ON Goffs Thyestes Day late in January, an Irish trainer travelled a very long way with one horse – and it was not to picturesque Gowran.

Balrath to Huntington entails a 24-hour-round journey, give or take. We parrot our purses in this country but on the same day that Monkfish collected just over €21,000 for winning the Grade 2 Galmoy, Brides Hill scooped nearly £29,000 – that’s nearly €34,000 – for winning a listed race for mares only in Cheshire.

Jeremys Flame had won the heat for Gavin Cromwell 12 months earlier and the Co Meath trainer has recently established himself as an exceptionally canny operator when it comes to placing his steeds.

Coming towards the end of January, he was closing in on £300,000 collected from British raids alone this season, which is quite something when Cheltenham and Aintree await. Incredibly, the only trainer in Britain or Ireland to have winners at Cheltenham’s October, November, December and New Year’s Day meetings was Gavin Comwell.

“We have targeted the UK, yes,” he told me in mid-January. “In October, we looked at past results and noted some small fields for certain races. A couple of novice chases for Flooring Porter and My Mate Mozzie were definitely easier for them to win at Cheltenham.

TOUGHER AT HOME

“I thought it was much better to go. It’s expensive enough to go across so we’re selective to give us the best chance when it’s worth our while. It’s tougher in Ireland,” he adds.

“Gavin Cromwell,” says his website, “is a trainer with a difference. A farrier by trade, he has shod Gold Cup and Grand National-winning horses along with an Olympic gold medalist.”

Cromwell used to be known as the farrier who trained the odd one. He had a winner in the 2012/’13 season and another the following term. In 2017/’18 he had eight Irish winners. Two seasons later he had 62. And that’s not to mention that flat horses now account for about 40% of his stock. He is well established now as one of Ireland’s ‘big four’ National Hunt trainers, along with Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead. There is a big gap to the others in the Irish trainers’ table.

Jumping tends to colour the narrative over here but one must recall that Cromwell’s first Cheltenham winner, in terms of achievement, was perhaps usurped less than six months earlier: in October 2018, he landed the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu with Princess Yaiza on Arc weekend in Longchamp for his biggest flat success.

Five months later he landed his biggest jumps success when J.P. McManus’ Espoir D’allen romped to victory in the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle.

He only ever experienced defeat once in nine hurdles starts (when he was clearly not right). He won the Champion Hurdle by 15 lengths. Time forgets quickly, one may say, but his death in 2019 was utterly tragic as equine tragedies go.

Cromwell says: “It was tragic, unbelievably unlucky – a freak accident to lose him that way. He was only five. We had to shake ourselves and move on.

“He was fresh coming in off a gallop, got spooked, reared up and fell over,” he says. “We thought he might’ve been concussed, but it transpired he’d cracked a bone in the base of his neck and unfortunately we had to put him to sleep two weeks later.

“He will never be forgotten about. Absolutely. How could you? I have a massive picture of him in our hall in the house. Every morning I come down the stairs and look at it. It’ll be there forever more. You move on and thankfully we’ve had good horses since. To get a horse to win a Champion Hurdle is once in a lifetime; thankfully he did.”

Flooring fairytale

Racing desperately needs stories like Hewick. Flooring Porter’s story in many respects is better again. Wealthy owners hoover up every decent point-to-point winner so what’s left usually amounts to little. The odd one becomes anomalous and popular.

The syndicate behind Flooring Porter is made up of Ned Hogarty, who owns a flooring business in Galway, while the other members of the syndicate own a pub: hence this horse’s name. Having gone unsold at the Land Rover Sale, the gelding was bought for just €10,000 privately.

The quirky nine-year-old Yeats-bred will likely attack the National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Novices’ Chase after a pleasing run at Leopardstown over Christmas. His Cheltenham track record – 1141, two Stayers’ Hurdle wins – is not too bad. How many can run in what used to be the four-miler with those credentials?

