CHAMPION conditional jockey, Bryony Frost, is switching disciplines to ride at the Dubai International Arabian Races at Newbury Racecourse later this month.

Staged under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, the Dubai International Arabian Races is the culmination of an international race series for purebred Arabians and widely regarded as the most important day’s racing in the sport’s global calendar.

Speaking last Thursday at trainer James Owen’s Green Ridge Stables in Newmarket, Frost said: “The Dubai International Arabian Races is an awesome day out with top class racing and loads of entertainment for all the family. I’m really looking forward to being part of it.

“Riding Arabians competitively for the first time will be a challenge, but I’ve had lots of help and advice from James (Owen) and Richard Hills and I can’t wait.

“Arabians are real characters, they’re very intelligent and really switched on. You have to take them through their gears slowly and make sure you say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, but once you get them there they really start to roll.”

“It will be a real honour to step out in the famous blue and white silks of H.H Sheikh Hamdan and I am thrilled to have been invited to ride.”

Owen, a former amateur rider who can count among his achievements more than 50 Arabian winners on the Flat and nine consecutive East Anglian point-to-point championships, said: “It has been great to have the opportunity to welcome Bryony to the yard and to introduce her to some of H.H Sheikh Hamdan’s pure bred Arabians.

"Having ridden both jumpers and Arabians I hope I’ve been able to give Bryony some good advice. Arabians and thoroughbreds are very different in character, but I am sure as an accomplished horsewoman Bryony will be able to make the most of her ride.”

An important series of prep races for the Dubai International Arabian Races continues at Newbury tonight (Thursday) with the running of the DIAR 2019 Juvenile Stakes for three-year-olds over seven furlongs which carries a bonus for the owner of any horse finishing in the first three places and then goes on to win one of the five bonus races at Newbury on Sunday, 28 July.

In addition to the eight-race card the day features a host of prize draws, competitions and family attractions headed by the chance to win a brand-new car.