frank gillespie
Trophy collector
Julian Smythe chats to Frank Gillespie, who enjoyed a wonderful summer courtesy of The Grey Gatsby and Louis The Pious
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ERE, truly, is a man who prefers to let his horses do the talking. Frank Gillespie makes a gesture of amused resignation with his hand, smiles selfdeprecatingly. Until this year, Gillespie’s natural reticence in the face of media interest mattered little, for the horses he owned were similarly silent types, workaday weekday horses whose exploits remained resolutely under the radar, just like their owner. This season has been very different, and Gillespie’s horses have been making plenty of noise. Gillespie himself, not so much. “I don’t like doing interviews, talking about myself, I’m not used to it,” he says, in a soft voice full of the Donegal fields where he grew up. “I’ve had no kind of media training, it doesn’t come easily to me like it does with other people.” So he lets the horses do the talking, and The Grey Gatsby and Louis The Pious have had plenty to say for themselves this season. In the world of Flat racing that is increasingly partitioned by vast wealth, by the Coolmore set, by Sheikh Mohammed and his brothers, by the young Qatari royals, it is refreshing to find the spotlight falling on what, for want of a better word, we call a “small” owner. Jump racing is considered the last redoubt of It has been a racing year of years for Frank Gillespie
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romance in the sport, but Gillespie’s startling annus mirabilis is a reminder that Flat racing has not totally lost its soul. He’s no overnight success, mind. Gillespie, 71, has owned horses for more than 30 years – he had a quarter-stake in the durable Stay Awake, who won 24 races in minor company – and he more than most should appreciate how long it takes to build an empire, being in the business of doing just that. He laid the foundations of his career in 1978 when starting up Heyrod Construction Ltd, the Manchester-based concern of which he is chairman and whose finished work can be seen all over the north of England, but his connection with horses is more profound, more personal. “I have always liked horses, ever since I can remember,” he says, gazing out of his office window at the grey Manchester skyline. “My grandfather had three horses to plough his fields, and in those days – especially in rural Ireland – everyone had a connection with horses in some way. “I’ve been going racing since the age of 18, and have tried not to miss a Cheltenham Festival for more than 50 years. I’ve always been a jumping fan, although as an owner I prefer having Flat horses as injuries are less of a worry, and my wife Christine has always been interested too – the more so since The Grey Gatsby came along.” That’s understandable for the big grey son of Mastercraftsman, elegantly named after F Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age hero, has been provoking interest all year, developing a wide and fervent following after victories in the Group 2 Dante Stakes, the Group 1 Prix du Jockey-Club and the Irish Champion Stakes (G1). The Kevin Ryan-trained colt emerged from the ruck of an outstanding 2,000 Guineas to take high rank among the three-year-old