THE REMARKABLE RISE OF GAVIN CROMWELL

When Gavin Cromwell was carrying out his rounds as farrier, little did he think his career would change so much that instead of shoeing champions he would end up training them.

With ambitions of a career as a jockey short lived, the 50-year-old soon turned his attention to working alongside horses in an altogether different capacity that would become his trade.

Not one afraid of graft and hard work, the father-of-three soon built up an established farrier business that could have set him up for life had he wished it to be that way.

Cromwell said: “I started with a racing background as I worked for Dessie Hughes in the summer holidays from school and then I went on to work in Newmarket for Ben Hanbury and Paul Kelleway.

“I then went and did a year in Australia, and I finally accepted that I wasn’t going to be a jockey so I served my time as an apprentice farrier.

"I was a full-time farrier for a good 20 years, then part time again for another five years.

“Along the way I’ve shod a lot of racehorses as I was Gordon Elliot’s farrier. Silver Birch, who won the Grand National, was the first big horse I shod, while I also shod Don Cossack, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup for Gordon as well.

“I was never afraid of hard work, and physical work, and I thought I could make a good living out of being a farrier, and I did.”

But the prospect of training horses was always something that had intrigued Cromwell. And it soon became clear that was his calling in life.

Cromwell said: “I built eight stables and put in a small gallop and trained a few point-to-pointers as a hobby.

"Over time I just started to train a couple for outside people, but we got down to just one horse at one stage. However, things picked up again.

"I had no intention of being a full-time trainer, but people kept sending me horses and I was never one to refuse them.

"I used to do the horses in the morning and be on the road at 9am to go shoeing for the day, but as we started growing that became 10am and then 11am before I would get away to go shoeing.

"It was then time to bite the bullet and make training a full-time job.

"It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was one that was probably forced on me really because I didn’t have enough time to go shoeing anymore.”

While saddling the likes of Jer’s Girl to a brace of Grade One victories in his home country in 2016 it was the victory of Espoir D’Allen in the 2019 Unibet Champion Hurdle that truly announced his presence on the big stage.

He said: "It was huge winning the Champion Hurdle with Espoir D’Allen, but it was a bit of a shock to be honest with you.

"I didn’t expect to have a runner in the Champion Hurdle and on paper it looked like a very good renewal of the Champion Hurdle.

"He was 16-1, so he was an outsider, and we thought he would run well but that we would gain experience and then next year he could be a contender.

"He ended up being a very good winner on the day. It was a bit of a shock, and a bit surreal, but still unbelievable to win the Champion Hurdle.

"The numbers didn’t really grow after winning the Champion Hurdle, but my view on it is that if you come back from Cheltenham after winning the Champion Hurdle and the phone rings it is people who are jumping on the bandwagon.

"What it does do though is that it builds confidence in all of the owners that you do have and it makes life a little bit easier.”

However, for Cromwell, while that victory was significant, he felt it wasn’t until he had celebrated the second of Flooring Porter’s Stayers’ Hurdle wins in 2022 that really turned his career around.

He added: "Winding the clock on a bit and Flooring Porter winning the Stayers’ Hurdle in 2021 was great. It was Covid year, and it was a novelty that people weren’t there, and Vanillier won the Albert Bartlett the same year.

"Going back the second year with Flooring Porter felt a fantastic achievement by the horse.

"Even though he had won the Stayers’ Hurdle I felt as though it was looked on that he got a good ride by Danny (Mullins) from the front and that he stole it.

"To go back and win a second one with crowds coming back from Covid was fantastic. I suppose then after having four Cheltenham winners, and them all being Grade Ones, was a little bit of a turning point.”

For every Jump trainer though winning the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup is the ultimate achievement.

And last season those dreams were turned into reality as Inothewayurthinkin confirmed what Cromwell thought he was capable of when galloping off with the prestigious Grade One in 2025.

He said: "We started off last season in the John Durkan, and he ran a nice race, but every race he ran in he built on it.

"He is a very hard horse to get fit, but we let him come along slowly and didn’t rush him.

"Keith (Donoghue) rode him all season before the Gold Cup and did a fantastic job with his jumping as it was very sticky the season before.

"However, while it all came together last season from when the horse arrived with us, I thought if we ever could have a Gold Cup horse then this could be the one as he just ticked so many boxes.

"After winning the Grade One at Aintree the season before, we started to believe it even more.”

However, not only was it a success that brought immense satisfaction, but it was one that vindicated the judgement of Cromwell as a trainer.

He added: "He didn’t have an entry in the Gold Cup, and it was a conversation we had about contemplating putting him in it. Between myself, Frank Berry and JP McManus we decided he would be better waiting for another year and so we left him out.

"He ran really well at the Dublin Racing Festival, and I felt there was still more improvement in him.

"In his work after that he just really improved. I suggested to the owners we might supplement for the Gold Cup, and they took no persuasion at all.

"It was on their mind as well and they were wonderful to deal with. I was under no pressure the whole way to go for the Gold Cup.

"The decision was right down to the day of entry, but I wanted to go for it as I was confident he was going to run a big race and be bang there.”

And that confidence was played out on the track as the Walk In The Park gelding downed the mighty Galopin des Champs by six lengths to lift the most prestigious prize of them all.

He added: “All the way round I was pretty happy. There was maybe a point or two where he wasn’t travelling well, but he came back on it very quickly and from the third last, we have a real big chance here. He winged the last and he was powerful all the way to the line.

"I was standing at the last fence watching it with Jake (son), who led him in, and it was great to have him there for the day.

"I felt it before the race that we had a live contender running in the Gold Cup, but I had never envisaged that before and to go and win one I appreciate just how hard it is.

"I did put my head on the block as I had the confidence in the horse, and he came up trumps, so it was very satisfying that it did work out.”

While incredibly proud of his achievements at this year’s Festival, which also included a victory for Stumptown in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase, Cromwell is not one to rest on his laurels.

And with that ethos adopted Cromwell is eager to see his undisputed stable star try and join an elite club of becoming two-time winners of the Gold Cup.

He added: "It will be all roads towards the Gold Cup again with Inothewayurthinkin. He takes plenty of racing to get him fit so I’d imagine he would have a similar campaign to last season.

"I’m not one for looking back, but at the same time it has been great to win some of these big races and hopefully we can continue doing that again this season.”