Irish trainers are riding high

IT’S been a fantastic time of late for Irish trainers in the big races, with Gavin Cromwell enjoying success in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while Willie Mullins was celebrating more wins at the Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National and the Scottish Grand National.

Cromwell—the Meath-based trainer—was delighted to see his charge, Inothewayyourthinkin, romp home in the Gold Cup and in his interview with ITV after the race, he spoke of his gratitude to the owner JP McManus and jockey Keith Donoghue for the work he has done with the horse.

“I'm speechless,” he said. “We have had great faith and I would like to give a huge thank you to JP (McManus) and Noreen for letting us supplement him. Keith Donoghue has been a huge part of this horse’s progress. He did all the schooling and working on him. A great thanks has to go to him as well.”

Cromwell was also fulsome in his praise of Inowthwayyourthinkin’s progress throughout the year, in particular how he had improved since the last time he met the defending champion.

“He is a spring horse and his year has been built up slowly,” Cromwell continued. “He was beaten seven lengths the last day by Galopin Des Champs and he hit the line really well after making a mistake three or four out. We felt he had improved plenty since then and thankfully we got to supplement him.”

Meanwhile, after having added another 10 winners to his Cheltenham Festival CV and setting his sights on a second consecutive British Horse Racing Trainers Championship, an emotional Mullins claimed to have reached the peak of his record-breaking career as a trainer after his jockey son Patrick led home an unprecedented 1-2-3 in the Grand National.

The celebrated Irish trainer actually saddled five of the first seven home at Aintree, including winner Nick Rockett. Last year’s winner, I Am Maximus, was second, while fellow stablemate Grangeclare West in third. He was notably and uncharacteristally,

emotional in the wake of the Grand National win.

“This is the summit for me, I don’t think it can get any better than this. It’s just huge. It’s like something out of a Disney film,” he said. “I don’t know if I gave him a cheer, I was just speechless. I just broke down completely. I did for about 20 minutes after. I just couldn’t help it. I just completely lost it.”

Mullins’ son Patrick, 35, is an amateur rider, as well as being his father’s assistant at a training establishment in County Carlow that is renowned in jump-racing circles. Patrick’s height, 6ft 1in and weight, 11st 7lb, may limit the rides he can take, but the Nick Rockett proved to be the ideal horse for him this time around.

“To have one horse run in the National, but then to have one your son can ride is millions, millions, millions-to-one what happened today,” Mullins continued. “It is just something else to be able to leg up your son in the greatest race of all time. You dream of winning it yourself, but to dream of putting your son up—when he was born, I said he couldn’t be the jockey the size of him, but he’s turned out to be a fantastic jockey.”

Mullins became the first Irish trainer since the legendary Vincent O’Brien 70 years earlier to win the British Horse Racing Trainers Championship in 2024. He is now bearing down on long-time leader, Dan Skelton, in his bid to secure his second consecutive title in a race which will concludes at the end of this month. He ate into Skelton’s lead with the Grand National win and that would have been further enhanced by his performance at the Scottish Grand National, where he was again triumphant, this time securing a 1-2 with Captain Cody—ridden by Harry Cobden—winning the race just ahead of Klarc Kent.