John Ingles provides a Cheltenham Festival stat to keep in mind for the meeting next month.
Cheltenham Stat: Gavin Cromwell boasts a profit of £20.62 to £1 level stakes
Gavin Cromwell sent his first runners to the Cheltenham Festival in 2017 when both his contenders failed to complete. He had just the one representative a year later, but from just two runners again in 2019, he made his Festival breakthrough with success in one of the championship races when the J.P McManus second string Espoir d’Allen caused a 16/1 surprise in winning the Champion Hurdle by the widest margin this century.
Since then, Cromwell has sent out another five Festival winners, all from single-figure raids. He had just five runners in 2021 when Flooring Porter won the Stayers’ Hurdle and Vanillier won the Albert Bartlett. When Flooring Porter retained his Stayers’ title a year later, he was one of only six runners which also included a second and a third.
While 2023 was a blank year for the yard at the Festival, again that was from just six runners which included Stumptown being beaten a neck in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir and Letsbeclearaboutit being promoted to third in the Albert Bartlett.
But Cromwell was back among the winners again last year when sending his largest Festival team yet. That was still just eight horses, though, which included the McManus-owned brother and sister Inothewayurthinkin, who landed a gamble in the Kim Muir, and Limerick Lace who was successful in the Mares’ Chase.
With a total of 36 Festival runners to date, Cromwell has therefore had a mere fraction of the number of horses that have represented the likes of Willie Mullins (491), Gordon Elliott (315) and Henry de Bromhead (166), the three most successful trainers at the Festival since 2017 when Cromwell had his first Cheltenham runners.
But with six winners, Cromwell’s excellent Festival strike-rate of 16.67% in that period with his small but select team is better than that of his better-represented countrymen and would have yielded a profit of £20.62 to a £1 level stake.
Cromwell’s success at Cheltenham extends beyond the Festival too. Path d’Oroux, successful in a novice chase there in October, is well entered up in Festival handicaps, while Stumptown, winner over the cross-country course in December, is favourite to follow up over course and distance next month.
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