Tuesday 30 December 2014 22:30, UK
Former Cheltenham supremo Edward Gillespie was left feeling "extremely privileged" after joining a select group of people in racing to be awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List.
Gillespie, 62, spent 32 years in charge at the home of National Hunt racing, renowned worldwide for its four-day Festival in March, until he decided it was time he took on new challenges in 2012.
His immense contribution has been recognised and he receives his honour for his services to horse racing in Cheltenham.
Appointed at the tender age of 27 in 1980, he developed Cheltenham into one of Britain's top sporting venues and oversaw 100 Festival meeting days.
"I was extremely surprised, honoured and reflective on why I should have been nominated," said Gillespie.
"I'm extremely privileged to have joined a group of people in racing who have a similar honour. I've looked at the list and I feel very privileged.
"Perhaps it reflects the way I've gone about my business, how I've done things as well as what I've done.
"I was privileged to arrive at Cheltenham at 27 years old and hang on in there until I was 60. I was one of the fixed points of racing. Most people change their jobs occasionally and I didn't.
"I was there in a period that goes back as far as Michael Dickinson, Fred Winter and Fulke Walwyn and horses like Desert Orchid.
"It was a period of growth for jump racing. I think jump racing is as strong now as it ever has been and Cheltenham successfully so.
"I hope it's not just about Cheltenham. I hope it's about giving a lasting contribution to the sport we all love.
"It was a period when we tried to give it wider following. As a spectacle at a sporting venue it allows anybody, regardless of who they are, to get as close as possible to the sport.
"In more than 30 years I never received one complaint from someone saying they couldn't see the racing.
"It's a great place to work, with great people to work with. This award reflects on the team who were working with me. They would be the first people I would thank."
He announced he was stepping down as managing director at Cheltenham shortly after the 2012 Festival, which was widely regarded as one of the best ever and watched by a total attendance of 236,700 over the four days.
He was succeeded by Ian Renton, who is overseeing the current £45million grandstand redevelopment.
"I decided to stand down as I probably would have had to stay there another six years and I thought it was time to crack on, see what else I could do, and I'm doing a few other things within racing and outside racing," said Gillespie.
Since leaving his Cheltenham role, he has been free to throw himself into several projects from the pony club to music to charity.
"I chair the Pony Racing Authority which is grass roots and I enjoy it enormously, to encourage young people into the sport, and I'm helping Jonjo O'Neill behind the scenes with his training business," he said.
"I do other things outside racing. I've got a broad group of interests and can now spend more time with that.
"I'm in my second year as chairman of Cheltenham Music Festival and I chair a big charitable trust in Gloucestershire which distributes about £450,000 a year to good causes and that's an important part of my life, too."
Born near Guildford in Surrey, Gillespie was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent before studying politics at York University and he went straight from there to being trainee manager at Epsom, Sandown and Kempton.
"I came into racing with my only qualification in the sport being secretary of York University Turf Club. I got a degree in politics which is what you need to work in racing," he said.
"People left and I was manager at Sandown when I was 21 years old. I was very lucky. I was manager at Sandown and Kempton from 1973 until 1980.
"I became manager at Cheltenham and Warwick and then just Cheltenham when it became so big."
Gillespie saw the Cheltenham Festival grow massively during his tenure and he expects that trend to continue.
"The Festival will never stop getting better. Over the time I was there we were lucky to take it from 72,000 over three days to 200,000 and something over four days," he said.
"It grew in all directions. It was getting deeper in people's psyche and it is just very special as a gathering of people, not just people.
"The Festival is what people are looking forward to now. It pulls the emotions."
