The original - Trillium

Gavin Pritchard-Gordon... small little filly..

Well done - I will have to look her up later.

Got races like - Palace House Stakes (Newmarket) - King George (Goodwood) - in my mind -

But probably only Placed at best - as I remember her as 'a bit of a nearly horse' - maybe only a Handicapper.

She was only a h'capper, not group class as I recall.. Can't remember what races she won..

Gavin's best 3 horses were Ardoon, Noalcoholic and Record Run.. but his greatest achievement was probably King Pele winning a division of the Gloucestershire Hurdle at Cheltenham, ridden by David Nicholson..

Gavin was at one time assistant to Peter Walwyn..

Er, 'she' was a gelding according to Timeform. Originally trained by Harvey Leader, Pritchard-Gordon took over in 1972, when Trillium was a 6-y-old.

Best win in 1972 was the 5F handicap at the Epsom Derby meeting.

Trillium was a gelding, and not that small. Trained by Harvey Leader for first three racing seasons thence Pritchard-Gordon. Raced from age 3 'til the age of 10.  Very useful handicapper and regularly won three or four good handicaps a season from age four 'til eight.   Won at Goodwood too Onlooker

John types faster than me

And so does Alan imo

Sorry for the mistake, I was only 5 at the time..

Blimey - I was only 'musing' down Memory Lane ...

- Now she has gone and Won the Molecomb.

Gavid Pritchard-Gordon renamed his stables Trillium Place (it was originally called Graham Place), so presumably won a few bob on him. David Simcock trains there now. The horse was a fast starter - Pat Eddery rode him, and said he had to be careful not to fall out the back as he left the stalls.

Adelaide might be getting partly mixed up with Trillion, who was a top class mare in the 1970s owned by Nelson Bunker-Hunt, and became the dam of Triptych.

Did he ever race against Raffingora or am I mistaken...

Yes, he was in that famous race where Raffingora, on hand-timing, beat Indigenous' world record at Epsom.

As The Anorak has already stated won at the Derby meeting under a very confident ride from Pat Eddery, was a constant follower of Pat's at the time and he made the win look very comfortable, was a star of the stable mainly down to its consistency over a long period and Pat often got the call to partner it

Thanks lads , delighted the memory is still intact...

Slight correction (of composition ) - ged

Raffingora was Electronically-timed - and set a New Record for Electronically-timed 5 Furlongs, at Epsom - when beating Duty Sheet and Quoit...

Beating Indigenous's HAND-Timed 'Record' ... which, of course, was Inaccurate as the Person responsible for Timing the Indigenous race was - by his own admission - Still IN the Press-Room when the Shout went up - 'They're Off' ...
- and thus pressed his Stopwatch well AFTER the 'Off'.

Yes, but Raffingora was also hand-timed that day, and the (hand-)time was inside Indigenous' time.

Raffingora (electronic) - 53.89

Indigenous (hand) - 53.6

Raffingora (hand - 2 different watches) - 53.38 and 53.35.

Incidentally, that 1970 record race was the Cherkley Handicap, and it was the 1972 running that Trillium won, albeit off 7-11 (and Pat Eddery), beating Fireside Chat who had 9-3. He was a 4yo in 1970, and trained by Harvey Leader, as detailed by Anorak above. I think The Cherkley was discontinued after 1973, but it was contested by good sprinters, like Constans and The Brianstan, as well as Raffingora of course (who carried 10-0 that year, with Trillium on 8-3).

No, I remember Trillion, a huge filly... I was getting Trillium mixed up with a filly called Eveneca... also trained by GP Gordon at around the same time..

I think she broke the 2yo track record at York on only her first or second start...1973?..

fireside chat as a 2 y o was turned over at 9/2 on by none other than Mill Reef on his debut

Adelaide - can't help you with that one. Trillion was trained in France by Francois Mathet, and didn't run as a 2yo (1976). She won her first 2 races as a 3yo, and was then beaten a head in the French Oaks by Madelia, who went lame in winning.

oops sorry, just re-read your post! Apologies.

Eveneca won at York on her 3rd race as a 2yo at the May meeting on Dante day. First race on the card, she made all and won by 5 - I don't know about the time. (She'd won her previous race at Newmarket, having been unplaced on debut). Trillium was 2nd in the Micklegate Hcap, last race on the card.

aah, ok.. thanks Ged.. I wasn't far out then.. I think Eveneca ran in the Queen Mary after that but disappointed.

Yeah, Madelia ''on three legs'' was the headline at the time, if I recall..

Went off fav for the Queen mary, finished 5th to Bitty Girl (soft ground not expected to suit either filly). Then won at Yarmouth, then 2nd in the Molecomb, giving Bitty Girl a race, getting 5 lb.

I think she was ridden by Terry McKeown.   You're a mine of information Ged, thank you..

GP Gordin's Ardoon ( mentioned on thread) was a wonderfully reliable performer who'd cross swords regularly with a likeable performer of P T Walwyns called Record Token.

*Gordon

Yes I vaguely remember that, against Record Run... as you mentioned Peter Walwyn, I once found myself in a van next to him, going up to Mandown gallops in Lambourn, and we chatted... I asked him about Jenny Pitman and he said ''you can admire her but you haven't got to like her''..  we talked about some of his old horses..

