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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Melissa Jones

Carol Vorderman flies to horse racing meet in helicopter to watch race named after her

Carol Vorderman made a stylish entrance to a horse racing fixture to watch a race named after her.

The former Countdown presenter flew to Ffos Las' meeting in a helicopter, accompanied by friends, sharing pictures of their journey on social media.

Racecourse bosses staged a contest carrying her name on Thursday's card, the Carol Vorderman Loves West Wales Nursery Handicap.

Run at 2.10pm, it won by jockey David Probert aboard Great Havana, who was in unstoppable form at the two-day event.

He went on to celebrate his eighth winner from just 14 races, much to the delight of his backers.

Vorderman was pictured next to the winning horse and jockey, wearing a lace coat over a £350 olive green midi dress.

Style gurus noticed she had taken style inspiration from Bridgerton's Phoebe Dynevor for the day out.

Before the race, Vorderman was pictured studying the odds on a bookmaker's board, with a racecard in her hand.

"I'm not very good at it - I couldn't tell you the odds on this or the odds on that," she told Sky Sports Racing.

"But I could tell you the numbers!

"I enjoy the whole family of racing. I half-live not far from here and the manager said he'd name a race after me.

"I think the only thing I have won in racing is the race name with the longest title in history!

"It was so big it wouldn't fit on the board!"

Despite not quite solving the numbers in betting, in contrast to her time on TV, Vorderman has enjoyed some success as a racehorse owner.

She part-owned Subway Surf with ex-Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond.

The Kim Bailey-trained mare has won two races in her career so far, earning the team over £14,000.

Vorderman recalled how she used to be a regular racegoer with her late close friend at Channel 4 colleague Richard Whiteley.

She is also often pictured in attendance at Cheltenham, the home of the Gold Cup.

"We were always at the races whether it was Ascot, particularly York and Ripon because we recorded Countdown in Leeds," Vorderman added.

"Middleham is beautiful where a lot of the trainers are. So yes I love it (racing), love it, love it, love it."

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