They talk about the big four now, and Gavin Cromwell is one of those four, his place copper-fastened by the consistency of his results.
The stats don’t lie. In each of the last three Irish National Hunt seasons, only four trainers have had more than 50 winners. Last season, Gavin Cromwell finished third in the trainers’ championship.
He has built his operation from the ground up – it’s a long time ago now that he was best known as a farrier – and he has proven his versatility and his ability in all disciplines and under all codes, as well as his ability to compete and succeed at the highest level.
In October 2018, he sent Princess Yaiza to Longchamp to win the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu. Five months later, he won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham with Espoir D’Allen.
In January 2018, he sent the then 13-year-old gelding Raz De Maree to Chepstow to win the Welsh Grand National, a handicap chase for hardened, wizened warriors, run in the depths of winter over three miles and five and a half furlongs on heavy ground, in which grit and determination and stamina are at a premium. In June 2021, he sent the two-year-old filly Quick Suzy to Royal Ascot to win the Queen Mary Stakes, a race for juvenile fillies run over five furlongs on fast ground at the height of summer that tests precocity and sharpness and speed. You will struggle to find two races on the racing calendar that are diametrically opposed in terms of qualities required for victory than the Welsh Grand National and the Queen Mary Stakes, but they both came alike to Cromwell.
And last month, he won the famous Velka Pardubicka in the Czech Republic with Stumptown. No Irish-trained horse had ever won the Velka Pardubicka before.
Of course, last season wasn’t only about the numbers. Gavin Cromwell won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the blue riband of National Hunt racing, with Inothewayurthinkin. That put him into an elite club of trainers who have won not only the Gold Cup, but also the Champion Hurdle and the Stayers’ Hurdle as well.
This season has started brightly, with 37 wins on the board in Ireland and one of four trainers who has amassed more than a half a million euro in prize money. There is lots to look forward to during the weeks and months ahead.
