Clare balding biography

Horse trainer

Ian Balding (born 7 November 1938) is a British retired horse trainer. He is the son of the polo player and racehorse trainer Gerald Matthews Balding and the younger brother of trainer Toby Balding.

Ian Balding was born in the US, but his family returned to the UK in 1945. He was educated at Marlborough College and Millfield school in Somerset.

Clare balding wife

He went up to Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1959 to read Rural Estate Management, where he played Rugby for the university team, gaining his Blue in 1961 at full back. He started training in 1964. Kingsclere became his home at the age of 26 and it is here that earned his reputation as an internationally respected trainer.

He principally trained horses for flat races, but did however bring Crystal Spirit to victory in 1991 at the Sun Alliance Novices' Hurdle.^[1] Ian Balding has had influence on many top class Thoroughbreds and race horses, amongst whom some are Mill Reef, Lochsong, Mrs Penny, Glint