'I thought he'd fallen': Gemmell's moment of agony over Paisley Park error

Owner Andrew Gemmell has revealed that he briefly thought his pride and joy Paisley Park had fallen at the final flight in last year's Stayers' Hurdle.

The outstanding staying hurdler of his generation made a dreadful blunder that left Gemmell fearing the worst, but he recovered to complete a sensational unbeaten campaign and has since won twice this term to head into this year's Stayers' Hurdle as a red-hot favourite.

Gemmell was speaking to the Racing Post for an emotional look back at what became known as the Golden Hour in Sunday's newspaper. The feature, recalling the incredible day when Paisley Park followed up Frodon's Ryanair Chase win, also includes contributions from Emma Lavelle, Paul Nicholls and Bryony Frost.

He said: "I've listened to the DVD so many times since – that mistake was agonising. It was such a big crowd that you could hardly hear what was going on and I thought for a few seconds maybe he'd fallen, then I managed to hear the Tannoy and the commentator saying he was still on his feet.

"It wasn't until afterwards that I realised the significance of the error, but luckily he found another gear and won going away."

Lavelle added: "When we came in Andrew said to me 'this is the best moment of my life', and it hits you that this is what a horse can do for people, it brings you back to what the sport is all about and it makes everything else irrelevant to the moment.

"We're so lucky to have experienced that walk and he'd picked up such a big following that the feeling of universal goodwill was very special."

Read more from Andrew Gemmell, Emma Lavelle, Paul Nicholls and Bryony Frost in The Big Read, available to members from 6pm on Saturday or in Sunday's Racing Post newspaper. Join Members' Club here