Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle

Date	Time	Class	Distance
Tue 12th March 2024	16:50	Grade 3	2m 110y

The Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle (run as the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle this year) is the first of the handicap hurdles races run at the Cheltenham Festival, featuring 4-year-old novice handicap hurdlers.

2024 Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle Preview

The 2024 Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle has produced an uncharacteristically low price favourite in Lark in The Morning, who is trading at around 6/1 despite never having won a race in his short career.

Two other entries are priced close to him, Batman Girac, who came close to placing in a Grade 2 juvenile hurdle at Leopardstown in December and Milan Tino, who finished third in a field of seven in a Triumph Hurdle trial at Cheltenham in January.

The rest of the large field is trading above 10/1, with Woodah standing out amongst these horses having won every one of her five starts over hurdles.

Result

2024 Fred Winter Handicap Tips & Analysis

Batman Girac has caught the fancy of the punters that have weighed in on the Fred Winter, with four getting behind this entry.

The Guardian, which is in the top ten of our tipster rankings has gotten behind Latin Verse, while On The Nose, another top 10 ranked punter, has backed Palamon – and is joined by The Irish Sun and Farringdon.

To get the best value out of this race, you’ll want to back your selection each-way at Boylesports, who are paying out five places instead of four in this race.

Bookmaker Offers

Odds Comparison

About the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle

The Fred Winter Novices Handicap Hurdle (currently run as the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle) is a Grade 3 hurdles race run towards the end of the second day of the Cheltenham Festival. The race covers a distance of 2 miles 110 yards and features 8 hurdles. Entry is restricted to 4-year-old novice hurdlers.

This hurdles race tends to attract fairly modest talent, and the Fred Winter is one of the more open races run at the Cheltenham Festival thanks to this and the efforts of the handicapper on the inexperienced field.

Any bet on the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle is a big gamble, so if you’re putting money into this race ensure you back a horse that will pay off. Wins by horses priced over 20/1 are the rule rather than the exception, and while the betting markets do occasionally almost get it right, they mainly exist to highlight how unpredictable this race is.

Because this is a 2 mile novices handicap you’ll find many entries will have run over this distance recently, and top four finishes in these races can be used to separate the genuine contenders from the no hopers. Also look at how your horse has responded to similar weight, and if that lines up with conditions on race day, that’s as good a cue as you’ll get for a viable Fred Winter candidate.

Recent Winners

Year	Winner	Weight	Jockey	Trainer
2023	Jazzy Matty	10-06	Michael O’Sullivan	Gordon Elliott
2022	Brazil	11-09	Mark Walsh	Padraig Roche
2021	Jeff Kidder	10-8	Sean Flanagan	Noel Meade
2020	Imperial Aura	11-5	David Bass	Kim Bailey
2019	Band of Outlaws	11-08	JJ Slevin	Joseph O’Brien