How F1 boss Christian Horner and Spice Girl wife Geri ‘escape the madness’ with racehorses named after her songs

10 months ago 66

UNDER-FIRE F1 boss Christian Horner has been quietly cultivating a lucrative side hustle with Spice Girl wife Geri that he says helps them both ‘escape the madness’.

Red Bull supremo Horner is due to be probed by a lawyer over shock allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour‘ on Friday.

The claims are rumoured to centre around an internal power struggle and a female employee’s concerns about Horner’s strict work regime.

But just days before news of the investigation surfaced, Horner, 50, was alongside Geri, 51, at the track.

This one was different to normal though.

Here there was real horsepower, four legs rather than four wheels and a slick concrete surface replaced by twisting, turning, undulating muddy paths.

The couple were together watching Look At Mee, a mare running in a point-to-point horse race.

Together, Christian and Geri have kept growing their stable of runners – and all have a familiar theme running throughout.

Among their yard you’ll find It’s Raining Men and Mi Chico Latino.

Lift Me Up is the best of the lot.

All the couple’s racehorses are named after Geri’s hit songs.

And it turns out they’re pretty good.

Lift Me Up was being talked of as a potential Cheltenham Festival hopeful for this year but unfortunately the eight-year-old gelding, who cost £28,000, hasn’t run since last May.

The dream of victory in front of 70,000 punters at the biggest meeting all year might have to be parked for now.

But after building 14 brand new stables for horses at their Oxfordshire home – despite a row with neighbours – it’s only a matter of time before the wheels are in motion again.

All the horses run under the ‘GHR’ banner – Geri Horner Racing.

Naturally, the couple have two of the best trucks you’ll see for transporting their equine athletes around.

Geri posed for a photo between them last year, GHR branding clearly visible.

But for all the considerable cash the couple have spent growing their yard, it’s the release the pair get on horseback and at the racecourse that remains the biggest draw, whether it be a low key point-to-point or the glitz and glamour of Royal Ascot and Cheltenham Festival.

Speaking of his passion for racing, Horner told The Telegraph: “I love it.

“A bit of escapism away from the madness of F1.”

Christian rode ponies as a child but only got back into the sport during lockdown, when he came home one day to find a massive stallion called Hank at their horse.

Geri had bought him while her husband had been away with F1.

He got up on top and said, after plodding along on ponies, riding a true thoroughbred was like ‘going from a transit van to a Ferrari’.

In other words, not quite as fast as a Red Bull.

Still, the couple could be doubly celebrating throughout the year should their horses prove every bit as good as his F1 team.