Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Stumptown set to miss Aintree for Cheltenham Festival defence

William Hill ambassador reveals that Velka Pardubicka winner Stumptown is unlikely to run in this season’s Grand National, with the 2025 Cross Country hero set to be aimed at defending his Cheltenham Festival crown.

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Stumptown aimed at Festival Cross Country Chase

We had a great experience in the Czech Republic over the weekend with Stumptown winning the Pardubice. It was a fantastic day to be a part of. It’s a very unique race, the crowd and atmosphere was fantastic, and it was even better to win the race.

There were three scary moments for us during the race, any one of which could’ve seen Keith Donoghue unseated, but luck was on our side. Keith was brilliant on him, and he showed again just how invaluable his experience is in cross country races. It was a long, tough race with lots of travelling involved, so Stumptown will have a good break now.

Getting him back to the Cheltenham Festival is the end goal for this season. Where we go in between now and then, I’m not too sure. He’ll take a while to get over a tough race with three days of travelling, so we won’t be running him back too soon.

We’ll make a plan, but ultimately Cheltenham is the goal. He obviously ran in the Grand National after Cheltenham last season, but that’s not really on the list for him this time – I’d say we’ll probably bypass it. Nothing is certain, but it’s not high up on his list of races for the season.

Ballysax Hank settling in well in Pennsylvania ahead of Grand National Hurdle Stakes

Ballysax Hank is doing well after his journey across to the United States for Saturday’s Grand National Hurdle Stakes. He left us last week and he’s settled in there now. He’s a bit of a favourite at the moment at Leslie Young’s stable in Pennsylvania – she’s been very accommodating.

He seems in good order and we’re really looking forward to this weekend.

Read more on Ballysax Hank’s chances in the Grand National Hurdle Stakes here