Winters' raider may have been well treated - but that doesn't lessen the joy
Despite having grown up in a household in which neither tractors nor strong drink were a feature of everyday life, the names Massey Ferguson, Hennessy and Mackeson were part and parcel of my childhood.
In those days, when race sponsorship was in its infancy, and before the proliferation of valuable conditions races, the big English handicap chases of the final months of the year attracted massive popular interest and enjoyed great prestige.
There are many more shows in town nowadays – and the original sponsors have moved on – but these historic handicaps can still generate great passion and emotion.
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