Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: 2025/26 Jumps season preview
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell sees in the new Jumps season with a comprehensive rundown of his stable for the upcoming campaign.
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Last season was our best yet
Last season was absolutely our best yet. It was fantastic. We won lots of big handicaps throughout the season and everything just clicked. We started off well in Listowel with the Kerry National and picked up a nice win at Christmastime with Perceval Legallois at Leopardstown.
One of the highlights was saddling the 1-2-3 in the Dan & Joan Moore Memorial. Any one of the three horses could have won on the day. It was a fantastic race to win, with it being so local to us. It’s a prestigious race and it made for a really good day.
The Dublin Racing Festival was another highlight, winning a big handicap and then of course the Grade One with Hello Neighbour. Obviously, the Cheltenham Gold Cup really topped off a great season.
It’s going to be hard to better that this season. We have a few more in the yard this season and some of them look to be nice young horses – hopefully they all work out. It is going to be difficult to top last season, especially when you look at winning the big handicaps like the Kerry National. Those are tough races to win and from a prize money perspective, they’re the ones that really add to the total. It will be difficult, but we’re certainly going to give it a good try.
Stable stars
Inothewayurthinkin will of course be aimed at defending his Cheltenham crown this season. He looks great after the summer, he’s training well and he’s coming forward all the time.
At the moment, the plan is for him to start his season in the John Durkan again, but he’ll need more rain as we haven’t had much yet. He’s on target for the race in his training, now we just need the weather to come.
Last season, he went from the John Durkan to the Savills Chase and then the Irish Gold Cup before heading to Cheltenham. That route looks a good fit and its tailor made for horses like him. I don’t see any reason for us to change from that path this time round.
Another of our star performers at the Cheltenham Festival was Stumptown. He’s already started this season brilliantly, winning the Velka Pardubicka. It was absolutely magic.
A lot of the credit for that race has to go to Keith Donoghue rather than myself because he gave him such a fantastic ride on the day. He worked really hard with the horse in preparation for the race and it paid off. It was a massive achievement for him, myself and the whole yard.
It took three full days to travel over to the Czech Republic, the race is an especially tough one, and then it was three days of travelling back. It was a long journey for the horse and it will have taken a lot out of him, so he’s going to have a break for the moment.
We’re unsure yet as to whether he’ll have a run before the Cheltenham Festival. Ultimately, it’s all about March and the Cross Country Chase for Stumptown.
Five To Follow
Bud Fox: This is my bumper horse to follow for the season. He’s only a four-year-old, so I think we’re likely to stick to bumpers with him this season. He’s already won a bumper at the Punchestown Festival last season and hopefully he can be progressive this term. Nothing is set in stone, but if we go down the bumper route then we’ll stick to it for the whole season.
Secret Force: He’s my juvenile hurdler to follow. He’s won on both his starts for us, on the Flat at Listowel then over hurdles in Punchestown. He was very good the last day and jumped really well. He loves jumping and has a really nice pedigree, so hopefully he can be progressive.
If You Believe: I think he’s going to make into a nice novice hurdler to follow this season. He’ll be up in trip which should suit. He won a four-year-old point-to-point in the spring, had one run in a bumper and should be a good novice hurdler this season, although he’ll be a chase in the making.
Aspurofthemoment: He’s one of two chasers to follow. He should be competitive in some good handicaps this season having run well for us all throughout the year.
Backtonormal: The other chaser of ours to follow. He is probably the more exposed of the two, but he’s an experienced horse. He’s up off a mark of 143 after he won a big handicap at the Dublin Racing Festival. He’s training really well, he’s a nice horse and hopefully he can build on last season.
Around the Yard
Bioluminescence: She ran some big races last season, but in the end, we were very disappointed with her in the Irish National. We couldn’t find a reason for her running poorly that day, the race looked tailor made for her to be honest. She’s in great order at the moment and she’ll probably stick to mares’ chases this season and hopefully she’ll be running in Graded company. She needs soft ground and she’s a big mare, but she’s a great jumper.
Flooring Porter: His recovery is coming along well. He’s actually just started back riding out, which is great. It’s still very early days and we’ll just have to see how he goes. There’s no specific target in mind at the moment, it’s very much a case of just getting him back to full health and making a plan from there.
Grandy Lane: We bought him after a nice run in a maiden hurdle at Sligo. He could potentially go back to a bumper to start with, then we’ll see where we go from there.
Hello Neighbour: He had a good season, winning a Grade One at the Dublin Racing Festival. We had planned to go the Ebor, but he picked up a small injury. He’s back in full work now and could possibly be ready for Christmas.
In My Teens: She’s out of Jer’s Girl, who was an absolute star for us and JP McManus. We’ve been schooling her and the plan is to go Juvenile Hurdling. I’m not sure where we’ll start off, but she’s jumping well at home so we’re hopeful for her.
Malina Girl: She’ll probably go back to Cheltenham for the Handicap Chase at the November Meeting which she won in 2023. She seems in good order and that’s the plan for her.
Midnight It Is: We’re looking forward to him and he’ll probably follow a similar path to last season. He’s likely to go back to the Dan & Joan Moore having been the one to take out of the race last year. He seems in good form and hopefully he can have another good season.
Now Is The Hour: He’s a horse that wants wants genuine soft ground, so we’ll be waiting for the rain to come for him. He’s still a maiden over fences, so it makes sense to try and land a maiden chase with them, then we can set our sights on handicapping. He’ll stay past three miles, so could be one for staying chases.
Only By Night: She’ll probably start off in the second-season novice chase over two miles at Naas on the 9th of November. From there, the plan will ultimately be to target the Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Path d’Oroux: We’ll probably come back to two miles with him this season. He’s training well at the moment and we’ll probably start him off at Carlisle in early November. He was second in the race last year after running at the Cheltenham Showcase, so hopefully he can go one better this year.
Perceval Legallois: He could potentially go back to the Grand National after pulling up last year. The big handicap chases – the Troytown and the race he won at Leopardstown last year – will be on his radar. We’ll take it race-by-race with him and see how he goes. He’s in good form at the moment.
Sixandahalf: She runs on the Flat at Sligo on Friday. We’d love to get her confidence up there and get her back to winning ways. We’ve no plan beyond that, but if she runs well there then we’ll look to build on that.
The King of Prs: He’s likely to have a similar campaign to last year, going for those handicap chases. He could go up to two-and-a-half miles. He’s probably not too well handicapped at the moment, but hopefully he can be competitive of his current mark. He’s training well, he’s got plenty of experience, so hopefully one of those races will fall his way.
Thecompanysergeant: I didn’t think he stayed the trip in the Kerry National, having travelled strongly. We’ll come back to Cheltenham for the November Meeting, then hopefully we can get him back to the Festival again after he ran really well in the Plate last time.
Vanillier: He’ll be aimed at the Cross Country Chase at the Festival again, after running so well in it this year. He has been a great horse for us, but luck hasn’t always been on his side in the big races. Hopefully he’s got another big day in him.
Yeah Man: We were disappointed with his run in the Munster National. He maybe just over-travelled and was weak in the finish. He did have a good blow after, so hopefully he’ll come on for the run. He’ll have entries in all of those big staying chases.
