How many times did Fred Winter win the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

The late Frederick ‘Fred’ Winter, who died in April, 2004, aged 77, was a force majeure in British National Hunt racing for over three decades, first as a jockey and latterly as a trainer. As a jockey, he rode a then-record 923 winners and won the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship four times, in 1952/53 and 1955/56 to 1957/58 inclusive. As a trainer, he saddled 1,557 winners and won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship eight times, in 1970/71 to 1974/75 inclusive, 1976/77, 1977/78 and 1984/85.

As far as the Cheltenham Gold Cup is concerned, Winter also has the distinction of being one of just four men – the others being Danny Morgan, Pat Taaffe and Jim Culloty – to win the ‘Blue Riband’ event as a jockey and a trainer. Indeed, as a jockey, Winter won the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice in as many years. His first success came on Saffron Tartan, trained by Don Butchers at Priam Lodge, Epsom, in 1961 and was quickly followed by his second, Mandarin, trained by the legendary Fulke Walwyn at Saxon House, Lambourn, in 1962.

Winter retired from race riding in 1964 and took to training at Uplands, which would become one of the most famous racing stables in Upper Lambourn, Berkshire. Remarkably, Winter saddled the winner of the Grand National in each of his first two seasons as a trainer. He had to wait a little longer to saddle a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, but did so in 1978, courtesy of Midnight Court, ridden by his stable jockey, John Francome.

 

 

 

 

 

How many horses have won the Champion Hurdle three times?

The Champion Hurdle is, as the name suggests, is the two-mile hurdling championship and has been a fixture of the Cheltenham Festival since 1927. In its history, the Champion Hurdle has thrown up five three-time winners, all of whom, coincidentally, recorded three consecutive victories.

The first horse to complete a hat-trick in the Champion Hurdle was Hatton’s Grace, trained by Vincent O’Brien, in 1949, 1950 and 1951. He was immediately followed by the second, Sir Ken, who did likewise in 1952, 1953 and 1954. Next up was Persian War, trained by Willie Stephenson, in 1968, 1969 and 1970; the fourth highest-rated hurdler in the history of Timeform, he went on to finish second when attempting an unprecedented four-timer in 1971.

More recently, trainer Nicky Henderson managed to work the oracle with the talented, but fragile, See You Then, who was rarely seen outside the Cheltenham Festival, but completed a hat-trick in 1985, 1986 and 1987. Last, but by no means least, the second highest-rated hurdler in the history of Timeform, Istabraq, stood on the cusp of immortality in 2001, only for the Cheltenham Festival to be cancelled, in its entirety, due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Trained by an up-and-coming Aidan O’Brien, Istabraq had already completed a hat-trick in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and was odds-on to make it four in a row.

What is ‘Dutch betting’?

‘Dutch betting’, or ‘Dutching’ for short, is a betting technique that involves backing multiple selections in the same race. Legend has it the idea was developed by infamous New York gangster Arthur Flegenheimer, a.k.a. ‘Dutch Schultz’, hence the name. In any case, the aim of dutching is make the same profit regardless of which selection wins, assuming that one does. Of course, it’s possible that all selections lose, in which case all stakes are lost.

Fairly obviously, if the odds on each selection are the same, say, 2/1 twice, the stake is split equally between them. If not, say, one selection at 1/1 and another at 3/1, the stake is split proportionally, with the shorter-priced selection carrying three-quarters of the total amount and the longer-priced selection just one-quarter. Backing two horses in a race increases the chances of winning, but splitting the stake between the selections produces ‘coupled’ odds, which are greatly reduced. In the above example, if we stake one point each on our two 2/1 selections and one of them wins the total return is three points. In other words, we’ve staked two points to win three, at collective odds of 1/2.

When, and where, was the first evening meeting in Britain?

The first evening meeting in Britain took place at Hamilton Park Racecourse, in South Lanarkshire, on Friday, July 18, 1947. The meeting was staged on the Friday evening in anticipation of a visit by the Royal Family – King George VI, Princess Margaret, Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten – the following day and attracted a crowd of 18,000. History records that the first race was won by Culroy, ridden by three-time Derby-winning jockey Billy Nevett. On the whole, though, the meeting was regarded as something of a gimmick.

Nevertheless, an estimated crowd of 21,000 attended the Saturday fixture to see the future Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh, who were making their first public appearances together. It took a while, but the ‘gimmick’ eventually caught on. By the start of the twenty-first century, most racecourses staged at least one evening meeting during the year. Indeed, Hamilton has continued its tradition; in 2021, of the 18 fixtures scheduled for the course took place in the evening. On Saturday, May 8, 1971 Hamilton also had the distinction of becoming the first racecourse in Britain to stage a morning meeting, although it would be fair to say that that particular innovation has proved less popular elsewhere.

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