Fred Winter dies aged 77: Fred Winter, a legend in National Hunt racing, died yesterday in hospital, aged 77. He rode two winners in both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand Nationals and trained the winners of every big race.
A stroke cruelly robbed him of his mobility 16 years ago and he had been in a wheelchair ever since. Winter was one of the rare men in National Hunt racing who made the transition from great jockey to great trainer, but the script to his story could easily have been so different.
After retiring from a riding career in which he won just about every major prize the sport had to offer, Winter did not intend to train.
Wishing to stay in the game, he worked briefly for a bloodstock sales company before the Jockey Club turned him down for a job as a starter. It was the best thing that could have happened. Although it was very tough at the beginning, Winter soon brought the same brand of steel to his new job as he had as a jockey.
In 1965, just three years after riding Kilmore to victory in the Grand National for Ryan Price, Winter saddled the winner of the world's greatest steeplechase when Jay Trump triumphed for American rider Tommy Smith.
If that was a memorable entry onto the scene for a young trainer, he eclipsed that achievement the following year when he saddled the 50 to 1 shot Anglo to beat 46 rivals in the National.
Winter was to go remarkably close to an Aintree treble in 1973 when Crisp produced one of the the best jumping displays ever seen at Liverpool, only to be collared in the final strides by Red Rum, who went on to achieve his own immortality in the race.
Winter's Uplands stable was never short of top talent in the 1970s with the likes of Bula, Pendil, Lanzarote and Midnight Court.
The jockeys who rode for him - John Francome, Peter Scudamore and Richard Pitman - owed him a great deal.
As a jockey, Winter was champion four times and amassed a record 121 winners in the 1952-53 season. After 17 seasons in the saddle he retired with a career total of 923 and a strike-rate of nearly one winner from every four rides.
One of his strengths was his ability to bounce back from serious injury. But in the opening race of the 1953-54 campaign he broke a leg so badly that he was unable to return to the saddle until the following season.
His great courage and horsemanship were never better illustrated than in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris in 1962, which he won on Mandarin against all the odds after the bit had broken in the horse's mouth after four fences.
While most jockeys would have thrown in the towel and pulled the horse up - it was the equivalent of a car driver losing his steering wheel - Winter carried on, riding the remaining three and a half miles without either steering or brakes. By any standards, it was a phenomenal effort.
Fred Winter: Racing record
Born: September 20th, 1926
Married: To Diana 1956. (Three daughters: Twins Joanna Dawn and Denise Fiona, and Philippa Ann).
Racing colours black, white epaulets, sleeves and quartered cap.
Riding career 1947 to April 1964 with 923 winners.
Champion jockey four times: 1952-53 (121 winners), 1955-56 (74), 1956-57 (80), 1957-58 (82).
BIG WINS: Grand National: Sundew (1957), Kilmore (1962).
Cheltenham Gold Cup: Saffron Tartan (1961), Mandarin (1962).
Champion Hurdle: Clair Soleil (1955), Fare Time (1959), Eborneezer (1961).
Training career: 1964-1988.
Trained at Uplands, Upper Lambourn.
Champion trainer eight times: 1970-71 (73 winners, £60,739 prize money), 1971-72 (71, £62,396), 1972-73 (85, £79,066), 1973-74 (89, £101,782), 1974-75 (81, £74,205), 1976-77 (75, £82,202), 1977-78 (90, £145,915), 1984-85 (85, £218,978).
BIG WINS: Grand National: Jay Trump (1965), Anglo (1966).
Cheltenham Gold Cup: Midnight Court (1978).
Champion Hurdle: Bula (1971, 1972), Lanzarote (1974), Celtic Shot (1988).
First jump jockey to be made a CBE.
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