#Fred Winter

Only once since 2010 has the Cheltenham Festival top trainer title been won by a British handler. Proof, as if needed, that the best horses are in Ireland was there for all to see last year. Willie Mullins heads Cheltenham top trainer odds once again with the bookies with what looks a top Festival team. These are our five best betting sites for…

7 February 2022 By Roger Kennedy [email protected] Starting on Tuesday, 15 March and continuing till Friday, 18 March, the Cheltenham Festival is almost upon us. If you want to get your ante post bets in, now is likely the best time to start picking your horses for each race. Of course, you will need some information on the favourites to win major…

Perseus Way (Jamie Moore) jumps the final flight to win the Chatteris Fen Friday: Huntingdon Perseus Way got another wheel back on Gary Moore's Cheltenham bandwagon when running out a very impressive winner of the feature Weatherbys Chatteris Fen Juvenile Hurdle. Rather than bolster Moore's strong hand in the Triumph Hurdle, the 10-11 chance could…

Newcastle's Flat card features a conditions race over a mile and a quarter with some smart older performers entered up. They include the John & Thady Gosden pair Harrovian and Forest of Dean who finished third and fifth respectively in a listed race at Lingfield in November which has thrown up some winners since. This looks a bit less competitive,…

The week just gone over jumps was a welcome pause after the unrelenting Christmas and New Year action, but it has nevertheless thrown up several Festival clues in the last few years. The feature event at Sandown, the Unibet Tolworth Hurdle, has gone to subsequent Sky Bet Supreme winners Constitution Hill and Summerville Boy in recent seasons, while…

The final preparations are in full swing for the Cheltenham Festival 2020 which runs from March 10th to 13th. Hopes are rising that the coronavirus outbreak will not force a late postponement for the best four days of National Hunt racing anywhere in the world. Trainer Paul Nicholls has not been the leading trainer at the meeting since 2009 and is…

The Cheltenham Festival doesn't exactly have a rich musical heritage. True, the Irish folk duo who played the nearby Prince Of Wales pub every evening for seemingly 30 years did perform a wonderful rendition of The Ballad Of Dawn Run twice-a-night. And twice-a-night ratings experts took exception to the line "And Wayward Lad, he knew he'd met the…

Four teenagers feature among the 18 runners in the eighth edition of the Veterans' Final and they will be bidding to emulate Seeyouatmidnight (2021) and Pete The Feat (2017) who both took the prize at 13. Pete The Feat also went close the following season when runner-up to Buywise as a 14-year-old, more than a decade after he had made his debut.…

Word Had It: wins at Kelso in March 2021 There's just over £10000 up for grabs for this handicap, and that's a fair deal more than any of these will have bagged for a while as a feature of the race is the lack of recent winning form. The early market has Tanganyika and Word Has It as the pair to beat, but neither has been successful since spring…

Eight days later than advertised, Newbury's Betfair Hurdle will take place on Sunday afternoon, giving racing fans a nice boost after the original card was lost to freezing temperatures last Saturday. The Betfair Hurdle (3.35pm) is the feature race on "Super Sunday" at Newbury and has attracted a top-class field of 24 runners. Our tipster has a…

Reverting to hurdles having been highly tried as a novice chaser last season, the Willie Mullins-trained five-year-old was soon in an early advantage and it was one he would not relinquish. A trait of his time over fences was that he raced keenly, sometimes too keenly for his own good, and while he was racing enthusiastically for Paul Townend, the…

Altior powered to a brilliant win in the Queen Mother Champion Chase on a dramatic day at the Cheltenham Festival. The evens favourite, ridden by Nico de Boinville, shrugged off a late fitness scare to provide another big victory for trainer Nicky Henderson, who landed the Champion Hurdle with Buveur D'Air 24 hours earlier. Douvan fell at the…

He hadn't run for 644 days, his jockey hadn't ridden a winner for 255 days and he was 22-1 outsider in a field of six but Grandads Cottage defied the odds. The winner got the better of 10-11 favourite Bass Rock by a neck in the novice handicap chase under Will Kennedy, who was smiling in the rain after landing his first success since a…

Jimmy Lindley, who has died aged 86, was a jockey who overcame chronic weight problems to win a succession of big races in the 1960s and early 1970s before spending three decades as a highly regarded BBC pundit; his shrewd assessments of horses as they paraded in the paddock before races proved a boon to millions of armchair punters over the…

The festival's headline Gold Cup race will take place in its usual slot of 3:30pm on Friday 16th March The 2018 Cheltenham festival is one of the biggest meets in the racing calendar It's that time of year when horse-racing punters nationwide begin to sharpen their focus, as the jump-racing season reaches the business end. And there aren't many…

Ivor Herbert, a Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer and one of racing's most distinguished writers, has died at the age of 96. A remarkably versatile man, he trained Linwell to win the Gold Cup in 1957 and then wrote a succession of definitive books about the sport's most famous figures including Arkle, Red Rum and Vincent O'Brien. He collaborated…

The Druids Nephew has won the 2:40 USB Handicap Chase at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival. Annacotty made the early running in the third race of the day, tracked by Grand Jesture, with just 20 lengths separating the whole field after a circuit. But as Tony McCoy's Pendra faded after the last hurdle, 8/1 shot The Druids Nephew raced clear to deliver the…

