December 15 might be a tad early for Christmas presents, but there will be a gift that day for racing fans when Windsor hosts the return of jumping after a near 20-year absence.

Dual Champion Hurdle hero Comedy Of Errors and Royal Athlete, who landed the Grand National a couple of years after winning at Windsor, are among the equine celebrities to have graced the location before it stopped jumping in 1998.

It made a brief cameo in 2004 and 2005, staging some of Ascot’s fixtures when the royal racecourse was being redeveloped, but owners Arena Racing Company (ARC) last year pledged to reintroduce the discipline and its bold plans included transferring the valuable Winter Million meeting from Lingfield.

That means in the New Year, Windsor will stage two days of racing (January 17 and 19) either side of Ascot’s Clarence House card, creating the inaugural Berkshire Winter Million, which has £1.2 million in prize-money up for grabs.

Winter jumping means you’re in the hands of the weather

Recalling how the initial idea came about, Mark Spincer, Managing Director of ARC’s racing division, says: “It was a few years ago and we were looking at how we could be more innovative. It was a conversation [ARC Chief Executive] Martin Cruddace had about getting jumping back at Windsor, so we went away and researched it – Jon Pullin was our Director of Racing at the time and had actually ridden round Windsor during his time as a jump jockey.

“Winter jumping means you’re in the hands of the weather, so, should we get the fixtures away this season, we’d be looking to build on it and make it bigger and better. I think it will take a couple of years to establish, so we won’t make any knee-jerk reactions, but we think it’s got really good mileage.

“We started that inaugural Winter Million at Lingfield because we knew getting jumping back at Windsor wouldn’t be straightforward or a five-minute job. The concept we ended up with was advantageous to jumping, but there was always the view we would move it to Windsor when we got BHA permission.”

What makes Windsor somewhat special on the Flat is its figure-of-eight layout, which was in use for the jumping way back when, but was not considered this time round.
“I used to love riding there, it was a lovely course,” remembers former jockey Simon McNeill, whose greatest hit in the saddle came when Katabatic won the Champion Chase at the 1991 Cheltenham Festival.

“It was unique, but it was always busy with a good atmosphere and decent crowd. It was fun to ride round there – I wouldn’t say it was a challenge necessarily – but I can fully understand why, for safety reasons, they wouldn’t use that track now.”

What was licensed then wouldn’t be licensed now

A more conventional circuit, therefore, has been configured, creating a new back straight that means horses will gallop continuously in a left-handed direction.

“When we talked to the BHA, it was clear they would never let us use a figure-of-eight track; what was licensed then wouldn’t be licensed now,” Spincer adds. “That meant we put some extensions in down the riverbank going away from the course, which probably took 15 to 18 months to grow and get right. Now it’s nicely matured, and we can start racing soon.

“These things take time and can be done in half the time or take twice as long, it depends on the weather, but we wanted to give ourselves time to get it right. We’re also well supported on the Flat, so we wanted to make sure whatever alterations we made to the programme were received well by both codes.

“That had to come into the planning and then there are things such as buying roll-on, roll-off fences, which aren’t just readily available off the shelf.”

Clerk of the Course Charlie Rees, Arc executives Charlie Moore, Fraser Garrity and Rebecca Davies, four-time champion jockey Richard Johnson, broadcaster Cornelius Lysaght and the BHA’s Peter Hobbs and Wayne Hutchinson – along with their now-retired colleague Richard Lindley – are namechecked as playing pivotal parts in jumping returning, although the “list is as long as your arm” according to Spincer, who is mindful of managing both codes at the scenic site, which is adjacent to the River Thames.

“We’ve got three jumps fixtures and that will be our season,” he continues. “We’re running a dual track now and we’ve got to ensure we do our jumping in the traditional season and then give ourselves enough time to get the Flat track ready for the Flat season.

“The fixtures will not grow and if we move a Flat fixture to a jumps fixture, that means losing a Flat fixture. Switching one meeting is maybe something we’d look at depending on how well it’s supported, but that’s all we’re talking about and we’re not looking to grow the fixtures as there are only so many horses you can put on that turf whether they’re jumps or Flat horses.”

Preparations for jumping at Windsor stepped up a notch in November when horses galloped – an exercise that drew something of a mixed response, albeit aspects of that were welcomed.

“I was there – we got some really good feedback from the jockeys who rode about things we could do slightly differently and we’ve taken it on board,” Spincer reflects.

“Those jockeys who arrive on December 15 will find things are as they recommended.”

