Pendil

Pendil was Fred Winter`s best steeplechaser and was one of a very few great horses who, along with Carvill`s Hill, Thomond, and One Man never won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Pendil raced in the golden era of chasing in the same yard as Lanzarote, Bula, Crisp and Killiney with Richard Pittman as the stable jockey.

Pendil won the King George VI Chase at Kempton in a canter in 1972 and 1973 and destroyed them in the 1973 Massey Ferguson Gold Cup defying 12st 7lbs and giving 34lbs to Helmsman. When he beat Game Spirit at Newbury in October 1974 he had won 16 of 18 races over fences.

He started as odds on favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cups of 1974 and 1975. In 1974 he was going too well, rounded the home turn, went to the front, jumped the last in the lead, briefly lost his concentration and allowed The Dickler to pass him, only to rally close to the line to be beaten a short half head. In 1975 he was cruising down the hill, when brought down when High Kenn fell.

There is no doubt that Pendil was one of the most brilliant jumpers of a fence that any of us will ever see and the famous picture taken by Ed Byrne Of Pittman and Pendil in mid air at Kempton pictorially summarised the athleticism, skill, courage and bravery that is required of a steeplechase jockey and horse.

Pendil was injured in early 1975 and made a brilliant comeback in December 1976 after 22 months off when he won a 2.5 mile chase at Kempton.

However he never really regained his former sparkle and he was retired in 1977. He now lives his life quietly in a field in Newmarket thinking of what could have been.