Emma Lavelle: Wiltshire’s Finest Female Trainer and the Woman Behind Paisley Park’s Success

Few sports boast so level a playing field as horse racing, with men and women able to compete on equal terms. Stars such as Rachael Blackmore, Hayley Turner, and Hollie Doyle are testament to the talents of ladies in the saddle, and the female influence doesn’t end there.

While Blackmore and co are tasked with riding the equine stars, many horses also rely on a woman to prepare them for their day at the races. From the Grand National to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, many of the sport’s biggest prizes have been won by female trainers, with runners from the yards of Jenny Pitman, Henrietta Knight, Venetia Williams, Mary Reveley, and more lighting up the biggest stages.

Another name to add to that list is that of Emma Lavelle. Since setting out as a trainer in 1998, this Ascot native has worked her way to the top, with multiple wins at the Cheltenham Festival, including a 2019 triumph by one of the most popular horses of the modern era.

Bitten by the Bug at the Yard of Toby Balding

Unlike several successful trainers, Emma Lavelle was not born into a traditional racing family. Her introduction to the sport came through her father. While an ear, nose, and throat consultant by profession, Richard Lavelle counted horse racing as one of his great loves. This passion led Richard to own horses in training with Grand National-winning trainer Toby Balding.

It was during the weekly family visits to the Balding yard that a young Emma was bitten by the racing bug. As her interest grew, horse racing slowly nosed ahead of politics in her early passions. Having learned to ride on her childhood pony, Emma became fascinated by the workings of a training yard and jumped at the chance to spend a week with Toby and Caro Balding as an 11-year-old. While still too small to carry the water buckets, Emma had set her heart on becoming a horse racing trainer, ahead of her second option – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

By 16, Emma was heading to the yards of Balding and Henrietta Knight during the summer holidays, where she gained her first experiences of riding a racehorse.

First Steps into Training

Upon leaving school, Emma gained a secretarial qualification and spent a year working as a PA with the National Trainers’ Association in London. At 18, she returned to Fyfield to work under Balding. Filling a variety of roles, including as stand-in secretary, she progressed to become a full-time assistant trainer.

Having begun to feel a little stale after five and a half years with Balding, her employer suggested broadening her horizons. Heeding this advice, Emma crossed the Atlantic to spend a year working with US handler Claude “Shug” McGaughey in Belmont Park.

A New Home at Cottage Stables

“I think if you are going to have a racecourse that a horse loves going to and performs well at then Cheltenham would be high up on the list”

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) January 8, 2026

Bolstered by her international adventure, Lavelle returned to England and took the jump into full-time training under her own name at the age of just 25. Taking up residence at Cottage Stables in Hatherden, Hampshire, she started her first season in 1998 with just six horses under her care.

One of those horses, Piper’s Rock, handed Lavelle her first win in a novice handicap chase at Plumpton on 19 October 1998. The man in the saddle that day was Lavelle’s good friend and former housemate at the Balding yard, A. P. McCoy.

Following a two-winner 1998/99 season, and three winners in 1999/00, Lavelle reached double figures for the first time in 2000/01. From there, the new addition to the training ranks began to climb the ladder. Breaking through the £200,000 prize money barrier for the first time in 2005/06, she has at least matched that £259,008 total in every year up to and including the 2025/26 season.

Cheltenham Festival Breakthrough

Tana River handed Lavelle her first Graded success when claiming the EBF ‘National Hunt’ Novices Handicap Hurdle Final at Sandown in March 2003. A second soon followed, when Self Defense won the Sharp Novices’ Hurdle in November of the same year.

By 2008, Lavelle had six Graded wins to her name but was yet to strike in Grade 1 company or train a Cheltenham Festival winner. She ticked the second of those boxes when Crack Away Jack cruised to victory in the 2008 edition of the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle.

A second Cheltenham Festival success arrived in 2010. Having finished an admirable third in the 2009 Coral Cup, Pause And Clause went two places better to register a famous victory in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.

A New Yard and the Horse of a Lifetime

All standing nicely to attention… 🤣💂‍♀️🐎 #synchronisedhorses #TeamLavelle pic.twitter.com/nBQC0M2HHS

— Emma Lavelle (@ELavelleracing) March 27, 2019

After 18 productive years at Cottage Stables, Lavelle moved her operation to Bonita Stables, Wiltshire, in 2016. The former training base of Sir Gordon Richards, the Marlborough site is steeped in history and home to some of the most admired grass gallops in Britain. The location of the stables, lying between the Barbury Castle yard of Alan King and the Ridgeway Racing establishment of Neil King, led Lavelle to quip, “I am a queen between two kings.”

Less than a year after arriving at Bonita Stables, a horse worthy of any royal tag came along to propel Lavelle onto the Grade 1 stage. Making his debut in a Warwick bumper in January 2017, Paisley Park became one of the most talented and exciting staying hurdlers of the modern era. Sporting the silks of Andrew Gemmell, who was registered blind at birth, and possessing a thrilling last-gasp style, he wasted little time endearing himself to the racing public.

In his second full season under Lavelle’s care, Paisley Park climbed from handicap company to the summit of the staying division. Five starts during that golden 2018/19 campaign produced five wins, including a first career Grade 1 for Lavelle in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot. Sent off as the 11/8f for the 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle, he came with his trademark late rattle to run them all down in the straight for a hugely popular success.

While never again as consistently brilliant, Paisley Park won five more times for Lavelle, including two further Grade 1s in the 2020 and 2022 editions of the Long Walk Hurdle. Ladbrokes Trophy winner De Rasher Counter, and Classic Chase champions My Silver Lining, Shotgun Paddy, and Éclair Surf are among the other Lavelle-trained stars, but Paisley Park will forever be the horse that took the yard into the limelight. Racing for the final time in 2024, the lovable gelding remained at the Lavelle yard to enjoy his retirement.

Partners in Life and in Business

From her Bonita Stables base, Emma Lavelle trains in partnership with her husband, former jockey Barry Fenton, who boasts Cheltenham Festival success and a win in the Welsh Grand National on his CV.

In 2026, Lavelle moved past 700 British jumps winners, plus over 50 on the flat. Included in that tally are over 30 Graded triumphs, headlined by Paisley Park’s four Grade 1 victories. Still going strong, she is well on course to enter the 1000 winners club before she heads into retirement.