We’re really encouraged by the public’s appetite at this stage for jumping at Windsor

The experienced operator is also hoping arrivals include plenty of racegoers, saying: “We’re delighted where we are for the December meeting. I think we’re nearly sold out for the hospitality and restaurants, and the general admission is selling well too. I think you’ll see a crowd on that Sunday that you might see on one of our good Monday night Flat meetings.

“We’re really encouraged by the public’s appetite at this stage for jumping at Windsor and there might be a bit of novelty factor, but the bit for us is that, traditionally, Sunday isn’t your biggest corporate day and we’re seeing people wanting to do that.

“I think our partnership with Ascot is brilliant too and for £40 you can buy a pass and go to all three days. That’s us working in collaboration with Ascot, which we could probably do more of in this industry. We’re trying to attract people who want to see quality jumps racing at that time of year at an affordable price.”

Six-time champion jumps trainer Nicky Henderson supplied some of the horses who galloped at the venue and is understandably excited by the prospect of having runners there.

“There’s that bend after the winning post, which they never use on the Flat, but it should be all right,” he notes, referring to one of the tighter elements of the track that concerned riders, although officials have been quick to act, reducing field sizes among other adjustments.

It was always good ground and people loved it

“It was always good ground and people loved it, while Windsor is handy for us Lambourn trainers. A lot of people might be under the impression because the track is by the river that it must be wet, but it wasn’t. That was a long time ago – I might be the only trainer who can remember that – and consequently a lot more water will have been put on the Flat course, so it might not ride as good as it did, but hopefully it remains nice ground.

“It’s a huge bonus it’s started again – I think it will be terrific. I think we had our first ever double when we started training there and I certainly rode there plenty of times as an amateur.

“Losing a racecourse like we did with Towcester not so long ago was tragic and this is the opposite of that – it’s very good news and it could easily be a success, especially when you consider the prize-money on offer at the January meeting.”

Henderson’s training counterpart Kim Bailey is in full agreement and not just because Windsor was the scene of arguably his “biggest coup ever”.

“It was a horse called Sprung Rhythm, whom we backed at 33-1 and he went off at 10-1 before winning by 20-odd lengths – I loved Windsor,” he says fondly.

“The ground was always good, and I just remember it as a really nice course, which was lucky for me. I’m 100 per cent behind Windsor having jumping again and just wish we could do the same at Nottingham.

“I think the feedback has been good. That bend away from the stands is always going to be tight, but it’s a really good initiative. It’s a popular racecourse and for most people attending the big Winter Million meeting, is easier to get to than Lingfield.

“I’m thrilled. It’s a disaster Towcester closed and is still sitting there unused, so this is great news. I haven’t got any runners earmarked for that first meeting yet, but hope to have some.

“I know Windsor’s Flat meetings are popular on a Monday night – and why wouldn’t you go racing on a lovely summer evening – but I think the jumping will be popular too, it always was. I’ve nothing but positive things to say about it.”

Bailey, it seems, is not the only one with that view.

 

“Lingfield is an important jumps track”

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away is a phrase that might be on people’s minds given that Lingfield has lost its flagship fixture to create a new highlight for Windsor, but Mark Spincer, Managing Director of ARC’s racing division, is on the front foot when it comes to the future of National Hunt racing at the Surrey venue.

Eight jumps meetings are due to take place at Lingfield in 2025, but not one has the prestige or profile of the Berkshire Winter Million, although long-term fears for the code there should not exist, according to Spincer.

He says: “We’ve invested a lot of money in the last few years at Lingfield on the jumps track – the drainage etc – and that wasn’t just to host the Winter Million originally; we wouldn’t have bothered if that’s all we were thinking.

“It’s an important jumps track to us and it continues to be. Dickie Johnson helped us with that work and, talking to him, it’s put Lingfield back in contention as a very decent jumps course. Some of the challenges we had to overcome with the drainage means we might have missed horses because the ground wasn’t what they wanted.

“Now it’s more even, we’re hopefully back in the shop window for those runners and we can deliver good safe ground for them.

“Drainage isn’t a sexy subject, but having good, safe ground for horses is one of the most important things we can do.”

At pains to point out how Arena Racing Company values its jumps offering, Spincer adds: “We’ve invested in a new weighing room at Worcester, which opened this summer. I know it’s taken a couple of years but that was a significant investment and we’ve done lots of drainage work at Southwell, Newcastle and Doncaster as well, so we’re investing in our jumps tracks as much as our Flat tracks.

“We see both codes as important and won’t change that opinion.”