Henry De Bromhead

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Henry de Bromhead was always going to be a racehorse trainer. Yet even his late father, Harry, a Cheltenham Festival-winning handler himself, might have been surprised at just how good a trainer his son would become.

Harry wasn’t overly keen on Henry following in his footsteps, but attempts to guide him into accountancy or less precarious sections of the racing industry were doomed to failure. So when Dad had a minor stroke in 1999 it wasn’t just the dawning of a new millennium that suggested it was time for Junior to take over responsibility for the small string of horses based at the family home in Knockeen, County Waterford, Ireland.

Success did not come quickly. It took eight years for an inaugural Grade 1 triumph to be registered and a further two for Henry to exceed his father’s best tally of 13 winners in a season. Since then, much thanks to the reputation gained for the way he guided Sizing Europe, the provider of that breakthrough victory, to seven further top level scores and a career bankroll topping £1.3 million.

The de Bromhead name has become ever more prolific on the roll of honour of the biggest jump races on the British and Irish calendar.

The 2021 Cheltenham Festival really saw de Bromhead go stratospheric as he became the first trainer ever to saddle winners of the Champion Hurdle (Honeysuckle), Champion Chase (Put The Kettle On) and Gold Cup (Minella Indo) in the same year. To put the cherry on the cake, A Plus Tard chased home his stablemate to complete a Knockeen 1-2 in the Gold Cup. The 2022 Cheltenham Festival proved just as successful with A Plus Tard reversing the form with Minella Indo in the Gold Cup finishing first and second as well as Honeysuckle putting in a magical performance to win back to back Champion Hurdles.

Check out our whole list of horse trainers at RacehorseClub here.