Mercy Rimell

Mark Coton reflects on the life of a true one-off

- Mark Coton

Mercy Rimell, who died on July 6, aged 98, was a successful trainer in her own right, winning the Champion Hurdle with Gaye Brief in 1983. But she will be best remembered as one half of one of the great racing partnerships of the twentieth century, alongside husband Fred, and for a formidable personal manner which at times made Margaret Thatcher seem like Claire Rayner.

The entry list of racing’s bloody difficult characters is a long and distinguished one, and Mrs Rimell can be found at the top of the long handicap, alongside Jenny Pitman, their presence indicative not only of the great qualities but also of the many sacrifices demanded of racing’s groundbreaking female trainers.

“I had a strange isolated childhood.”

So begins Mercy Rimell’s “Reflections

On Racing”, written in 1989 shortly after her retirement from training.

She suffered severely from asthma in early childhood and was kept out of school by an immensely demanding mother who was soon exploiting her daughter's equestrian talents on the midlands show pony circuit, where she carried all before her.

She married successful jumps jockey Fred Rimell when she was 17.