First published in the Racing Post on Sunday, April 29, 2018 Speaking to former Channel 4 Racing executive Andrew Franklin, Stan Mellor - three-time champion and the first jockey to ride 1000 winners over jumps - relives his most memorable races 1948 & 1961 Victory H'cap Chase Manchester Originally I wanted to be a professional show-jumper but my…

Jury Duty: Gordon Elliott star has interesting Grand National claims One of the features of the three-day Randox Health Grand National meeting is that so many Cheltenham Festival winners return in a bid to follow up. That means there can be some value to be found with horses at bigger prices. Here are four dark horses who could give the big names…

Wednesday was one of the wettest days seen at a festival and, after watering on Tuesday night, the ground was in a near unraceable state by the time they ran the bumper. We had a drying day on Thursday and the switch to the New course also helped, but it still seems fair to assume the going will be testing for the traditional Gold Cup day…

eel the roar greeting the opener at the Cheltenham Festival this afternoon and you will soon realise how much you missed it. With two novice races of nine runners or less, day one reflects the field-size issues that have become a major concern in British racing - yet the opener still goes back in time. Nicky Henderson supplies a hot favourite and…

Gaelic Warrior won easily at Tramore on his first start since the Fred Winter at Cheltenham, where he led over the last Gaelic Warrior's return journey to Cheltenham is under way after a bloodless victory in the 2m maiden hurdle. After being agonisingly denied by a short head in the Fred Winter at the festival in March, the Willie Mullins-trained…

Conor Murphy might be a resident of Kentucky for the last ten years, but that thick west Cork accent has very much remained. One word is clearly heard though, over and over again. That word is'lucky'. Hardly surprising for a man who, a decade ago, landed the biggest bet in Cheltenham Festival history while working as a head lad for Nicky…

Dodging Bullets, bred by Flat jockey Frankie Dettori, won the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham for rider Sam Twiston-Davies and trainer Paul Nicholls. The 9-2 chance won by one and a quarter lengths from Somersby (33-1) with Special Tiara (18-1) third. Last year's winner Sire De Grugy finished fourth while the 2013 victor Sprinter Sacre -…

Brazil took full advantage of a mistake at the second-last by Fil Dor to win the Pre-Order @ IrishRacingYearbook.com Fishery Lane Hurdle at Naas. Winner of the Fred Winter at the Cheltenham Festival in March, Brazil went on to finish third in Grade One company at Aintree. He did have the benefit of race fitness on his side having finished second to…

With the Breeders' Cup in the rear view mirror, it's mostly about jumps racing for British and Irish bettors. The path inexorably leads toward Cheltenham in March, Aintree in early April, and Punchestown in late April, and there are numerous good races to follow on that path. This weekend sees Graded jumping races at Cheltenham in England and in…

Willie Mullins: saddles Hubrisko The champion trainers of Britain and Ireland clash in an intriguing Grade 2 novice hurdle and, while Willie Mullins might be the king of the Cheltenham Festival, he has an ordinary record at the track away from the four big days in March. Since the start of 2012 Mullins has saddled only five winners from 37 runners,…

It is Grand National Day at Aintree, one of the biggest days of the year in sport. We have predictions for all six Placepot contests, including the world's most famous steeplechase at 5.15pm. Get a free placepot to use this weekend with Tote. Already got a Tote account? Take advantage of the latest Grand National betting offers for new…

86 - the number of runners Alan King has saddled at the Cheltenham Festival since his last winner Only four British-based trainers - Nicky Henderson (twice), Sue Smith, Jonjo O'Neill and Will Biddick - hit the target at last year's Cheltenham Festival as no fewer than 23 of the 28 races held at the fixture were won by their Irish counterparts. That…

Paul Nolan's colt HMS Seahorse looks to have plenty in hand of his rivals on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings in the opening novice hurdle for four-year-olds, even under a penalty. Originally in training with Aidan O'Brien alongside his very smart brother Armory, HMS Seahorse failed to win in five attempts for Ballydoyle. However, having joined…

There's nothing quite like the Galway Races and it would be fitting if Dermot Weld, the'King of Ballybrit', kicked things off in style today. oltor is back for more under Finian Maguire - who bids for a sensational hat-trick - in the Connacht Hotel Handicap having prevailed 12 months ago, but can he fend off a battalion from Willie Mullins? Let the…

17:00 Fairyhouse, Monday Live on ITV4 Good efforts in valuable staying handicaps the last twice, 15½ lengths fourth of 12 to Diol Ker in Leinster National at Naas (24.6f, heavy) 36 days ago. Big effort needed to defy top weight. Eight wins from 19 NH runs. Little impact in competitive handicap company this season, well held in Topham at Aintree 10…

Day One Betting: The Cheltenham Festival with William Hill The long wait is over and the Cheltenham Festival is finally here! Day one is full of quality and features the Champion Hurdle. The best novice hurdlers go to post for the opening race, the Grade 1 Supreme Novices' Hurdle, and the runners are sure to be greeted by an almighty roar from the…

It was announced in December that following a 12-year spell that included Classic glory with Brown Panther and over 700 winners, Dascombe was to leave Michael Owen's Manor House Stables in Cheshire, with Hugo Palmer later confirmed as his successor. Dascombe revealed in March that he had agreed a lease on Uplands, a Lambourn yard made famous by…