12 January 2012 Former Champion still as busy as ever!
by Carolyn Tanner
Many riders suffer withdrawal symptoms when they retire from the saddle, but one former champion who has had no such problems is Claire Bonner (nee Allen), the Ladies' title winner in 2006/7.
"I just hoped to ride a winner, so I achieved far more than I ever wanted. I loved it [race-riding] while I was doing it, but I love my life more now," she admitted. "It was very intense, and because I rode for a lot of yards I worried about letting people down. I'm much more relaxed now."
Claire and her husband Chris, himself a former top amateur who is assistant to Andrew Balding, take in horses for rest and recuperation, plus a few breakers, but when she hung up her boots in 2010, at the tender age of 24, it was mainly to concentrate on her successful saddlery business, which caters for all equestrian interests in addition to racing.
The saddlery, which has a new website, www.berkeleyvalesaddlery.co.uk, continues to thrive under Claire and her business partner Jessica Carter, but, much as she did when she was fitting in her riding arrangements, Claire has to strike a balance between work and home.
The family she was looking forward to has come two-fold in the shape of twin boys, Dougie and Barney, now six and a half months. Claire is intending to bring them racing when the weather is more reliable, but anyone thinking they might get a glimpse of future champion jockeys is liable to be disappointed.
"They're already really good eaters, so they'll probably get too big and tall for racing," their mother pointed out, so it sounds as though Cheltenham might eventually lose out to Twickenham.
