Gavin Cromwell: 'Cheltenham is the Olympics of jump racing - if you have a good one, you hate to miss it'
To mark the 50th birthday of Gavin Cromwell on Sunday, and in the week of the announcement of changes to the Cheltenham Festival, here is an interview with the trainer in which he talks about his successful raids at the meeting and much more. This great interview was first published in the Racing Post on March, 12, 2024 and in advance of this year's Cheltenham Festival.
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It's not hard to see why Gavin Cromwell is firmly on punters' radars this week.
The County Meath trainer's regular success with his British raiders this season has been one of the stories of the campaign. It kicked off with a treble across the two days of Cheltenham's October meeting and has snowballed from there, with major handicap victories at Cheltenham's November meeting, the track's New Year's Day fixture and in Haydock's Grand National Trial last month, while mares Limerick Lace and Brides Hill have also won good races.
The upshot is that Cromwell has what looks like no fewer than nine serious chances at Cheltenham: My Mate Mozzie (Arkle) and Stumptown (Ultima) on Tuesday, Path D'Oroux (Grand Annual) on Wednesday, Flooring Porter (Stayers' Hurdle), Letsbeclearaboutit (Plate) and Inothewayurthinkin (Kim Muir) on Thursday, and Limerick Lace and Brides Hill (Mares' Chase) plus Encanto Bruno (Martin Pipe) on Friday.
It's been a marked change in direction this season for Cromwell, one for which he credits owner-breeder Troy Cullen, who plays an increasing role in the race planning.
"I saw the couple of novice chases at Cheltenham in October and decided to go over with Flooring Porter and My Mate Mozzie; they were worth £40,000 each. Troy has been a huge help this year and he examined the stats of the races over the last few years and noted they weren't brilliant contests, whereas they could have been starting off in a beginners' chase in Ireland which tend to be very strong, especially at that time of year.
"We got three winners at that meeting as Encanto Bruno won as well and we got a great kick out of it, so we started concentrating on it a bit more and brought some over for the November meeting, had a bit of success there and then we had to keep going.
"Everyone talks about the poor prize-money in the UK and I agree there is an issue at the lower level but there are some lovely pots to be found. Last year, Jeremy's Flame won a Listed mares' novice chase at Huntingdon worth £75,000 and Brides Hill won it this year, although it was back to £50,000."
There are certainly some nice pots up for grabs at the biggest meetings, as Cromwell is well aware. After all, he has plundered some of Cheltenham's biggest prizes in recent years and has even won two races at Royal Ascot from his only two runners there.
Cromwell is one of a select band to have won at both meeting, so how do the two winner's enclosures compare?
"They are both absolutely amazing but I suppose they are two different beasts," he says. "Cheltenham is Cheltenham, how do you even describe it? The walk back is absolutely incredible, it's just the theatre of racing. It's the Olympics of the jumps game and if you have a good horse, you hate to miss it."
Cromwell's first gold medal came in 2019 when the JP McManus-owned Espoir D'Allen confounded the trends by thundering 15 lengths clear in the Champion Hurdle, becoming just the second five-year-old to take the crown since 1985.
His arrival at Danestown was predicated on the exploits of a homebred Jeremy filly who was led out of the sales ring at Goffs unsold at €6,800 as a yearling. Jer's Girl provided Cromwell with two seminal Grade 1 triumphs at Fairyhouse and Punchestown in 2016 and the fact she donned the famous green and gold hoops in doing so proved pivotal.
"Jer's Girl was owned and bred by a local man, Gus Bourke, from just outside Drogheda," he recalls. "We had her entered in the Grade 1 Mares' Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse and Gus said he would consider selling her if someone expressed an interest. I got a call midweek to say JP McManus was interested, we got the deal done on Good Friday and she won her Grade 1 on Easter Sunday.
"It was a great start and the association with JP and Noreen developed from there. That summer, they sent me a young horse who turned out to be Espoir D'Allen."
