Trainer Emma Lavelle and Andrew Gemmell savour a longed-for Festival success; (below) Gemmell, in West Ham United scarf, holds aloft the trophy
definitely sense that on the day. “I was quite lucky in a way because I had an interest in Flemcara, who was running in the Pertemps on the same day and that took my mind off it briefly, but obviously it was all about Paisley Park. “I think I had one or two drinks to relax me too, but after race two I went and did an interview with John Inverdale, which I enjoyed – he really put me at ease and I started to feel great then.” A sports enthusiast and avid West Ham United fan, Gemmell has travelled far and wide to enjoy major events from tennis Grand Slams to the biggest Test matches cricket can offer, but for him The Festival has an aura like no other. “It’s as good as anything and the atmosphere is brilliant,” he says. “It’s one of the sporting events of the year and has built up more and more over the years. It’s absolutely unique and the pinnacle of jump racing.” Hooked on racing since the 1960s, it was not until three decades later that he sampled ownership for the first time with the Million In Mind syndicate. He has held shares in many horses since, while the first he owned in his own right was Seymar Lad, who carried his claret and blue colours to a maiden success at Southwell in 2008. Ascot Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris took Gemmell to his beloved Australia for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in 2015 but his greatest journey of all has been with Paisley Park. “We almost lost him after his debut with grass sickness and it took him the whole of the following season to fully recover,” says his doting owner. “He ran in the Albert Bartlett
‘It’s amazing how many people have said to me since how much it
and was virtually last, but he was still a bit of a shell after what he’d been through the previous year.” Last season the boy certainly became a man, with an unbeaten run of four, including a breakthrough at the highest level, taking him to The Festival as the season’s leading staying hurdler. “He won at Aintree and then landed what was the fixed brush hurdle at Haydock and gradually he blossomed. Everyone always thought he was a really nice horse but no-one could have imagined the heights he scaled last season.” B LIND since birth, Gemmell likes to “lock in” to the commentary when taking in a race and, having found the same spot from where he had enjoyed Paisley Park’s easy Festival warm-up win in the Cleeve Hurdle in Cheltenham’s parade ring, he was ready for the most important race of his and the horse’s life to begin. Returning to the heart of Stayers’ Hurdle day, he says: “It was all a bit of a blur with all the tension in the parade ring. We talked through the race a little bit but the die was cast by then really and I’d almost reached the stage where I thought ‘what will be will be now’. “I’d be the first to admit I’m not great company when they’re about to go off. People have been known to try to give me a description of what is happening when the race is on and I’m not particularly pleased when they do that. I don’t like it. “I lock in on the commentary and I think that makes you go into your own bubble as well.” Whether listening intently to the racecourse commentary by Ian Bartlett or watching the big screen in the paddock, as Gemmell’s close friends were, it was not a particularly comfortable conveyance that day, as Paisley Park appeared to hit his customary flat spot
meant to be there’
26 The Festival March 2020
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