How many winners has Henry de Bromhead saddled at the Cheltenham Festival?
Compared with the likes of Willie Mullins, Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls, Henry de Bromhead is a relative newcomer to success at the Cheltenham Festival. However, in recent years, he has emerged as a force majeure on both sides of the Irish Sea and, in 2021, became the first trainer in history to saddle the winners of the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the same Cheltenham Festival.
Henry de Bromhead took over the training licence at the family stables in Knockeen, Co. Waterford from his father, Harry, on January 1, 2000. However, it was not until 10 years later that he saddled Sizing Europe to win the Arkle Challenge Trophy, but he garnered further acclaim by saddling the same horse to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2011, the year in which he also won the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase with Sizing Australia.
In 2015, the late Alan Potts, owner of Sizing Europe and Sizing Australia, decided to remove all his horses from the Knockeen stable, but de Bromhead has continued to thrive. At the last count, he had 15 Cheltenham Festival winners to his name, having won the Queen Mother Champion Chase three times, with Sizing Europe in 2011, Special Tiara in 2017 and Put The Kettle On in 2021 and the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup once apiece, with Honeysuckle and Minella Indo, both in 2021.