Tourists in central London on Saturday stopped to stare, then stared again at Epsom’s retired jockey Caroline Anns-Baldock.

Mrs Anns-Baldock made a truly remarkable sight as she trotted down Whitehall towards Downing Street on her racehorse Smelly, clad in nothing but a big smile, her long hair and a body stocking.

Her Lady Godiva re-enactment was staged as she and colleagues took a petition to the door of 10 Downing Street to campaign for a museum to be established dedicated to the horse.

It was handed in to Jim Fitzpatrick, minister for food, farming and the environment and minister for the horse.

Mrs Anns-Baldock, 62, who was one of the country’s first three female professional flat jockeys, has put in years of work campaigning for the museum.

As a joke she said she would ride to Downing Street dressed as Lady Godiva who rode naked through the streets of Coventry 900 years ago.

She was urged on by friends which is why, with the permission of police, she found herself driving her horse box up to the O2 centre and then making a truly memorable ride through the streets of London.

But she had to let her more conventionally clad colleagues make the final stage of the journey to the door of 10 Downing Street to hand in the petition.

Mrs Anns-Baldock was accompanied by Jeremy Harte from the Bourne Hall Museum in Ewell, Colin Henderson, ex-head coachman of the Royal Mews, Lucinda McAlpine, a dressage rider and expert on horses and Jim Beavis, a racing expert.

She said: “It was an absolutely fantastic day. It was unbelievable, we were surrounded by tourists and my horse was very good about it. He did not mind at all.

“It was incredible because London was crawling with tourists and they all seemed to take hundreds of photographs.”

She is now a fan of Jim Fitzpatrick who, although he is an MP for an east London constituency, declared he is a horse enthusiast with his wife the proud owner of a thoroughbred.

The next stage in the campaign for the museum is to search for suitable premises and to enlist support from the public.

For more information visit museumofthehorse.org.

• Got a great story for us? Let us know by email here, phone the newsdesk on 020 8330 9555 or leave a comment below.