“I can’t wait, I’m really excited,” says Emma Lavelle of Saturday afternoon’s sport, when she fields fancied runners in the two big handicap chases at either end of the country. Shotgun Paddy is the likely favourite for Newcastle’s Eider Chase while Fox Appeal lies second in betting on the BetBright at Kempton and their trainer is just hoping the fences do not spoil things.
“Shotgun Paddy gets a fair bit of criticism about his jumping,” she concedes. Later, of Fox Appeal, she says: “He’s always liable to take one by the roots.” Lavelle’s tranquil Hampshire stable is punching above its weight with two strong contenders on a single Saturday but, since the pair face a combined 43 obstacles, she will have to do a lot of breath-holding and finger-crossing.
On that subject she mentions Shotgun Paddy’s abortive attempt on the Welsh National when his chance was horribly undermined by a false start. “So, as much as I think everything has gone brilliantly and they should run well … it’s in the lap of the Gods. Something happens and boom, it’s over.”
When it comes to the sudden ending of high hopes, Lavelle has had too much experience. On consecutive weekends in October she saw two promising young horses, The Last Night and Timesremembered, sustain fatal injuries. The next Saturday Le Bec, her Gold Cup candidate, was pulled up at Ascot after damaging a ligament so badly that his chance of recovery appeared low.
“It was dreadful,” remembers the trainer on Friday. Two days after Ascot a TV pundit who did not know how badly Le Bec was injured, asked after him. Lavelle burst into tears. “I don’t know who was more mortified,” she says, recalling her interviewer’s shock. “It was, exit stage left.”
Sharing in her suffering was Tim Syder, who had owned all three horses. “It took an awful lot to get going again. It was so dreadful for him and for us. For Tim it was all about family going racing, that was the big part of racing for him and his family didn’t want to go because suddenly this was what was happening every time you were going to the races. It was awful for so many reasons.
“It just took a shine off the sport for a little bit. But bit by bit things are getting back on to a more even keel. For both of us last year was such an amazing year and it was back to earth with a big bump.”
The first bit of good news was that Le Bec will not only survive. He will still be able to have some kind of useful career, might even return to the track in the autumn of 2016. “Every step of the way he has got through it faster and better than you might imagine. The cast came off and there was enough suspensory to be able to build on to and now he’s out walking, the joint is perfectly well supported. He’s an absolute idiot, leaping about. He looks fantastic, he is as happy as happy.”
Matching that resilience, Lavelle is having a productive season, despite having lost so much talent at the outset. Court By Surprise was awarded the Badger Ales Trophy and will be her first Grand National runner. Closing Ceremony caused an upset in the Rendlesham last weekend. “A few just appeared out of the woodwork,” she says, mentioning Parish Business, who has improved by two stones since September.
She will have a “small but select” team for next month’s Cheltenham Festival, headed by Claret Cloak in the Grand Annual. It might include See The World, whose debut performance turned a Wincanton bumper last month into one of the most memorable races those present can ever have seen. Having led round the home turn, he ran off the course, was pulled up and then returned to the race by his stunned rider and somehow mowed down his rivals a second time to score by four lengths.
Though he clearly has a huge engine, Lavelle is half inclined to look after him with his future as a chasing prospect in mind. She will take him for a day out at Newbury next week, for another experience of racecourse buzz, and, if he takes it in his stride, she might aim him at the Festival bumper.
Saturday comes first. Newcastle’s galloping circuit should suit Shotgun Paddy better than Warwick, where he was beaten last time. Fox Appeal has had the Betbright as his main target all season. “You’ve got to have that luck in running,” Lavelle says. She is certainly due some.
