This year is already off to a good start for Zara and Mike Tindall who are looking forward to the birth of their second child in the summer.
And now the couple have something else to celebrate after a horse Mike has a share in sold for $170,000 (£98,000) at the annual Magic Millions yearling sale on the Gold Coast.
His syndicate Redwall Bloodstock paid $80,000 for the bay filly, named Tindall, after Mike accidentally bid on it at a charity auction in the UK.
They put a reserve price of $120,000 on the horse for the auction, but ended up making an extra $50K.
‘I don’t know why,’ the former England rugby player told Mercury. ‘But I have a lot of my mates who are in the syndicate and as well so you want to text them and say it went well.’
Pregnant Zara, 36, who dressed down in a casual grey shirt and white jeans looked delighted with her husband’s good fortune as they posed for a photo with the new owners.
Mike Tindall and his wife Zara Phillips pose for a photograph beside Tindall who sold for $170000 at the Magic Millions Yearling Sales at the Gold Coast
Mike Tindall (right), wife Zara Phillips (centre) and Horse Blood stock manager Hannah Wall (left) look on during the sale of Tindall’s horse
Zara is no stranger to the Magic Millions polo match on the Gold Coast, which is held each January.
She is patron of the event’s Racing Women, an initiative promoting racehorse ownership among women.
Last year, the equestrian champion took a tumble while playing in the match herself.
And while the equestrian champion has made her return, there is no question of pregnant Zara getting into the saddle in 2018.
Delighted Zara was seen celebrating Mike’s good luck after his syndicate’s horse sold for $50K above the reserve
Mike (right) and his wife Zara (left) pose for a photograph with the new owners of Tindall, Christine Cook (2nd left), Helen Page (3rd left) and Francis Cook (2nd right)
News of Zara’s pregnancy came just over a year after the royal couple suffered the heartache of a miscarriage on Christmas Eve 2016.
This means that the Queen will become a great-grandmother twice this year, with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also expecting their third child.
The Tindall baby will be born in the summer, about three months after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s third child is due, sources claim.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘The Queen and members of the royal family were very pleased.’
The couple, who have just sold TIndall, are looking forward to the birth of their second child in the the summer
With Prince Harry due to marry fiancee Meghan Markle on May 19 at Windsor Castle, it will be a joyous year for the 91-year-old monarch and her family.
The new arrival will provide a sibling for three-year-old Mia, who was born in an NHS hospital in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire – where it is expected Zara will also give birth to her second child.
Zara, Mike and Mia Grace have recently spent Christmas in Sydney, before they descended on the Gold Coast this weekend for the Magic Millions horse racing carnival.