Henry de Bromhead

Yes, it's Derby week in Epsom and Chantilly, and it's all about the Classic generation, but as we briefly cast our minds back over the past seven days, let's hear it for the oldies. At ParisLongchamp on Sunday, the 6-year-olds Skalleti (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) and Marianafoot (Fr) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) pulled off a group-race double on a stellar weekend for owner Jean-Claude Seroul and trainer Jerome Reynier, while their younger stable-mate Elusive Foot (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) brought up a memorable treble in the Quinté. These followed Saturday's listed Derby du Medoc...

The crowning moment in an extraordinary week for Henry de Bromhead was provided by not one but two horses when Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) beat his stable-mate A Plus Tard (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}) in steeplechasing's greatest prize, the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The victory of Barry Maloney's 8-year-old also wrote de Bromhead's name in the history books as the first person to train the winners of the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup in the same year.  "This is crazy stuff, it's not reality," said the trainer as...

"Out of this world," was how Rachael Blackmore described her week at Cheltenham so far, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the top echelon of National Hunt racing is very much her world. The 31-year-old now leads the jockeys' table with five Festival winners in the last three days, with Jack Kennedy her closest pursuer on three. Two of her triumphs have come on horses owned by Cheveley Park Stud, which has now celebrated two winners at each of the last three Cheltenham Festivals. Wednesday's victory of Sir Gerhard...

Henry de Bromhead's magical week continued at Cheltenham when Put The Kettle On (Ire) (Stowaway {Ire}) added victory in the G1 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase to the success of Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) and Rachael Blackmore in Tuesday's G1 Champion Hurdle.  Both winners created a piece of National Hunt history, with Put The Kettle On becoming the first mare to win the Champion Chase, while Blackmore was the first woman to ride the winner of the Champion Hurdle. Notably, both mares had triumphed at the previous year's Festival, in...

Jump racing was lifted from the doldrums on the opening day of Cheltenham as Rachael Blackmore became the first woman to win a championship race at the Festival aboard Kenny Alexander's unbeaten Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}). Her 7-year-old mount in turn continued her flawless career to become the third mare in five years to win the G1 Unibet Champion Hurdle following Annie Power (Ire) (Shirocco {Ger}) and last year's winner Epatante (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}), who had to settle for third this year, the two mares being split...

Richard Thompson of Cheveley Park Stud has confirmed that the operation will be removing eight horses from the stable of Gordon Elliott, who is currently under investigation by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) following the publication of a disturbing photograph of the trainer sitting astride a dead horse. Envoi Allen (Fr) (Muhtathir {GB}), unbeaten in 11 races and widely regarded as the best novice chaser in training, will switch to the stable of Henry de Bromhead, who already trains the Grade 1-winning chaser A Plus Tard (Fr) (Kapgrade {Fr})...

Aerclub (Ire) (Charm Spirit {Ire}), two-for-two in his young career, is set for a new chapter in the Far East having been sold to race in Hong Kong. The €18,000 Osarus yearling--who was bought for 45,000 gns at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up & HIT Sale in May last year--impressed in winning both his starts for Henry de Bromhead and owner Stephen McCarthy, beating Joseph O'Brien's subsequent dual winner Dune Of Pilat (Fr) (Medaglia d'Oro) on his racecourse bow at Dundalk in November. The grandson of G3 Prix Quincey heroine Ing...

CHELTENHAM, UK—International Women's Day carried over from Sunday to Tuesday for the curtain up of the Cheltenham Festival at which three of the day's four Grade 1 contests were won by mares bred in Ireland, France and Britain. Admittedly, one of those races was restricted to mares only but the Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle provided arguably the contest of the day, between the Willie Mullins-trained favourite Benie Des Dieux (Fr) (Great Pretender {Ire}) and Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}), the headline act in a strong team of jumps mares owned by...