“It was a fine achievement obviously to win a Champion Hurdle but to have a runner, never mind a winner; Flooring Porter winning two Stayers’ Hurdles was simply fantastic. All those championship races are so hard to have a runner in, not to mind win. I am very grateful.”

His record at Leopardstown is more miss than hit so perhaps Cromwell’s initial disappointment at Christmas was undue. “I suppose I was a bit disappointed at the time at Leopardstown when he was pretty well-beaten, if I’m being completely honest.

“I thought about it since. The ground was very soft and a big galloping track like Leopardstown might not have suited him either; he’s not that big and, whatever it is, he thrives at Cheltenham. We’ve had our go right-handed and that’s that but at Leopardstown I was delighted with the way he jumped.

“Hopefully he will put up a big show over there again come the Festival.”

Cheltenham hopes

I ask Gavin about his Cheltenham candidates this year – not forgetting he also won an Albert Barlett with Goffs Arkle graduate Vanillier – and it is quite striking how many runners he might have. Gordon Elliott, for whom he once shod horses, might be known for his hunger; you should certainly not underestimate Cromwell’s hunger.

He says: “We should have two for the Paddy Power Mares’ Chase: Brides Hill and Limerick Lace, who was second in the Troytown. Conditions will suit both, two good mares in their own right. Dinoblue is a very good mare but they’ll have some kind of chance.

“Bottler’secret, who did well on the flat for Ciaran Murphy, is a juvenile I think a lot of. He has an entry in the JCB Triumph Hurdle.

“We’ve Path D’oroux likely for the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual. He was very unlucky at Christmas at Leopardstown, falling at the last. Hopefully he can show up in the Grand Annual.

“Stumptown goes for the Festival Trophy Handicap Chase as he’s too high for the Kim Muir. It’ll be hard for him but he can run with credit. Perceval Legallois could go for the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir. On a going day he can run well.

“Inothewayurthinkin has options. Only By Night is much better than her Lingfield effort in January, take note of her. I like her a lot and she can go for the mares’ novice.

“Letsbeclearaboutit will go for a handicap. Yeah Man could be another for the Kim Muir, having been very unlucky this year in two big Ascot handicaps. He’ll get his day yet, I hope. And Flooring Porter needs no introduction. I wouldn’t rule out the Stayers’ Hurdle yet!

“My Mate Mozzie is in the Arkle but will more likely go to the Grand Annual. The better the ground the better his chance.”

Owner-breeder Troy Cullen is well-known in racing circles and I asked him what sets Gavin Cromwell apart. Cullen’s knowledge of the game and race-planning has certainly played its part in the yard’s fine 2024.

“I’d say it’s Gavin’s attention to detail, his drive to keep improving and the staff that he has in place that makes him such a good trainer. The yard is full of very good riders and staff plus the team in the office work exceptionally hard to try and keep the show on the road.

“As for the race planning, it is made easy when you’ve Keith Donoghue and Gavin to discuss plans with.

“They have a wealth of knowledge but, yes, we put a good bit of work into the placing of the horses. We try to plan well ahead and to target certain races and meetings we think might offer good opportunities. In fairness to Gavin, he’s very open to running the horses anywhere if he thinks they’ve a sporting chance.”

The website bio goes on to call Cromwell “one of the hidden gems in the Irish training ranks” – that may need a little updating. Cromwell has become one of the biggest and best in the game – and he’s hungry for more. Some months ago, he acquired a field beside his gallops. It did not come cheaply.

“At the moment we are building a new gallop on the new land, a five-furlong woodchip gallop up a hill that joins onto a two-and-a-half-furlong circle we had. We are well on the way to putting that in and it should be there around Cheltenham. It’ll be a huge asset, especially for the flat horses. We are constantly trying to update everything.”

Be it Ascot or Cheltenham, Gavin is a threat to all. It looks odds-on he will add to his Festival tally this year; regardless, watch out for him on the flat this summer. There’s no end to his ambition or how far he can go.