Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle

The Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle is a handicap for four-year-olds at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

The Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle takes place on the 12th of March 2024.

It was introduced in 2005 as an alternative for horses who fell short of the Triumph Hurdle standard and named in honour of the legendary jockey and trainer.

It is over two miles and was promoted from listed level to Grade 3 status in 2009. It is currently run as The Boodles Juvenile Hurdle.

Find out more about the Fred Winter Boodles Novices Hurdle:

Race Overview – The Fred Winter Hurdle

The Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle, also known as the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle for sponsorship purposes, is a Grade 3 National Hunt hurdle competition held in Great Britain for horses aged four years.

It is run over a distance of around 2 miles and 2 furlongs on the Old Course at Cheltenham, and there are eight hurdles to jump during the race.

It is a handicap event for juvenile novice hurdlers that takes place every year on the 1st day of the Cheltenham Festival.

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Boodles Juvenile Hurdle Previous Winners

Check out the previous winners for this race:

Famous Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle Winners

David Pipe’s Gaspara completed a notable big race double when winning this race in 2007. The mare had won the Imperial Cup at Sandown just three days’ earlier and claimed a £75,000 bonus for following up at the Cheltenham Festival.

Sanctuaire landed a gamble in the Fred Winter in 2010 for Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh, returning the 4-1 favourite. The French import had won impressively at Taunton on his UK debut and sprinted clear to win by 9 lengths at Cheltenham. He would go on to win the Scottish Champion Hurdle in 2011 and was twice successful in Grade 2 races over fences.

Une Artiste was a shock 40-1 winner for Nicky Henderson in 2012. The mare was one of seven winners at the meeting for the trainer, eclipsing the previous record of five held by Paul Nicholls.

Band Of Outlaws was a popular winner in 2019, starting 7-2 favourite and providing trainer Joseph O’Brien with his first Cheltenham Festival winner.

Jeff Kidder produced the biggest shock in the history of the race when scoring at 80-1 in 2021. He had been off the track for 80 days since finishing last in a Grade 2 hurdle at Leopardstown. He would prove that his victory was no fluke by winning the Grade 1 Champion Four-Year-Hurdle at Punchestown.

The 2022 renewal looked as if it would go the way of the punters when heavily-backed Gaelic Warrior led by two lengths jumping the last. The highly regarded French import could not quite repel the late thrust of Brazil under an inspired ride from Mark Walsh.

Fred Winter Juvenile Previous Result

Check out the latest result from this race:

Key Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle Trials

There is always a large entry for this race and the majority of winners have appeared fully exposed.

Fred Winter Hurdle winners have come from a wide variety of races but the Rated Novice Hurdle at Naas has a very impressive recent record.

Band Of Outlaws (2019), Aramax (2020) and Brazil (2022) all won that race before scoring here.

Brazil won by 13 lengths at Naas but was sent off at 10-1 at Cheltenham where he denied the heavily-backed favourite Gaelic Warrior by a short-head.

Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle Betting Trends

The Fred Winter has often proved to be a nightmare for punters. The fact that the average winning SP over the past eleven years is almost 30-1 tells you all that you need to know about this race!

Chief contributors include Jeff Kidder (2021) at 80-1 and Une Artiste (2012) at 40-1.

There were also three 33-1 winners during that period; Hawk High (2014), Flying Tiger (2017) and Veneer Of Charm (2018).

The only winning favourite was Band Of Outlaws in 2019 so punters who latched on to Gaelic Warrior in 2022 cannot have been too surprised to be “chinned” on the line by 10-1 chance Brazil. That result also denied Willie Mullins a first win in the Fred Winter, one of the few remaining festival races to elude him.

Prior to Band Of Outlaws (11st 8lbs) only Crack Away Jack (11st 10lbs) in 2008 had managed to carry more than 11st 5lbs to success. Aramax (11st 8lbs) and Brazil (11st 9lbs) seem to have dispelled the theory that this is a race for light weights.

Ten of the last twelve winners had at least one victory over hurdles from three or more races.

The official rating of the winner has also been on the up. Band Of Outlaws (139), Aramax (138) and Brazil (137) were all rated higher than the previous eight winners. Jeff Kidder (2021) was rated 125 while 2011 winner What A Charm won from a rating of just 115.

All five recent winners to go on to the Aintree Grand National meeting were beaten, none of them managing better than fourth in the Four-year-old Juvenile Hurdle. Jeff Kidder bucked the trend with his victory in the Champion Four-year-old Hurdle at Punchestown.

Seven of the last eleven winners returned to the Cheltenham Festival the following season but none managed better than fifth place.

Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Paul Nicholls and Gordon Elliott share the honours as leading trainer in the Fred Winter with three winners apiece.

Nicholls won with Sanctuaire (2010), Qualando (2015) and Diego Du Charmil (2016).

Elliott’s three victories were supplied by Flaxen Flare (2013), Veneer Of Charm (2018) and Aramax (2020).

Mark Walsh became the first jockey to ride two Fred Winter winners when partnering Aramax (2020) and Brazil (2022).

The inaugural running was won by Nina Carberry aboard Dabiroun (2005).

Her brother Paul was successful three years’ later aboard Crack Away Jack for trainer Emma Lavelle.

Betting on the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle

The statistics make grim reading for punters on the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle and it remains a race to approach with caution.

There does appear to be a trend towards a higher class of entry with this race becoming a viable alternative for Triumph Hurdle aspirants.

The ante-post market for the Fred Winter is certainly one to be wary of, at least until the “non-runner – no bet” terms are introduced at the end of January.

Bookmakers are also likely to offer enhanced place terms down to fifth or even sixth place for this notoriously tricky contest.

Summary of The Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle

The Fred Winter is always a tough race to call. With so many young and potential improvers in the field picking the winner is tricky.

The winners normally have good speed and accurate jumping ability.

With many long-priced winners in recent years it is a race to approach with a degree of caution from a betting perspective.

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