Lee Sommervell, a highly successful thoroughbred trainer who has decided to retire after a career spanning more than 40 years.
OPINION
Hawke’s Bay-based Lee Somervell, a trainer who has produced hundreds of winners in New Zealand as well as others in New Caledonia and Australia, has decided to officially retire after a career spanning more than 40 years.
Somervell turns 79 on October 10 and, although he has not had a race starter since November last year, the urge was still there to carry on until realism set in a few months ago.
“The last two or three years have been pretty tough because I’ve only ever had a small team and nowadays you have to have the numbers to make a go of it,” Somervell said this week.
“But once racing is in your blood it’s hard to give it away but I’ve now got a great partner in Shirin and I think it is time for us to relax and enjoy life a bit more.”
Somervell’s decision to retire was prompted by a boating accident he had in February this year.
He was on a fishing trip off the coast of Hawke’s Bay when they suddenly hit a freak wave and he was thrown down on the deck of the boat.
He suffered bleeding of the spinal cord and, upon returning to dry land, was quickly flown to the Burwood Spinal unit in Christchurch, where he underwent an extensive operation and spent three months in rehabilitation.
“I was totally paralysed for four weeks and they took 500mls of blood off my spine,” he said.
“The physiotherapists down there were marvellous and eventually I got back to walking with the aid of a walking frame and then just a walking stick.
“Now I can walk unaided and I religiously walk three kilometres a day just to keep everything moving.”
Somervell says that, although he went through hell recovering from the injury, ironically it may have saved his life.
“While I was down at Burwood they did a lot of MRI scans and different tests on me. Then one day the doctor came in and said I have to tell you that you were lucky you had that fishing accident because we have found that you have an aneurysm in your aorta that was ready to burst and, if it did, you would be dead.”
“I was flown back to Napier for a start but the doctor said, ‘as soon as you recover from the spinal surgery, we’ll get you back here and operate again’.”
Somervell said they put a stent in his abdomen in the second operation and he now feels 100%, so much so that he now drives a school bus two times a day, five days a week.
“It is crazy when you think about it but that fishing accident probably saved my life,” Somervell recalled.
Lee Somervell started training in 1980, when based in New Caledonia.
“My late wife and I went there to look after a squash complex in Noumea and we met a man called Jacque La Fleur, who was the Premier of New Caledonia at the time and raced a team of horses there.
“His trainer was heading back to France so he offered me the job as private trainer for him.
“We did pretty well together too and I remember we won the main race in New Caledonia with a New Zealand-bred horse and it was like winning the Melbourne Cup.”
After spending 12 months in New Caledonia, Somervell returned to New Zealand where he began breaking in and pre-training horses in Cambridge and then became a private trainer again.
“Castle Bay was the first horse I trained in New Zealand and he won his first start for me, when ridden by Kenny Reggett.”
Somervell then had a 10-year break from training before he resumed his career in 2006 when based at the Cambridge Lodge complex, starting out as private trainer for the late Ada Parnwell before taking out a public trainer’s licence.
He produced a steady stream of winners in the years that followed and has two Group 1 victories to his credit, with Fleur De Lune taking out the 2013 Railway Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie and Addictive Habit winning the 2015 Livamol Classic (2040m) at Hastings in 2015.
Addictive Habit, who was bred and owned by Hawke’s Bay couple Graham and Isabell Roddick, also took back-to-back wins in the Group 2 Couplands Mile (1600m) at Riccarton in 2014 and 2015 and both he and Fleur de Lune won the Group 2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa.
Addictive Habit also won the Listed A$100,000 Southbank Stakes (1800m) on the Gold Coast of Australia in 2015.
One Prize One Goal was Somervell’s stable star when he first moved to Hastings, the big chestnut chalking up five wins and 17 minor placings and earning more than $100,000 in stakemoney.
“He was a great horse for me and probably never really reached his best because he developed a wind affliction towards the finish of his career,” he said.
After One Prize One Goal was retired Somervell used to take him to different venues in Hawke’s Bay and let people get close up and personal with a racehorse.
One of his best days was in May 2020 when he arranged to take the horse to Cranford Hospice in Hastings where they were received by a delighted group of staff members and patients, many of whom were able to get close up photographs with the horse, who behaved perfectly and lapped up all the attention.
The mainstay of Somervell’s stable in recent years has been One Dream One Soul, who is a younger full-sister to One Prize One Goal. He prepared her for four wins and a close second in the 2022 running of the Group 2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Hastings.
“She was transferred to an Australian stable at the end of last year, which was the best thing for her as there are so many better options for a horse like her over there. She was the only horse I had racing at the time and she had just won a Rating 75 race over 2060m at Wanganui.
“So I can now say that my first New Zealand starter was a winner and I also went out on a winning note with my last runner also a winner.”
Although Somervell’s main involvement with horses has been as a racehorse trainer he has also been involved in other equine adventures.
Whilst employed at Cambridge Lodge he was the ‘Ringmaster’ for the Magic Horse Show, a popular tourist attraction featuring a variety of horse breeds with one of the stars being former champion galloper Rough Habit.
He also worked on the set of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy from 1999 to 2001 as a stand-in for acclaimed British actor Sir Ian McKellen, who played the part of Gandalf.
“I was his double. They dressed me up like Gandalf and when the horse and cart had to be driven into Hobbitville they got me to play the part.”
About the time of his spinal injury, Somervell had been breaking in and pre-training two young horses for his loyal client Neil Kirton and was looking forward to getting them to the races.
“They were both showing promise too but they have now gone to a trainer in Palmerston North,” he added.
“I could have carried on with them but the doctors told me that if I got knocked over by a horse it could easily trigger the spinal problem again.
“So now I’m just enjoying going to the races and I am a raceday steward at Hawke’s Bay race meetings, which I thoroughly enjoy.”
“Racing has been very good to me and I’ve met some lovely people through the industry but it is now time to hang up the reins.”
Rolls on the ballot for Arrowfield Plate
Australian-trained Rolls needs two scratchings to confirm a start in the Group 1 $400,000 Arrowfield Stud Plate, feature race at this Saturday’s second day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
The eight-year-old gelding, prepared by Warrnambool trainer Maddie Raymond, is 16th in order of entry for the 1600m race with the maximum starting limit being 14.
The horse arrived in New Zealand last week and is being stabled at Andrew Campbell’s Otaki property. Successful Australian jockey Harry Grace has been booked to ride him.
Rolls has drawn barrier seven and is rated a $14.00 chance in what is a wide open Fixed Odds market on the race.
Skew Wiff is presently the favourite but has been a slight drifter from $3.80 to $4.20 with Malt Time second favourite at $5.00 and Faraglioni and El Vencedor on the third line of betting at $6.00.
The full field for the Arrowfield Stud Plate, with barrier draws and TAB Fixed Odds, is:
1: El Vencedor (5) 6.00
2: Puntura (13) 27.00
3: Mali Ston (1) 7.00
4: One Bold Cat (4) 18.00
5: Gospodin (11) 41.00
6: Matscot (2) 41.00
7: Master Marko (9) 41.00
8: Saint Bathans (15) 41.00
9: Mustang Valley (8) 14.00
10: Malt Time (14) 5.00
11: Skew Wiff (12) 4.20
12: Faraglioni (10) 6.00
13: Pearl Of Alsace (6) 13.00
14: Hi Yo Sass Bomb (16) 17.00
15: Lightning Jack (3) 41.00
16: Rolls (7) 14.00
Police were called to an address in Wilsons Rd.