Zara Phillips appears with some unfamiliar (and familiar) faces

This week was an eventful one for Zara Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal. Fans who were used to seeing Zara on Toytown or Ardfield Magic Star were surprised on Thursday to see Zara with some new faces at the Lackham horse trials in Wiltshire, England. This was followed by a rousing win at the racetrack on Saturday of a Zara-trained horse at Bredawardine. Racehorse owner and proud mum, Princess Anne the Princess Royal, was on hand to enjoy the win and give credit to her daughter for her horse’s amazing finish.

The atmosphere at the Lackham College grounds was so conducive to the younger, green horses that famous riders we saw at Badminton brought their younger horses for a good, low-stress competition. Zara brought out two of her lesser-known horses, Young Smoke and Petition, to compete at the lower-level event for the first time. Though they finished at 10th and 14th, Zara was very pleased with their performance, for Petition finished the trials for the first time in his young career. Aussie star Sam Griffiths brought his one year old horse, Deanes San Ciro Hit. Sam mentioned, “At this level, it is so important to give the horse plenty of confidence and that’s exactly what this venue affords.” Given Toytown’s injury and Ardfield Magic Star’s going lame at Badminton, it is probably wise for Zara to give her two younger horses some experience. Anything can happen in eventing, and in the event that her two star horses become too aged to compete, it’s certain that Zara will have another special horse or two ready to take the baton, and the trophy!

The day after the horse trials, Zara (bearing a striking resemblance to her cousin Prince William) and her mother went to the track at Bredawardine, and watched the maiden win of the Princess’ mare, Dhu Loch. Anne took no credit for the win, saying Zara did all the work training the five-year-old mare to win her first race in convincing fashion.

Filed under The United Kingdom
Tagged Equestrian, Horses, Sport, The Princess Royal, Zara Tindall.