'Fearless Freddie' Williams: the betting ring king who was never afraid to lay bets from JP McManus

Introducing our cast of legendary Cheltenham characters. A new instalment will be published twice a week leading up to this year's Cheltenham Festival. Today – Freddie Williams.

What made him great

Freddie Williams earned the reputation of racing's bravest bookmaker after taking monster bets from high-rolling punters. Widely known as 'Fearless Freddie', his exchanges with JP McManus at the Cheltenham Festival became the stuff of legend.

A genuine rags-to-riches story, Williams rose from humble beginnings to scale the heights of the worlds of bookmaking and business. Always prepared to stand by his opinion, he was a real character in the betting ring and embodied the battle between punter and bookie.

A tough start to life

Williams grew up in the Ayrshire pit village of Cumnock, where only a bout of childhood polio prevented him from following in his father's footsteps down the mine. It also cost him much of his formal education, but he got a job sweeping the floor at a local soft-drinks factory and rose all the way to the top of the company, making his first fortune in a management buyout.

With a passion for gambling firmly established, he bought his first racecourse pitch at Ayr in 1974. Other tracks followed but he was forced to wait a long time before gaining access to the home of jump racing. A relaxation in the regulations governing the ownership of on-course pitches allowed him to acquire the number two pitch at Cheltenham and realise a lifelong ambition to stand at Prestbury Park.

Lord of the jungle: Freddie Williams in the betting ring at CheltenhamCredit: Edward Whitaker

The famous skirmishes

The first bet Williams laid McManus, £90,000-£40,000 on Buckside at Cheltenham in January 1999, lost, with the horse finishing second.

The stakes were raised at the festival that year when the pair commenced the gentlemanly hostilities that would go on to become part of Cheltenham lore. Williams took the legendary punter's £80,000 bet on the John Magnier-owned Nick Dundee, favourite for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase, at 11-8 and immediately accommodated another helping at the same price, standing to lose £220,000. Nick Dundee fell at the third-last when travelling well.

In 2006, Williams and McManus were on opposite sides of one of the festival's greatest gambles with the owner taking a £100,000 swing at 6-1 on his own horse Reveillez, who went on to win Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase under Tony McCoy to the roars of jubilant favourite backers.

JP McManus: had frequent betting ring battles with bookmaker Freddie WilliamsCredit: Edward Whitaker

If that wasn't enough, the knockout blow came to the tune of £250,000 after Kadoun carried the famous green and gold to victory in the Pertemps Final to reward a £5,000 each-way tilt at 50-1.

Williams might have thought the day couldn't get any worse but unfortunately it did as he and daughter Julie were attacked by armed robbers on the way back to their hotel and were relieved of another £70,000.

You can't keep a good man down for long, though, and Williams soon launched himself back into other battles, of which there were countless with McManus as only a few ever made it into public domain.

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A life well lived

Williams died from a heart attack in 2008 at the age of 65, leaving an estate worth £8 million. Such was his work ethic, he had just returned home from betting at Glasgow's Shawfield greyhound stadium, having stood at Ayr races in the afternoon.

He was remembered at the following year's Cheltenham Festival with the Freddie Williams Festival Plate run in his honour.

On hearing of Williams' death, McManus said: "We had some jousts over the years at the Cheltenham Festival and racing has lost a colourful and loving character."

Read these next:

Jonjo O'Neill: the legendary jockey and trainer who beat the odds time and time again 

Martin Pipe: the unconventional genius who became a hero to a generation of punters 

Willie Mullins: the festival's leading trainer, the £50m fall and his big hopes this year 

'That's what McCoy is all about' - the punters' pal and a Cheltenham legend 

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