Jim Lewis, owner of three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, dies aged 88... the eccentric Aston Villa fan is also remembered for taking the trophy to Villa Park after banking 2003 glory

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Jim Lewis, the owner of three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, has died aged 88. 

Best Mate won a third consecutive Gold Cup in 2004, and became one of the nation's best-loved horses in the process. The last horse with three trophies in the grand prize was the legendary Arkle back in the Sixties. 

Lewis died on Sunday from kidney failure, his widow Jennifer confirmed to BBC Midlands Today.  

Lewis was a huge Aston Villa fan, which is why the horse - trained by Henrietta Knight and ridden by Jim Culloty - rode in claret and blue colours. It also allowed him and his entourage to bring a touch of claret flare to the races. 

After Best Mate's 2003 victory by 10 lengths over Truckers Tavern, Lewis took the Gold Cup to Villa Park to display to fans at their match with Manchester United. 

Jim Lewis, the owner of three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, has died aged 88

Best Mate became one of the country's most beloved horses after his wins in the early 2000s

It was these eccentricities which made Lewis adored by the racing world. Former Cheltenham boss Edward Gillespie told the Racing Post: 'He always wore his Villa scarf and I remember he took the Gold Cup to Villa Park one year. 

'He was one of those rare owners who took the sport beyond the sport. The media loved him and he was a brilliant ambassador.' 

Lewis owned his Grade 1 horses with his wife Valerie, who died in December 2005 from cancer.

Together they had 11 winners at the elite level, including Edredon Bleu, who won the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2000 and the King George VI Chase three years later. Other notable Lewis horses included Impek, Nakir and Breedsbreeze. 

But it is Best Mate with which Lewis had the most prominent success. When Best Mate died suddenly of a heart attack at Exeter Racecourse in November 2005, it was a front-page news story, and Lewis was there to see his ashes laid to rest at Cheltenham's winning post the following month, despite Valerie's death two days earlier.

Lewis was able to turn money from running the SilentNight bed company, and his own furniture business, into owning some of the best names in jump racing, teaming up with Henrietta Knight and her partner Terry Biddlecombe.

With his wife Valerie, Lewis was able to turn furniture business money into jump racing glory

Knight paid her own tribute to Lewis, telling PlanetSport: 'I was incredibly lucky to have an owner like Jim Lewis who had huge enthusiasm for the game and was very patient with his horses. He left the training of them to Terry and myself but hugely enjoyed discussing where they were going and how they were getting on. 

'He was a colourful person and he was very much a part of the Best Mate era - he loved being in the pictures. We used to call him 'Lucky Jim' because he was lucky and he had some very nice horses that won some very big races.'

Lewis and Knight never watched the races together, fearing a superstition that would undo their hard work, but they were frequently united in the winners' enclosure at the end.

Henrietta Knight, right, fondly remembers working as trainer of Best Mate alongside Lewis

Knight, 76, said Lewis's death had made her yearn for the old-school days of racing, before fast technology. She announced her retirement from training in May 2012.

Knight added: 'Those Gold Cups were magic and it was a pretty amazing day in 2000 when Edredon Bleu won the Queen Mother Champion Chase - that was a great day. We just had some great days and a lot of fun. Racing was fun then and I feel the pace that racing goes now, an element of the fun is removed.

'I think Jim's passing is a big reminder of how things were 20 years ago when everything was done much slower. We were amateur and it is much more professional now.'

Lewis is survived by his wife Jennifer, three children and four grandchildren.