The Free Handicap Hurdle for four-year-olds dates back to 1969. Later, Timeform sponsored it for many years. Its most illustrious winner was Night Nurse (qv) in 1975, one of the all-time greats whose mix of sheer ability and gameness made him one of the most popular horses during a Golden Age for jump racing.
Martin Pipe’s stable dominated the Free Hurdle in the 1990s but since then Paul Nicholls has been the man to follow with eight victories since 2002. The most recent, in 2020, was Thyme White, owned by the late Andy Stewart, of Big Buck’s fame.
But why “Free”? Well, in the late 60s free handicaps had been introduced on the flat and “very often pinpointed future big race winners”. Chepstow’s go-ahead manager John Hughes thought why not apply the idea to jumping? Its first running on 11 October 1969 made it the most valuable race of that season so far.
A free handicap was free in the sense that it cost nothing to enter. The handicapper selected the horses he thought were best qualified for the particular conditions of the race – in Chepstow’s case a hurdle for second-season four-year-olds – and allocated them weights accordingly. There was no computerised handicapping then. Nobody had to make entries, or pay an entry fee. If you didn’t like the weight your horse was given, or wished not to take part for whatever reason, then you would pay a fee.
The “Free” name for Chepstow’s limited handicap hurdle for four-year-olds in October has stuck with a few people, although the name was last used in the race title back in 2004. The “free to enter” aspect of it is long gone.
Sources:
Belfast Telegraph 4.10.1969
Aberdeen Evening Express 4.10.69