Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Riders’ Handicap Chase – St Patrick’s Thursday

Shortened by many punters to the Kim Muir, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup is a test over three miles and two furlongs. It’s the same distance as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it’s run on the same course. It is one of the races at the festival, which is restricted to amateur jockeys, so the professionals cannot ride in this race.

The final race on St Patrick’s Day is a tough handicap to solve, and not one for the punters who are looking to bag a final winner. A handicap contest, the race attracts plenty of entries and a full field.

The Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup might have one of the most unusual names of any race at Cheltenham. It’s a noble name, however, for a race that was first run back in 1946. Introduced to the Festival by Mrs Evan Williams, it was originally called the Kim Muir Amateur Riders’ Steeplechase in honour of her brother, Kim Muir, a cavalry officer who died during the Second World War.

The name of Fulke Walwyn, a trainer who achieved 211 wins at Cheltenham, 40 of which were during the Festival, was added to the race’s title in 1991.

Race Facts

Following the pattern of the other Day Three races, this is run left-handed on the New Course. It lasts for three miles, two furlongs and seventy yards, with twenty two fences that need jumping along the way.

The jockeys must be amateurs in order to take part in the race and horses must be five-years-old or above. As this is a handicap race there are no specific weight restrictions put on the horses that run. Instead the handicapper gives different horses different weights in order to level the playing field.

Previous Winners

Race Trivia

Only two horses have won the race more than once. Chu-Teh was the first to do so, winning the race in 1967 and then doing so again the following year. Ken Cundell was the horse’s trainer and two different jockeys led him to victory. First Nick Gaselee did so before David Crossley-Cooke brought him home in 1968. In 1985 the Fred Winter horse Glyde Court won the race thanks to the work of Simon Sherwood in the jockey’s position, then John Queally repeated the trick in 1986.

Though the race is for amateur riders, amateur only means that they haven’t yet turned professional. It’s no surprise, then, that a number of jockeys have won it more than once. In fact, Giles Pitman, Jim Wilson, John Lawrence, Peter Chisman, Richard Burton, Richard Harding and Ted Walsh have all won the race twice.  Ted Walsh also won the race as a trainer in 2019 with Any Second Now. The record for wins from jockeys, however, goes to Jamie Codd. The Irishman has won the race four times, firstly in 2009, then in 2011 before back-to-back victories in 2015 and 2016.

The only exception to that rule was in 2021 when due to restrictions on amateur sports resulting from the corona virus pandemic amateurs were prevented from competing.  The race has therefore been won by a professional jockey in 2021 and that was Jack Kennedy riding Mount Ida and trained by Denise Foster (in place of Gordon Elliott due to his ban at the time).

If you’re interested to know why you should watch this race other than to stick a bet on, then bear in mind that it’s a useful one for the future. In 2012, for example, Sunnyhillboy won the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup before going on to come second in the Grand National that year. In fact, Sunnyhillboy could easily have won, losing by a nose on a photo finish.

In 2010 Ballabriggs won this race before winning the Grand National in 2011. In 2016 Cause For Causes won this race before finishing second in the National. Watch the Challenge Cup, then, and keep an eye on the winner for upcoming Grand Nationals.

The History of the Name Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir

You don’t see this happen too often, but this race is actually named after two different people. To make it even more bizarre, the people are not connected, and the second name was added many years after the race was originally named.

To begin with, this race was called the Kim Muir Amateur Riders Steeplechase when it was first run, which was back in 1946.

A lady named Mrs Evan Williams was the founder of the race, adding it to the Cheltenham Festival at a time when it was looking to have more races as part of the card.

She named the race in honour of her brother, Kim Muir. Unfortunately, he died during World War II. He was a cavalry officer in the army and died in action. The name Kim Muir has been part of this race since its inception. However, another name was added later.

Fulke Walwyn was one of the greatest trainers during the Cheltenham early years, and had a formidable record both at the track as a whole, and in particular, at the Cheltenham Festival.

When retiring from the sport, he trained a remarkable 211 winners at Cheltenham racecourse. Even given the fact that we had a lot fewer venues during his time as a trainer, this is still a remarkable effort for a course that has always held some of the best quality racing in the calendar.

Of those 211 winners, 40 of them came at the Cheltenham Festival, which is what led to his name being used for a race at the meeting. In 1991, it was announced that his name would be added to the official title of this race, calling it the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup.

Top Amateur Riders Often Worth Following

The fact that this race is confined to amateur riders only means that jockey bookings are important to look out for, perhaps more so than some of the other races at the festival.

The top amateurs are in demand for a contest like this, so look out for their names on the racecard, and see which horses they have chosen to ride.

Some of the best will have multiple options to choose from, and many people believe that jockey bookings for a race like this are a tip in themselves, based on which riders have chosen to ride and which to avoid.

This perhaps takes on further significance if you spot a good jockey deciding to ride for a trainer that they’ve not got much of an association with, for example, a top Irish amateur jockey riding for a British yard.

Of course, horses need to perform on the day, but when a top jockey is choosing, he’s ultimately listening to what trainers tell him and deciding which runner he feels has the best chance of winning.