Pendil was a

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

trained by

Fred Winter Frederick Thomas Winter, (20 September 1926 – 5 April 2004) was a British National Hunt racing racehorse jockey and trainer. He was British jump racing Champion Jockey four times and British jump racing Champion Trainer eight times. He is th ...

. In 2012

Robin Oakley Robin Francis Leigh Oakley, OBE (born 20 August 1941) is a British journalist from Kidderminster in Worcestershire. From 2000 to 2008 he was European Political Editor at CNN International. From 1992 to 2000 he was Political Editor at the BBC ...

included him in his book ''Britain and Ireland's Top 100 Racehorses of All Time''. Pendil was a dual

King George VI Chase The King George VI Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Kempton Park over a distance of ...

winner at Kempton Park and was ridden on both occasions by

Richard Pitman Richard Thomas Pitman (born 21 January 1943) is a retired British jump jockey who rode 427 winners in his career, including Lanzarote in the 1974 Champion Hurdle. He won the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park Racecourse twice, the Whitbread ...

in 1972 and 1973. One of Pendil's greatest performances was when carrying top weight of 12'7 to victory in the Massey Ferguson Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Cheltenham in December 1973 gaining revenge on The Dikler, who had pipped him on the line nine months earlier in the

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlongs ( ...

References

Further reading