Windsor staged its first jumps fixture for nearly 20 years on Sunday and John Ingles looks at the history of NH racing at the track.
The ‘final’ jumps winners in 1998…and 2005
Windsor ceased holding regular jumps fixtures in 1998 with what was expected to be the final jumps meeting taking place on December 3rd of that year. Nicky Henderson won both divisions of the Farewell Novices’ Hurdle, providing Mick Fitzgerald with a double. Henrietta Knight was another of the successful trainers on the day, while the final race on the card, the Norwegian Blue Handicap Hurdle, was won by Charlie Banker, trained by Karl Burke and ridden by Norman Williamson.
But if the name of the ‘final’ race was a reference to the famous Monty Python sketch, jumps racing at Windsor turned out to be not quite as dead as Michael Palin’s ‘ex-parrot’. During the refurbishment of nearby Ascot, Windsor hosted a handful of jumping fixtures in November/December of 2004 and 2005. Among the races which found a temporary home at Windsor was the 2004 Long Walk Hurdle in which the Tony McCoy-ridden Baracouda, who’d won the race three times already at its usual venue, got the better of another Stayers’ Hurdle winner My Way de Solzen by three quarters of a length.
The last time jumps racing was staged at Windsor was therefore on December 16th 2005. Once again, Nicky Henderson was among the winners (Fitzgerald rode another double), as were Paul Nicholls and Venetia Williams, while Martin Pipe and Timmy Murphy won the last race to be run over jumps at Windsor with Acambo.
Champion Hurdlers successful at Windsor…
Windsor’s big hurdle of the year used to be the New Year’s Day Hurdle, first run in 1975 and, with some inevitable interruptions from the winter weather, run for the final time in 1998. Its most notable winner was successful in just the second running of the race, top-class hurdler Comedy of Errors having already won the Champion Hurdle twice by then in 1973 and 1975. He beat another future dual Champion Hurdle winner Sea Pigeon by a head just five days after finishing third in the Sweeps Hurdle at Leopardstown, trying to concede 9 lb to Night Nurse who won the first of his two Champion Hurdles that season.
The other Champion Hurdle winner to win the New Year’s Day Hurdle was Celtic Shot, trained by Fred Winter and ridden by Peter Scudamore. He won at Windsor in 1988 on the way to winning the Champion Hurdle a couple of months later, while runner-up Beech Road himself won the Champion Hurdle the following season.
…and Grand National winners
The Fairlawne Chase was Windsor’s most important chase, a three-mile contest run as a conditions race for much of its history and first run in 1962. It too often fell victim to the weather but its February date also made it a port of call for future Grand National winners. The first of those was the 1965 winner Anglo who was successful at Aintree the following season – his trainer Fred Winter won the Fairlawne a record six times. Specify in 1970 was another Fairlawne winner to go on to Grand National success a year later, while the David Elsworth-trained Rhyme ‘N’ Reason won the Fairlawne on the way to success at Aintree later in 1988.
The pick of Winter’s winners was former dual Champion Hurdle winner Bula, successful under John Francome in both 1975 and 1976 before unsuccessful Gold Cup attempts in both those years. He beat his sole rival by a distance in the 1976 Fairlawne in which no betting was returned.
Jenny Pitman won the Fairlawne Chase in 1992 with former Gold Cup runner-up Toby Tobias. Stablemate Royal Athlete, the 1995 Grand National winner, was also successful at Windsor earlier in his career, winning a handicap hurdle on New Year’s Day 1993.
Flat, sharp, left-handed
‘Windsor is laid out in a figure-of-eight pattern, the larger upper loop containing seven fences and the lower loop two fences. Three-mile chases take in almost two circuits. The track is flat, and sharp in nature.’
That was how Windsor’s old jumps track was described in Timeform’s Chasers & Hurdlers annuals. However, the new configuration of the course, which takes in previously unused turf, dispenses with the figure-of-eight in favour of a continuous left-handed circuit. There are still nine fences per circuit, with the five down the far side including the two open ditches. The first fence after the bottom loop is the water jump before three plain fences in the home straight.
Clerk of the course Charlie Rees explained ‘Following the feedback after our gallops morning in November, we have been able to make a few amendments to the layout of the course. Specifically, the top bend beyond the winning post will now be shared by both hurdlers and chasers. Also, the chase fences down the home straight have been moved to the far side of the track to offer horses racing on that course a more sweeping bend out of the dog leg turn. These moves on the chase course have resulted in some minor distance amendments to those previously advertised, whilst the hurdle course remains unaltered.’
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.