Gavin Cromwell's remarkable achievement and the worrying implications for British jump racing
The spotlight will rightly be on Willie Mullins this week after a phenomenal season in Britain and Ireland, but there is another Irish trainer whose achievements certainly deserve a mention.
The curtain came down on Cheltenham's 2023-24 season last week and Gavin Cromwell finished it having trained more winners than anyone bar Mullins. That is a fairly extraordinary accomplishment – particularly when you delve into the numbers behind his nine winners.
They came from just 30 runners, meaning his strike-rate at the home of British jump racing was a quite remarkable 30 per cent. They include a festival double, courtesy of Kim Muir winner Inothewayurthinkin and Limerick Lace, and a number of big handicaps throughout the autumn and winter.
Read the full story
Read award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing, with exclusive news, interviews, columns, investigations, stable tours and subscriber-only emails.
Subscribe to unlock
- Racing Post digital newspaper (worth over £100 per month)
- Award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing
- Expert tips from the likes of Tom Segal and Paul Kealy
- Replays and results analysis from all UK and Irish racecourses
- Form study tools including the Pro Card and Horse Tracker
- Extensive archive of statistics covering horses, trainers, jockeys, owners, pedigree and sales data
Already a subscriber?Log in
- It's horses rather than movies and motorbikes for young Izzi Ryder - and so she joins my list of apt racing names
- The reaction to HorsePWR shows we are on the right track, but now we must go further
- It's not complicated: a nice day out helped by nice people is what we all want at the races
- Leopardstown's Derby Trial has fallen on hard times - but could Los Angeles be the one to revive its tradition?
- Racing could benefit if great Olympian Michael Johnson strikes gold again with athletics
- It's horses rather than movies and motorbikes for young Izzi Ryder - and so she joins my list of apt racing names
- The reaction to HorsePWR shows we are on the right track, but now we must go further
- It's not complicated: a nice day out helped by nice people is what we all want at the races
- Leopardstown's Derby Trial has fallen on hard times - but could Los Angeles be the one to revive its tradition?
- Racing could benefit if great Olympian Michael Johnson strikes gold again with athletics