Ardoon at stud wasn't very good, despite being a miler, I think he produced mainly jumpers..

Regarding Gavin's others... I think his best was Noalcoholic, ex French trained, who was due to go to Australia to take up stud duties.. he was quarantined over here and they galloped him with another in the stable called Buffavento, a decent handicapper, and he ran all over him, so they entered in the Queen Anne at Ascot.. he finished 2nd to one of Cecil's, at I think 33-1..  he ran in all the top mile races, winning the Sussex and Lockinge..
He was a bit of a failure at stud, both Australia and over here..

Prichard-Gordon recently wrote a book called 'Cliffside'.. fiction, and hardly Dick Francis,.. I read it... don't give up the day job Gavin..

I don't know if you remember a horse called Baz Bombatti [?spelling]... one of Gavin's, finished 8th in the Irish Derby behind Shergar... ridden by Christy Roche..

correction.. Record Token, not Record Run.. lol.. Gavin trained that himself..

I'm not sure about the renaming of the stables to Trillium Place, as when we were involved it was always called Shalfleet.. don't recall Gavin calling it anything else..

Sorry to labour the point, but I've spoken to my husband about this, as he would know more, but we know that Gavin trained at Shalfleet on Bury Road, before moving to Stanley House, also on Bury Road.. Trillium Place is the other side of town and we cannot associate Gavin with that stable.. 

Jeremy Noseda took over Shalfleet and Sean Woods is there now..

Adelaide - feel free to dispute any of this, taken from www.greyhoundderby.com, which has a full history of the premises once known as Graham Place, and now as Trillium Place.

"Gavin Pritchard-Gordon, born in October 1945, travelled to Newmarket in 1966 to join Harvey Leader's Shalfleet Stable before moving to Lambourn to become assistant trainer to Peter Walwyn. Having gained further experience with Walwyn he decided that he could broaden his experience still further by spending time with Stuart Murless at the Curragh. In 1972 Harvey Leader decided to retire, which provided Gavin with the perfect opportunity to apply for his own trainer's licence and take charge at Shalfleet. Within a year he had trained King Pele to win the 1973 Gloucester Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, and to show his flexibility on both codes Gavin won the 1976 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot with Ardoon in the hands of Brian Taylor. Arguably the best horse he trained was Noalcoholic who won the 1982 Criterion Stakes, the Challenge Stakes and the Prix Messidor, while he won the 1983 Lockinge Stakes and Sussex Stakes. He moved from Shalfleet to take charge at Stanley House Stables, but in 1989 he sold that establishment to the Maktoum family and, with the proceeds, he purchased Graham Place from Bill O'Gorman for a record amount for a training complex. At that time Graham Place stood in 1 3/4 acres of prime land close to the two racecourses and on the edge of the High Street, and boasted stabling for 54 horses. He retired from training in 1995, taking up a short-term post with the BHB, followed by a longer spell as Chief Executive of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association."

As above, he renamed Graham Place to be Trillium Place.

Ged... thanks, we're not disputing that at all, it sounds spot on, I think we were thinking this referred to an earlier time.  We lost touch with Gavin and stable circa late 1980's, having moved away from Newmarket to other end of the country,  so it was about that time that the changes occurred, and we weren't aware of them, being honest..

Incidentally, my husband had a 1/10th share in King Pele.. we were involved from early 1970's to mid 1980's, then out of it.. 

Thanks again for putting us right ...

All good. Well done with King Pele.

I was at Haydock when Record Token beat Ardoon in the John O'Gaunt. I can remember one of them being sweaty, but not which. This was the Saturday of the Epsom Derby meeting, but with the big race on the Wednesday, and the Oaks on the Friday, Haydock put on the 2 most valuable races of the day, with a 10f hcap worth a few hundred more than the John O'Gaunt.

Was there for that John O' Gaunt - and the previous evening when the Joe Mercer ridden Lighter lost a 3 year old handicap in the Stewards room to Shangamuzo. The previous day it had been announced that Carson would be replacing Mercer in the Hern job at the end of the season. The three year old handicap on the Saturday was sponsored by Bass. Probably its most interesting winner was North Stoke in 1977 who was rapidly climbing the ranks and at a time long before you could supplement for the Derby some were asking how close he would have went if he'd lined ( did not have an entry).As things turned out he would not have stayed and would have just fell short ability wise too - though he did finish runner up in the Champion Stakes.

Move Off was unplaced in the Bass race that year. The following year, he and Lighter fought out the finish to the Ebor. It was a bit like that infamous Ascot Queen Anne, with Lighter on the outside, bumping Move Off onto the horse on the rail. In this case, the stewards had more sense, and only demoted Lighter - I guess he had a habit of hanging - he cruised into the lead that day at York. I think Jimmy Bleasdale, apprentice of the moment, rode North Stoke that day at Haydock - I was there again and had a muggish bet on him - he was pretty short and very obvious, and I don't think he won as easily as would have been expected, given he was a Group horse in a mask (albeit a very thin one).