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David Nicholson Mares Only Hurdle
Race Conditions
The David Nicholson Mares Only Hurdle (5:20pm) is a Grade 2 hurdle run over run over two miles and about four and a half furlongs. It is open to mares aged five and above. The total prize fund is £100,000.
Introduction
It was always Cheltenham’s intention, assuming the introduction of a four day Festival was a success, to have a seventh race on Gold Cup day from 2008.
Discussions with owners, trainers and breeders produced an extremely strong lobby for a mares’ only event and this view was endorsed by the Cheltenham Executive who came up with this race named in honour of the late David Nicholson, who was such a staunch supporter of British breeding.
The race also perfectly supplements the BHB Race Planning Committee’s new, stronger series of Pattern races for mares during the earlier part of the jump racing season.
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Recent Winners
| Year | Horse | Age | Trainer | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Whiteoak | 5 | D McCain Jnr | 20/1 |
Watch the 2008 David Nicholson Hurdle:
David Nicholson
One of the great characters in National Hunt racing, David Nicholson died in August 2006 at the age of 67. The two-time champion trainer, fondly nicknamed 'The Duke', had retired in 1999, having taken out his first training licence in 1968.
Among his high-profile winners were Charter Party in the 1988 Cheltenham Gold Cup and Barton Bank in the 1993 King George VI Chase.
Based at Jackdaws Castle, Nicholson was champion trainer in 1993-94 and retained his title the next season.
Nicholson was also a successful jockey, riding more than 600 winners in a career that stretched from 1951 to 1972.
He began as an apprentice to his father Frenchie and rode his first winner in his first ride at Chepstow in 1955.
His big wins included the 1968 Whitbread Gold Cup on Arkle's great rival Mill House while his best season in the saddle was in 1966/67 when he had 63 winners.
Taking out a training licence in 1969, his first success was at Warwick with Arctic Coral and he went on to train almost 1,500 winners.
Aside from Charter Party and Barton Bank, his other great horses included Viking Flagship who won the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 1994 and 1995, and 1998 Arkle winner Waterloo Boy.
He also trained Moorcroft Boy, who was third in the 1994 Grand National and won the Scottish equivalent two years later, despite having suffered a life-threatening fall in the meantime.
Famed for wearing an old sheepskin coat, Nicholson's base was Jackdaws Castle, which now houses the yard of current jumps trainer Jonjo O'Neill.
Described by Cheltenham racecourse MD, Edward Gillespie as "both Cheltenham's strongest supporter and fiercest critic", the "David Nicholson Mares Only Hurdle" ensures his name lives on at the Cheltenham Festival where he won 5 races as a jockey and 17 as a trainer.