The Festival TM | Day Three | 12 March 2020 Presented by Magners
Day Three will go down in folklore as one of sports finest occasions. Who can forget that golden hour, where Bryony Frost and her beloved Frodon created history, quickly followed by an emotional win for Andrew Gemmell and Paisley Park? Pure theatre at its best
DAY THREE OF The Festival is typically full of Irish flair as the Ryanair Chase and Sun Racing Stayers’ Hurdle take centre stage. With Irish bands setting the scene around the course, the atmosphere is electric as we celebrate with our friends from the Emerald Isle. Thursday of The Festival in 2019 was one that will not be forgotten anytime soon. Emotions were high, the sun was shining and the theatre of dreams lived up to its name. Two of the biggest stories of The Festival reached their climax on Day Three. The tale of Paisley Park, the incredible staying hurdler who threw trainer Emma Lavelle into Grade One company earlier in the season was hot favourite to take the Championship race. Paisley Park’s story is unique, as he is owned by racing and sports super fan Andrew Gemmell, who has been blind since birth. Ridden by Aidan Coleman, 11/8 favourite Paisley Park stalked the leaders throughout but proved far too good for the rest of the field, including former Festival winner Faugheen (Ruby
Walsh) who finished in third, just behind Sam Spinner (Joe Colliver) in second. It has been a landmark year for Aidan, as he landed his first ever Grade One victory, reached 1,000 career wins, and landed his first Championship race at The Festival. Trainer Emma Lavelle said of her winner, whose life had been threatened by an attack of colic two years ago: “He’s delivered for us the whole season and he’s done it again. I’m thrilled. He was a bit further back than I expected but the man in charge (Coleman) knew what he was doing. There are so many people behind this horse and I think they just blew him up the hill.” Prior to Paisley Park’s success, emotions were running high as Bryony Frost had cemented her name into the history books by beoming the first female jockey to win a Grade One over fences at The Festival. The ‘golden hour’ of racing was kick-started at 2:50pm as Frodon and Bryony were roared home by the record crowd in the Ryanair Chase. After the pair had jumped perfectly from
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