Bumpy start in the saddle between the flags led to a career under rules

The hunting and point-to-point field is where my love of racing started.

As a teenager, during school holidays I would ride out for two uncles exercising their pointers and then lead them up at the races.

At the age of 15 and three-quarters my date of birth was changed so I could ride in the Suffolk Hunt Members’ race at Ampton, and lined up on a tough little horse who had never run before but I knew well from many days' hunting.