands and was completely showing off. I actually giggled and, at that moment, we weren’t in a race – we were just having fun together. He was showing off his scope and having a complete laugh at me.” A T THE highest part of the track, between five out and the tricky fourth-last, Sub Lieutenant, who had been hassling Frodon for the lead from the off, started to beat a hasty retreat, with Frost sensing the perfect opportunity to allow Frodon the chance to catch his breath. However, as they started to relax, a new challenger appeared on the outside and the chance to regroup was gone. “At the top of the hill I thought, ‘This is going to be tough now’,” says Frost. “We met that tricky fence short but clean and then Aso took us on going down the hill. “When you come around the home bend Frodon always switches to his inside leg – it’s like dropping a car down to fifth
March 2020 The Festival 21
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