Jim Lewis: the owner who loved the big days and relished the spotlight

The early 2000s were not a time of conspicuous success for Aston Villa FC, but the lack of footballing silverware in the cabinet was offset handsomely by the three helpings of gold that ardent Villans fan Jim Lewis collected at the Cheltenham Festival.

From 1994, starting with the triumphs of Nakir and Edredon Bleu, Lewis's smart claret and blue scarf never seemed to be far away from the winner's enclosure at Prestbury Park, but it was the era of the great Best Mate that established the flamboyant white-haired owner as a fixture at the greatest of all meetings.

His finest hours always seemed to be celebrated by an entourage of like-minded souls, and although their renditions of the 'Best Mate theme song' — in truth, a primitive, football-chant rendition of Amazing Grace, with just the two words (Best and Mate) — weren't universally well received, the enthusiasm that accompanied them was always heartfelt and entirely appropriate.

If you were setting out to establish a Cheltenham legend — as Best Mate became over the three seasons of his consecutive Gold Cup triumphs — you'd probably want as a backdrop a man just like Lewis. He was instantly recognisable, buoyantly enthusiastic and almost always cheerful — and why wouldn't he be, as the man whose many successes with top-class horses (add in Impek for good measure) led to him being known as 'Lucky Jim'.

Best Mate: landed three Cheltenham Gold Cups for Henrietta Knight and Jim LewisCredit: Julian Herbert

Having achieved enough success in beds and furniture to finance his racing passion from the late 1980s onwards, he made sure he got his money's worth, teaming up with Henrietta Knight for his first winner with Pearl Prospect in 1989 and standing ever closer to the spotlight from the day Nakir landed the 1994 Arkle.

When there was a big day to be celebrated, Lewis was never shy about being interviewed or having his photo taken. His mission seemed to be to share his good fortune with anybody who strayed within earshot, as evidenced by the countless pictures of him, beaming widely, leading in his Grade 1 winners, or at the very least waving his club colours, at the best racecourses in the country.

One of the most enduring images of this most affable of owners features him combining his two great sporting loves: parading the Gold Cup at his 'other' spiritual home of Villa Park, mustering a passable jog as the claret and blue ribbons tied to the trophy flutter in the breeze. He looks very much like a man who has been awarded a lifelong season ticket to paradise, which in many ways he was.

The memories of the great Best Mate days no doubt lived with him until the day he died, and anybody lucky enough to have witnessed those moments of turf history up close will always remember the smiling face of Lucky Jim.

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