Grand National preview: Gavin Cromwell entering Grand National day on a high

Willie Mullins will no doubt hog the majority of the headlines heading into Saturday’s £1million Randox Grand National, and why wouldn’t he?

Given the sheer numbers at his disposal, all the Grade One winners over the years, and this season’s late bid for top spot in the British trainers’ championship, Mullins’ horses have dominated plenty of the pre-National talk in recent weeks and after Patrick, the trainer’s son and assistant, refused to rule any of their eight contenders out of the big race this weekend, the assembled team is clearly as deep as it is wide.

Like it or lump it, Mullins’ principal rival Gordon Elliott has a block entry of eight in the big race too, nibbles of support for his Delta Work, Coko Beach and Galvin turning a little more chunky according to bookmakers on the back of Thursday’s deserved top-flight success for the yard’s rising star, Gerri Colombe, in the William Hill Bowl.

And yet on Friday, there was a third Irish trainer flexing his equine muscles, the unassuming yet increasingly deadly Gavin Cromwell firing one dart on the afternoon and striking bullseye with Inothewayurthinkin in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase, the eased-down Kim Muir winner appreciating an overly-strong gallop set by home hopes Chianti Classico and Broadway Boy before ghosting up on the outside to win going away under Mark Walsh.

Cheltenham victory for Inothewayurthinkin last month did not come as a surprise – the six-year-old had contested top-class novice hurdles last year and run behind Gaelic Warrior a couple of times over fences earlier on in this, his novice chase campaign.

Some felt the BHA mark of 145, which allowed him to run under top weight in the Kim Muir rather than in a stronger calibre of race, was something of a gift. And so it proved as he justified 13/8 favouritism.

Would the precocious son of Walk In the Park (where have we heard that before?) have even given Fact To File a run for his money in the Brown Advisory? We’ll never know, but JP McManus – who owns the pair of them – was no doubt pleased he wasn’t forced to find out. Not yet anyway.

One thing is clear, Inothewayurthinkin has made a smooth transition back into the big league and he now has Cromwell and co. dreaming big next year, the horse having reportedly done enough with Punchestown off the agenda.

“All the big races” in 2024/25, however, are firmly on it.

It was an eighth career Grade One win for County Meath-based Cromwell, a sequence initiated by Jer’s Girl, who also sported the green and gold of McManus, in 2016, followed by Espoir D’Allen (another for JP) at 16/1 in the Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham a couple of years later.

Then along came the enigmatic Flooring Porter, who won back-to-back Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdles for Cromwell in 2021 and 2022, on the first occasion joined on the top-class honours board by Vanillier, who landed the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at odds of 14/1.

And it appears to be Vanillier who has really lit the Grand National fuse within his trainer, the stamina-laden grey making up ground hand over fist from the final fence 12 months ago to finish just two and a quarter lengths behind winner Corach Rambler.

Despite Vanillier registering a clear career-best in pure form terms that day, Cromwell came away bitterly disappointed and speaks of a long-lasting sense of “what might have been”. He admits to struggling to talk about it for several days.

He probably wasn’t quite as crestfallen by the efforts of his first Grand National runner, outsider Raz De Maree, who unseated rider at Becher’s in 2017 before finishing 10th to Tiger Roll the following year.

So a crude reading of the Cromwell National record currently stands at 0-3 attempts, but it’s plain for all to see which way the arc is trending and, with a significantly healthier strike-rate of 15-55 (27%) with his runners in Britain since last September, is there really any surprise he has in the past 48 hours joined Mullins in having two of the top-six in this year’s betting market?

McManus - in red-hot form at the meeting as was the case last spring - revealed on ITV in midweek that he’d had “a few quid” on the Cromwell-trained, Walsh-ridden mare Limerick Lace at 25/1. At the time of writing her general price reads 10s.

And while many will point to her lack of winning form beyond two and a half miles as a possible negative, the fact remains she was placed over three miles earlier this year, and is 6lb well-in after a classy and gutsy performance to win the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase at Cheltenham. And clues within her breeding? Look no further than 'Exhibit A': little brother, a certain Inothewayurthinkin.

Without wanting to be overly presumptuous, I'm beginning to feel I now know the way you’re thinking.

More Grand National tips and features

• Matt Brocklebank's Value Bet
• Ben Linfoot's Verdict
• Grand National Preview Podcast
• Horse-by-horse guide
• Statistical analysis and trends
• What the pedigrees say
• Graham Cunningham: Mission possible
• 'Jumpability' ratings and insight
• Key numbers behind the National
• Simon Holt on the remarkable Kitty's Light
• Record of Gold Cup horses
• Heavy ground Grand Nationals
• National runners who love soft ground
• Grand National Quiz
• Andrew Asquith's Weekend View
• Alex Hammond Blog
• WATCH: Grand National thoughts

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.