Daughter of legendary racehorse trainer Fred Winter took her own life

The racing world was plunged into mourning when Joanne Winter, daughter of legendary jockey and racehorse trainer Fred Winter (pictured), died on Christmas Eve last year.
The hearing in Oxford on April 19 was told that 54-year-old Miss Winter, who had her own stables, Winter Racing, near Lambourn, had never come to terms with the death of her partner of five years, David Berry, who died of pancreatic cancer in June 2011.
Her body was discovered at her cottage in Ashbury, by her twin sister Denise Sherwood.
Mrs Sherwood told the inquest that her sister would shake uncontrollably and feared for her future for months after the death of Mr Berry.
She said: “She was greatly affected by the death. At no given time did I feel she got back to normal. She didn’t seem to be able to concentrate on normal activities and couldn’t go out on her own.
“She struggled terribly with the whole scenario. She hadn’t been looking forward to Christmas, she was nervous about it. I think it was the memory of the previous year when David was diagnosed. It was not going to be an easy time for her.”
Miss Winter, a friend of fellow Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson and one of three daughters of Fred Winter – who won the Grand National twice as a jockey and twice as a trainer – had been seeing psychiatrist Dr Ripudaman Singh Deo for three months after taking an overdose last September.
Dr Deo said: “She was suffering gravely with her partner’s death. She often said she didn't know how she was going to live without him, and felt empty and a complete void and was struggling with loneliness.”
Coroner Nicholas Gardiner said: “I have to conclude that Miss Winter took her own life by hanging herself in her own home. It was clearly a very stressful time for her dating back to when David was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.”
Following the tragedy, another friend, Newbury Weekly News racing correspondent Luke Harvey, said that he and mutual friend Nicky Henderson were, “like everyone else in Lambourn’s close-knit community, gutted by the news.”
Another friend, former trainer and author Jenny Pitman, said at the time: “We’ve known her a very long time and she was a good friend. She is someone, I’m sure, who will be missed by an awful lot of people.
“Joanne was always the same - very honest, very kind and very fair. She dealt with everybody the same. She will be missed for that and for the nice person that she was.”
Miss Winter is survived by her mother Di and sisters Denise and Philippa.