Zara Tindall honoured to become Cheltenham director

Queen’s granddaughter joins racecourse committee.

Zara Tindall MBE has described it as an “honour” to become a director at Cheltenham Racecourse.

The Queen’s granddaughter is a regular visitor to the home of National Hunt Racing and has owned, bred and pre-trained in the past – and currently has horses at Martin Keighley’s yard.

She won the gold medal at the Eventing World Championships in Aachen in 2006 – which led to the British public voting her BBC Sports Personality of the Year. She was awarded an MBE in 2007 for services to equestrianism.

“I’m passionate about horseracing, particularly on the jumps side, and the absolute pinnacle of that is Cheltenham,” she said.

“Racing is simply the most exciting sport, and it’s open to all.

“It’s an honour to have been asked by Martin St Quinton on behalf of The Jockey Club to get involved in a more formal capacity, and I look forward to doing my bit to support the executive team in the years to come.”

St Quinton, the new chairman at Cheltenham, said: “Zara is a wonderful advocate for our sport, and I’m delighted that she has agreed to join us at Cheltenham Racecourse.

“I’m sure we will benefit significantly from her breadth of experience and a perspective that will prove invaluable to the racecourse.”

Tindall becomes the first member of the Royal Family to sit on a Jockey Club Racecourse committee.

There are, however, several other existing links.

The Queen is Patron of The Jockey Club; the Princess Royal is the Patron of their charity, Racing Welfare, and the Duchess of Cornwall is the Patron of The National Stud.

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