A Princess and a corporal first among equals in ‘Sport of Kings’
LAMBOURN, United Kingdom: Racing may be the ‘Sport of Kings’ but owners come from all walks of life and crop up in the unlikeliest of circumstances as trainer Jamie Snowden discovered.
The 39-year- old former British army officer recounts how he was out on a patrol on a tour of duty of Northern Ireland with his regiment the King’s Royal Hussars in 2002.
“There we were, Lance Corporal Jordan Wylie and myself, sitting in a ditch in Northern Ireland in the freezing cold exchanging idle chit chat,” he told AFP.
“He ( Wylie) says “so boss what will you do when you leave the army?” “I will be a horse trainer”.
“Well he says one day “I will have enough money to have a horse with you”.”
Snowden, who started out with just one horse but has seen his fortunes rise since moving to Lambourn in 2011, and Wylie went their separate ways post Army and the former thought no more about it.
“Ten years later Corporal Wylie arrives here in a white Ferrari!
“His horse won a couple of races but he was not going to win the Grand Military Cup (the Cheltenham Gold Cup for the army).”
Winning the Grand Military is the ambition for the syndicate Snowden and Wylie are involved in.
Their syndicate is called the ‘Cherry Pickers’, the nickname for the Hussars due to them being attacked by Napoleon’s forces whilst they were picking cherries in an orchard in Spain during the Peninsular War.
“We (Cherry Pickers) have set our sights on owning training and riding the winner,” said Snowden.
“We finished second and third in it last four times so still looking for the elusive victory.
“Princess Anne is involved (she is the King’s Royal Hussars Colonel-in- Chief) and he ( Wylie) used to be polishing and cleaning when she came round to visit the regiment. Now he is drinking champagne with her....”
Snowden, who rode the winner of the Grand Military four times, says it is the perfect illustration of the broad church racing attracts.
“The beauty of racing is like here we have owners here ranging from the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla wife of Prince Charles) to my old Lance Corporal anyone can become part of it at any level,” he said.
“It is called the sport of kings but you know Joe Bloggs can beat the Queen....or ride a winner for the Queen ( he rode two for Queen Elizabeth II).”