Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle

The Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle is the penultimate race on day two of the Cheltenham Festival. It is a Grade 3 handicap hurdle open to horses of four years. Run over an approximate distance of 2 miles and 110 yards, there is a total of eight hurdles to be jumped. The race is another one that was introduced in 2005 when the festival added the fourth day. Being exclusively for four year old horses, it is effectively a lower grade version of the Triumph Hurdle. The event is named in the memory of Fred Winter (1926-2004), whose record at Cheltenham was a brilliant seventeen victories as a jockey and twenty-eight as a trainer.

Fred Winter Hurdle Challengers

Being a handicap race the race will likely be more competitive than it’s equivalent Grade 1 race. This is backed up by the fact each winner of the Fred Winter so far hadn’t managed to win their first two starts over hurdles. This means you often find horses have a lenient handicap mark due to taking time to adapt to hurdles. This was certainly proved by last year’s winner What A Charm seventh out of eight on his final start before the Cheltenham Festival.

Trainer Alan King has been having a good campaign and finds himself with several talented juveniles on his hands. With Grumeti looking like his horse for the Triumph Hurdle it seems most likely that Vendor will be his horse the the Fred Winter. The French import made a successful winning debut, beating the useful Tango De Juilley at Newbury. He probably wouldn’t have come off the bridle if it wasn’t for a mistake at the last and it’s no surprise Vendor is top of the market at present.

It’s hard to work out the other contenders as yet as a lot of them have entries in the higher grade races too. Once again it will be a case of assessing the race fully once we know the definite runners.

What A Charm Takes Fred Winter Victory For Ireland

A great race in the 2011 Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle saw What A Charm take victory and give the Irish something to cheer about before St Patrck’s Day at the festival. Coming in to the straight there was a group of horses challenging, with Kumbeshwar holding a narrow lead. The Alan King trained gelding put up a brilliantly brave effort but ultimately the extra weight he had told as What A Charm got the better of him. It was a perfect example of the tricky nature of a handicap race for these juveniles, and it is something that must be factored in when we assess the 2012 Fred Winter once we know the confirmed runners.