'The dream is alive' - Bryony Frost makes perfect start to French season after winning Auteuil opener

Bryony Frost made the best possible start to the new metropolitan jumps season in France when guiding The Workaholic to success in the opening race of Auteuil's first meeting of the year. 

In landing the Prix Agitato for four-year-old chasers, Frost was able to make it a profitable trip to Paris for both herself and her employers, Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. 

She made the surprise move to France as Munir and Souede's retained rider in May last year and, after spending the remainder of the spring season and then the autumn finding her marks around Auteuil, has ridden plenty at the winter staples of Pau and Cagnes-sur-Mer, as well as less familiar venues including Machecoul. 

After weighing in following victory on The Workaholic – a horse who could have been named for her rider – Frost said she intended to put that first nine months' worth of experience to good use as the Munir and Souede team attack the new Paris season.

"Our team has grown in strength this year and this is our purpose – my purpose – to make sure the Double Green team has the best possible season," said Frost. "It’s a privilege to ride such lovely horses with such great potential, and this lad is only four."

Frost and Munir and Souede's racing manager in France, Benoit Gicquel, have every right to be optimistic at this stage of the season, a starting point the rider described as the moment when "the dream is alive".

Bryony Frost and The Workaholic return after winning the first race of the season at Auteuil

"It’s the same sort of atmosphere as the first Cheltenham meeting; the dream is alive and the potential is at its highest for every horse in terms of what they could be.

"This horse had a beautiful win around Pau and we were going to those meetings with Double Green to plan for these horses. That was a beautiful preparation and he’s come here with the knowledge of how to jump [chase fences] and he’s done it very nicely on ground that is very dead out there, very testing."

Munir and Souede will have taken plenty of encouragement from the effort of The Workaholic, who is trained by Guillaume Macaire and Hector de Lageneste, and will presumably step into Listed or Graded company sooner rather than later. 

Referring to the son of Bathyrhon's nod on landing at the giant Riviere des Tribunes water jump, Frost said: "That was our scariest moment, but he was good to save himself and save me. It’s the first time they’ve seen something like that and, when they come out and over, they’ve got to go a metre longer than they are used to. 

"He got me out of trouble there and we were able to put the race to bed."

Three names to note in the Double Green

There will be hopes aplenty in every string among the unraced horses preparing to make their debuts, but here are three four-year-olds who have already made an impression and could give Frost plenty to look forward to this spring.

Lady Raffles is a regally bred four-year-old daughter of Doctor Dino and Cheltenham Festival winner Une Artiste, making her a half-sister to Irish Grand National winner Intense Raffles. She was a facile winner of her second start over hurdles at Pau for trainer Patrice Quinton.

Le Nez Creux will have gone into any number of notebooks when winning the fillies' division of the influential Prix Finot for newcomers at Auteuil last September. Francois Nicolle was prevented from building on that during the rest of the autumn, but she remains a very exciting prospect in four-year-old hurdles and should be out in March. 

Perhaps more of a slow burner is Raffles Dolce Vita, who was rated 145 over hurdles as a three-year-old when trained by Dominique Bressou. Now with Yannick Fouin, he could start off over hurdles but may be more of a chase prospect in time. 

Read these next:

Pic D'Orhy secures back-to-back Ascot Chase wins with sublime run from the front as L'Homme Presse is pulled up 

'I don't think it's a waste of time' - wind op for Ahoy Senor as he is primed for latest tilt at Cheltenham Gold Cup 

Introducing Racing Post+, the new name for our digital subscriptions 

Looking for free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more.