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Simply put, no, not quite, at least not according to Timeform.The international ratings organisation actually has The Lion In Winter is joint-second place, alongside the filly Lady Victoria, with a Timeform Annual Rating of 119p, and the pair rated 1lb inferior to Shadow Of Light. Neverthless, The Lion In Winter, owned by John Magnier and his Coolmore associates Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith and trained by Aidan O’Brien, remains top-priced 6/1 favourite for the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby, and 10/1 for the St. Leger.

The unbeaten son of 2009 Cartier Horse of the Year Sea The Stars displayed a potent turn of foot when winning his maiden, over seven furlongs, at the Curragh in July 2024. He then made a seamless transition to Pattern company when accounting for Wimbledon Hawkeye and the hitherto unbeaten Ruling Court in the Acomb Stakes, also over seven furlongs, at York the following month.

The Lion In Winter missed his next intended engagement, in the Goffs Million, the most valuable race in Europe for juveniles, at the Curragh in late September with a bruised foot. He was subsequently re-routed to the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket a month later, but was withdrawn on the morning of the race with an abscess.

Reflecting on the latter decision, O’Brien said, “You race them at two to teach them for next year and I suppose we saw plenty from him the last day. It would be tough ground too and that might not have been ideal to bottom him in that either.”

Nowadays, the Prestbury Juvenile Hurdle is a Grade 2 contest, having been promoted to that status in 2004, and is run, for sponsorship purposes, as the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle. Unlike the Triumph Hurdle, which is run over two miles and a furlong, or thereabouts, on the New Course at Cheltenham, the Prestbury Juvenile Hurdle is run over two miles and half a furlong on the slightly sharper, faster Old Course.

Of course, the race is also scheduled for day two of the November Meeting at Cheltenham, several months before the Triumph Hurdle, which is scheduled for day four of the Cheltenham Festival in March. Consequently, it’s perfectly understandable that trainers will have left something to work on so far ahead of the juvenile hurdling championship.

J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited (JCB) has sponsored the Triumph Hurdle since 2002, but didn’t take over sponsorship of the Prestbury Juvenile Hurdle until 2010. In the last 14 seasons, just one horse, Defi Du Seuil, owned by John P. McManus and trained by Philip Hobbs, has won both races. Indeed, the French import went through the 2016/17 season unbeaten in seven starts, including not only the Triumph Hurdle, but also the Future Champions Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow and the Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree.

By contrast, the last four winners of the Triumph Hurdle – Majborough (2024), Lossiemouth (2023), Vauban (2022) and Quilixios (2021) – all finished in the first three in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown in February, with the last two named winning that race.

The Grand National may not be, as Clare Balding once put it, ‘the bloodletting madness that it was’, but nonetheless remains a unique, but fair, challenge for horse and rider. Significant, and often controversial, changes to the Grand National course, conditions, etc., aimed at promoting the safety of participants, have been criticised by some traditionalists, but the Grand National is, no doubt, a much higher-class affair than was once the case.

With the weights compressed in recent years, horses carrying 11 stones, or more, have fared better than had previosuly. Following a 22-year hiatus between Corbiere (1983) and Hedgehunter (2005), seven horses – Mon Mome (2009), Don’t Push It (2010), Ballabriggs (2011), Neptune Collonges (2012), Many Clouds (2015), Tiger Roll (2019) and I Am Maximus (2024) – in the last 18 runnings of the Grand National have all carried at least 11st 0lb to victory at Aintree.

As far as weights carried in the National are concerned, it is worth noting that the maximum weight to be carried was reduced to 12st 0lb in 1956, 11st 12lb in 2002 and 11st 10lb in 2009, before being increased back to 11st 12lb in 2023. In early times, Cloister (1893), Manifesto (1899), Jerry M (1912), Poethlyn (1919) all won the Grand National under 12st 7lb. Manifesto deserves another honourable mention, too, for humping 12st 13lb into third place on his return to Aintree in 1900. The highest weight ever carried in the Grand National, though, was the eye-watering 13st 4lb shouldered by the 1939 winner Lottery when he tried again in 1941; he failed to complete the course, pulling up on the second circuit.

The late Frederick ‘Fred’ Winter, who died on April 5, 2004, was a force majeure in National Hunt racing for three decades, first as a jockey, and latterly as a trainer. Among his many other acccolades, Winter remains the only man to have won the Champion Hurdle, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National as both jockey and trainer.

As far as the Cheltenham Gold Cup is concerned, Winter has three winners to his name, two as a jockey and one as a trainer. As a jockey, he opened his account on Saffron Tartan, trained by Don Butchers, who justified favouritism in 1961, beating his nearest market rival, Pas Seul, trained by Bob Turnell and ridden by Dave Dick by a length and a half. The following year, Winter rode Mandarin, trained by Fulke Walwyn, who had finished third in 1961, but went two places better when beating dual Champion Chase winner Fortria, trained by Tom Dreaper and ridden by Pat Taaffe, by a length.

Winter retired from race riding in 1964 and, rather reluctantly, turned his hand to training. Remarkably, though, he saddled the winner of the Grand National, in each of his first two seasons, Jay Trump in 1965 and Anglo in 1966. It was not until 1977/78, the season in which he would win the seventh of his eight trainers’ titles, that Winter would win his one and only Cheltenham Gold Cup with Midnight Court, ridden by his stable jockey John Francome.