Three years later the horse caused a 16-1 upset in the Champion Hurdle, winning a race that was meant to be all about the big three of Buveur D'Air, Laurina and Apple's Jade.
"It was just surreal," says Cromwell. "It was a bit of a shock as we were against three serious horses, but Buveur D'Air fell and the two mares underperformed. However, it was a huge performance no matter which way you look at it."
Five months later a freak accident on the gallops meant his Champion Hurdle performance was to be his last.
"It was a sad end and a massive blow. But you have to dust yourself off and keep going. To look at the upside of it, a lot of horses didn't get to reach their potential, and I don't think he did either, but at least he got to win a Champion Hurdle."
It didn't take Cromwell too long to find another superstar who is still going strong to this day. Flooring Porter's form took off in the summer of 2020 and a 'sliding doors' moment that December has led to him winning two of the last three runnings of the Stayers' Hurdle and he will bid to regain his crown on the cards this week.
"He won at Navan in December 2020 and my assistant at the time, Feidhlim Cunningham, persevered and convinced me to supplement him for the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown. It was going to cost ten grand to put him in, so it wasn't to be sniffed at, and it closed in an hour. I phoned up Ned Fogarty [one of the members of the syndicate that owns Flooring Porter] and the answer was, 'Yes' straight away. It was a very brave call from them."
Would he have appeared in the Stayers' Hurdle that season if he hadn't been supplemented at Christmas? "That's it, you don't know," says Cromwell, puffing out his cheeks. "I suppose you make your own luck."
Flooring Porter went on to win the Stayers' Hurdle at 12-1, a day before Vanillier added the Albert Bartlett for Cromwell. Danny Mullins rode him to another all-the-way victory in the race in 2022, while he was beaten three and three-quarter lengths into fourth by Sire Du Berlais last year after suffering a setback that hindered his preparation.
Now nine, Flooring Porter has been chasing this season, but the allure of trying to win a third Stayers' Hurdle "before he gets too old" has proved the deciding factor in choosing his Cheltenham target and his trainer takes encouragement from the fact he is in a peculiar state of mind.
"He's very genuine but has his quirks," smiles Cromwell. "He still has that touch of madness which you love to see in him; he needs it. I can see it in him at the moment. If he wasn't like that, you'd be wondering is something amiss with him.
"We decided to go to Cheltenham fresh and thankfully we have had a clearer run this time. We schooled him over hurdles the other day. He was a bit high the first time, a little bit low the second time and then the third time, he was electric. He doesn't take too long to learn, he's a very, very intelligent horse."
The sight of half a dozen two-year-olds sauntering back to base after another day at school suddenly disturbs our Cheltenham chat, reminding me there is life after the festival. The youngsters will soon have a new playground as the latest addition to Danestown, a five-furlong woodchip gallop up a hill, becomes ready for use, something Cromwell says "will be a massive asset for both jumpers and Flat horses".
It's a sign of Cromwell's continuous push for improvement in his bid to match the likes of Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead.
"I always like to finish every day, every week having improved something," he says. "You can be absolutely sure the likes of Willie and Gordon are the same. If you want to stay in the game, you have to grow and try to chase the top trainers. Willie obviously has a massive dominance but if we get the right horses, we've shown we are capable of beating him. We just need to keep working on getting the right type of horses and the owners to buy them.
"I have huge admiration for what he has done and both himself and Aidan O'Brien are absolute world leaders at what they do. We're lucky to have them as they push us all, they set such a high bar, you just have to keep pushing forward to grow."
A good week at Cheltenham would certainly accelerate that process.
- Gavin Cromwell took his Cheltenham Festival tally to six last season, scoring with Inothewayurthinkin (Kim Muir) and Limerick Lace (Mares' Chase), while Flooring Porter last week routed his rivals in the Kerry National
Read more about the changes to the Cheltenham Festival:
What you need to know - these are the changes made to the Cheltenham Festival race programme
Amateur jockeys were not consulted over 'bitterly disappointing' changes to National Hunt Chase
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