Jordan gets on her high horse to attack 'snobbish' polo ban

Katie Price, the glamour model and businesswoman otherwise known as Jordan, has taken the establishment to task over being banned from attending the Cartier Polo International tournament last weekend.

Writing alongside the politicians and pundits of the The Times' comment pages today, Price attacks the decision to exclude her as "pure snobbery".

Price was told she was "not the kind of person they wanted" when her manager tried to book a £6,000 table in the marquee hosted by nightclub Chinawhite in Windsor Great Park.

As well as being a successful author and businesswoman, with her own perfume and lingerie line, Price says she has been surrounded by horses since she was a child, now has a stable of six and has written a best-selling series of children's stories about ponies.

Price, whose book Perfect Ponies: My Pony Care Book, was shortlisted for the WH Smith Children's Prize, writes: "I know more about fetlocks and forelocks than most of the celebrities invited by Cartier and the Chinawhite nightclub. I've certainly mucked out more horses."

She is learning to play polo, competes in dressage events and has been invited to take part in the Royal Horse of the Year Show.

In the article she writes: "I didn't want to go to Windsor to meet royalty. I've met the Prince of Wales and the Queen before. I don't need to be photographed with the A-list, I've met quite enough celebrities. I wanted to watch the matches and give my family a treat.

"It's pure snobbery. However good a horsewoman I may be, I'm also a glamour model. That embarrassed the organisers. Eliza Doolittle went to the races with Henry Higgins after a few elocution lessons, in Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts went to the polo straight from Sunset Boulevard, but in the 21st century, we have become even more class ridden." Thirty-year-old Price adds: "Unless you are a toff or an aspiring actress, they don't want you. Polo should be for people who love horses, not a media charade."

The Cartier event at Smiths Lawn in Windsor Great Park is one of the highlights of the polo year and the social calender. Afterwards, many newspapers carried pictures of actress Kelly Brook, posing in a short pants suit, burlesque star Dita Von Teese in a plunging-gown, singer Natalie Imbruglia and Harry Potter actress Emma Watson pictured with a number of male friends. The DJ and music producer Mark Ronson was also present, as were three streakers.

Referring to the mixed nature of those who were welcome at Windsor, Price pointed out: "So the Cartier Polo International was happy to invite a man convicted of assault on an elderly couple, dozens of aristocrats and an assortment of would-be actresses in minuscule dresses."

Captain of the England polo four Luke Tomlinson - who was presented with the winners' Coronation Cup by the Prince of Wales - was one of the pro-hunt protesters who stormed the House of Commons in 2004 and later convicted of public order offences, alongside Otis Ferry. Chinawhite, which has been patronised many times by Price, has claimed that the affair was a misunderstanding because she booked her table too late and rejected claims that her agent was told she was too "chavvy".