Sherwood leads Hemmings praise
Owner of Many Clouds has died at the age of 86
LAMBOURN trainer Oliver Sherwood has been leading the tributes after three-time Grand National-winning owner Trevor Hemmings passed away at the age of 86.
The news rocked the sporting world earlier this week as the Preston North End owner was a huge supporter of National Hunt racing.
In the famous green, white and yellow colours, Hedgehunter was the first time Hemmings tasted Grand National success in 2005.
This was followed up in 2011 with Ballabriggs and then again in 2015 with the Sherwood-trained Many Clouds.
Sherwood admitted that he had been unsure whether or not it was the right time to run Many Clouds at Aintree, but Hemmings had insisted.
Sherwood said: “Without him I wouldn’t have won a National because when I had Many Clouds, I thought it was a year too soon after he ran in the Gold Cup.
“Trevor said we had nothing to lose and we should have a crack at it, which we did, and the rest is history.
“He wasn’t telling me, he was asking me, and that is teamwork for you – he did everything in the right way.
“He came down after the National and he joined in with the local community in Lambourn for the celebrations and he loved that as much as winning on the day.”
As well as success at Aintree,
Hemmings won the Ladbrokes Trophy (formerly known as the Hennessy Gold Cup) at Newbury on three occasions with Trabolgan (2005), Many Clouds (2014) and Cloth Cap (2020).
Hemmings had horses with a lot of trainers across the country and Sherwood was full of praise for the owner.
He said: “He was a remarkable man. He was very easy to train for and he had a lot of different trainers, but he let us get on with it.
“He enjoyed the highs, he knew the lows and he was a legend in the National Hunt world.
“He was a gentlemen, he was humble and he created an empire, but he knew where his roots were and he was a very likeable man.”