Claire Balding reveals she nearly brought down Princess Anne in a horse race
TV presenter and jockey Claire Balding has revealed how she almost knocked Princess Anne off her horse, when the two met in a race in 1989.
The broadcaster described in her autobiography, serialised in the Daily Mail, how she cut in front of the royal to win Ladies Handicap race at Beverley in East Yorkshire, though she was not aware she had done so until after the race.
Claire Balding described how she had swerved across the course, she had heard someone swearing behind her, and immediately felt a pang of guilt.
"At least it wasn’t the Princess Royal", she said she had thought. "She’d never swear like that".
Claire said that after she had won the race, her Mum came over to tell her off.
"'What the hell were you doing?' she asked in an urgent whisper. 'You nearly brought down Princess Anne.'"
The Princess Royal did not take the loss too well, and was apparently incensed when she learned from Claire that there wasn't going to be an enquiry into the race.
"‘I’m sorry, Ma’am,’ I said. ‘Most genuinely sorry. But I was not about to pull up in the straight and let you win.’"
She recalls that Princess Anne fixed her with a glare and responded, "‘Well, maybe you should have done".
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