What are the different types of obstacle in National Hunt racing?

What are the different types of obstacle in National Hunt racing? With the exception of the confusingly-named ‘National Hunt Flat Race’, which involves no obstacles at all, all National races are contested over hurdles or fences. Hurdles are the lower, less substantial type of obstacle. Each hurdle consists of brushwood, cut and fashioned into panel that stands at least 3’6″ high. Individual hurdles, which must be uniform across the racecourse, are installed, side-by-side, to create what is known as a ‘flight’ of hurdles. Each flight, of which there must be eight in the first two miles of a race, measures a minimum of 3’1″ high and 30′ wide.

By contrast, steeplechase fences are higher and more substantial; they consist of a rigid frame, made of steel or wood and stuffed with real birch cuttings or plastic birch, to create an obstacle at least 4’6″ high. Unlike hurdles, which are often knocked flat during a race, fences are much less forgiving . Furthermore, a so-called ‘plain’ fence may be preceded by a shallow ditch, a few feet wide, to create an ‘open ditch’. The cross country course at Cheltenham, which is only used a few times a year, features idiosyncratic obstacles, natural and man-made, including living trees, shrubs and bushes, banks, ditches and rails. It is very much a ‘specialist’ course and the only one of its kind in Britain.

What are the Queen’s racing colours?

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has enjoyed a lifelong passion for horse racing. Indeed, between her coronation in 1953 and 2020, when she was forced to stay at home because of Covid-19 restrictions, the Queen never missed a day of Royal Ascot.

Her officially registered racing colours consist of a purple jacket with gold braid, red sleeves and a black velvet cap with a gold fringe, as previously used by her great grandfather King Edward VII and, before that, by the later King George IV during his years as Prince Regent. Racing colours are currently supplied to the Queen by Newmarket-based Gibson Saddlers, which was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1932.

All told, the Queen has seen the famous Royal silks carried to victory at Royal Ascot on 24 separate occasions. The first was in 1953, when Choir Boy won the Royal Hunt Cup, but arguably the most memorable came in 2013, when Estimate won the historic Gold Cup. John Warren, Bloodstock and Racing Advisor to the Queen, later wrote, ‘No reigning monarch had won the Gold Cup and it gave Her Majesty great pleasure in achieving an ambition to breed such a great horse of true stamina and grit.’

Did Flyingbolt ever beat Arkle?

The simple answer is no he didn’t. Both Flyingbolt and Arkle were trained by Thomas ‘Tom’ Dreaper at Greenogue, Kilsallaghan, County Dublin, but never met on a racecourse. According to Paddy Woods, who rode out both horses on a daily basis, ‘It was never going to happen. The boss [Dreaper] wouldn’t allow it. I think he knew in his heart he’d be killing the younger horse for nothing.’

Nevertheless, Arkle and Flyingbolt, in that order, remain the two highest-rated steeplechasers in the history of Timeform, with ratings of 212 and 210, respectively. Arkle won 27 of his 35 races, including a notable hat-trick in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1964, 1965 and 1966, the Irish Grand National in 1964 and the King George VI Chase in 1965. Flyingbolt was slightly less impressive, numerically, but nonetheless won 18 of his 36 races. His major victories included the Irish Champion Hurdle and the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 1964, the Arkle Challenge Trophy in 1965 and the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Irish Grand National in 1966. Remarkably, the day after winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase, Flyingbolt was sent off favourite for the Champion Hurdle, eventually finishing third, beaten 3¾ lengths.

Unsurprisingly, Dreaper experienced significant public pressure to race his two stable stars against each other, but never succumbed to that pressure. According to Timeform, Arkle was the better of the pair, but only just, and who knows what Flyingbolt – who was two years younger than Arkle – might have achieved if he hadn’t contracted brucellosis in the latter part of his career.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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