Inothewayurthinkin takes the last fence in style at Cheltenham

Inothewayurthinkin 'quiet in himself' following Savills Chase disappointment

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Wed December 31, 2025 · 4h ago

Trainer Gavin Cromwell says nothing has yet come to light following the disappointing effort from Inothewayurthinkin in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown.

The JP McManus-owned son of Walk In The Park was fifth in the same Leopardstown feature en route to his Cheltenham Gold Cup victory last season but, after easing to an SP of 13/2 having been much shorter in the market earlier in the day, trailed in 41 lengths adrift of winner Affordale Fury when ninth of the 11 runners in this year's edition of the Christmas Grade 1.

Cromwell was expecting a lot more from his stable star following a comeback fifth over an inadequate trip in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown on November 23, and admits he's now got to try and figure out how to rekindle Inothewayurthinkin's campaign ahead of a likely tilt at the Irish Gold Cup back at Leopardstown's Dublin Racing Festival in early-February.

Cromwell said on the New Year's Eve edition of the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “He is OK, he’s sound. He’s quiet in himself and I think that kind of sums up his run.

“He just raced very flat, never picked up the bit at all, which was obviously disappointing on the day.

“We’ve done all the usual checks, we’ve gone through them and we’re just waiting on final blood results back. There’s nothing obvious at all, I don’t know if there’s something underlying but he raced on the flat side and he’s seemed it since.

“He came out of Punchestown well and we were happy with him all along. I was happy with the run in the John Durkan, I know he was beaten 50 lengths but he was flat out. He jumped well and raced with enthusiasm, even though he was flat to the boards, whereas he didn’t at Leopardstown.

“He didn’t show any enthusiasm at all and his jumping was very sticky. Up in trip he should be well able to jump a lot slicker and everything was an effort to him. He just didn’t show up at all.

“With all the experience he gained last year, and his jumping had improved all year, I thought up in trip we were going to be competitive. We just don’t know the reason for that but hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of it.

“The main thing is he’s sound and hopefully we’ll bounce back from it. We’ll get him freshened up and the DRF is his obvious next race provided he’s OK. We’ll work on that one.”

Despite a second unplaced effort of the season, the reigning title-holder remains one of the market leaders at a general 6/1 for the 2026 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

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