In the sport of combined driving a groom or navigator is necessary to help guide the driver through the complex course, but over the weekend Mr Exell’s groom almost ruined his chances at a sixth win in seven years.

“His groom asked him to help put some concrete in the back of a tractor when he dropped it onto Boyd’s hand,” said Mr Exell’s mother Lorraine Exell.

“He couldn’t take painkillers because he had to focus his mind on the race,” she said.

“Actually he won his first gold medal race in Kentucky with a broken wrist, so he’s got a high pain threshold.”

Mr Exell’s love of horses began at a very early age and first rode a carriage at the age of seven.

“They had to tie him down he was so small,” Mrs Exell said.

She remembers a child so obsessed with horses that she approached a friend for help.

“I asked a friend to give Boyd a dirty job in the stables to hopefully get it out of his system, but it obviously didn’t work,” she said.

He won his first state title at the age of 10 and in 1988 drove the Queen and Prince Philip as part of the Bicentennial celebrations, starting a close relationship between Mr Exell and the Duke of Edinburgh who is heavily involved in the sport.

“Prince Philip used to ring him all the time and even invite him to dinner,” Mrs Exell said.

Mr Exell is now the most prolific carriage driver in the history of the sport, surpassing German rider Michael Freund with his win in Bordeaux, France on Monday.