Zara Phillips enjoyed a big win at the weekend – but it wasn’t in her sport of trade, and she wasn’t even riding.

Moonlighting

Zara has been moonlighting as a point-to-point trainer for some years now, and her horse Aubrey De Vere won his first outing at Chaddersley Corbett. The five-year-old was ridden by jockey Tom David, who met Zara through a mutual friend a few years ago.

“I’d only sat on it once and schooled it,” says Tom. “Zara said she knew he was on good form, but he went better than I thought he would. I think he could go on to be a nice horse.”

A good trainer

This isn’t the first time Tom has ridden one of the princess’s horses first past the post – as he rode Manor Down to victory a few years ago. According to Tom, Zara does all the training herself, with help from her two stable girls. “Zara is a very good trainer,” Tom says. “She gets them really fit and they’re also well schooled – the horse wouldn’t be at the track unless it’s ready to run.”