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Knockeen, Co. Waterford.
Henry de Bromhead is based in Knockeen, County Waterford and he has a glittering CV with a significant number of big winners. His long and successful partnership with the now retired Rachael Blackmore has grown the careers of both parties.
Taking over the reins from his father in 1999, the successes of Sizing Europe put him on the map, with victory in the 2008 Irish Champion Hurdle. De Bromhead currently has a total of 25 Cheltenham Festival winners but that total grows every year.
He has gone on to establish himself as part of Ireland’s ‘big three’ National Hunt trainers, alongside Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott. There aren’t many more respected trainers in the game at the moment and some of his achievements have been exceptional.
Henry de Bromhead is the only trainer to win the Champion Hurdle, Gold Cup and Grand National in the same year. Rachael Blackmore rode all three as the trainer scooped all three prizes in 2021, with Honeysuckle, Minella Indo and Minella Times doing the business.
Sizing Europe provided de Bromhead with his first and second Cheltenham Festival winners, winning the Arkle in 2010 before following up in the Queen Mother Champion Chase the following year.
He learnt his trade by working under Robert and Sally Alner, who trained The Listener, as well as established Flat trainer Sir Mark Prescott.
The trainer also spent some time working at Coolmore Stud, which means he certainly had a well rounded education!
Whilst predominantly known as a National Hunt trainer, he also has 79 Flat winners in Ireland and six in Britain. Interestingly, both of his runners at Sandown to date have won and one of those claimed a Listed prize earlier this season.
He has a 12 per cent strike-rate over Jumps in Britain and a grand total of 60 winners. The vast majority of those have come at Cheltenham and Aintree, with 40 and 10 winners at each course respectively.
Back in Ireland, De Bromhead already has 1,103 winners over Jumps and that total will grow considerably before he retires. It’s certainly worth noting that 30 of those have come in Grade 1s, including five Irish Champion Hurdles.
Honeysuckle was a revelation for this yard, winning two Champion Hurdles and a further 11 Grade 1 races. She went on a long unbeaten run from her debut in an Irish point until the 2022 Hatton?s Grace Hurdle, her 16th start under rules.
Minella Times capped off an amazing season for De Bromhead when winning the Grand
He had already won some major prizes at the Cheltenham Festival, including two of the big ones, and Blackmore became the first female rider to win the historic race.
Cheltenham Gold Cup winners A Plus Tard and Minello Indo will go down as some of his best ever, as well as the talented but tricky Bob Olinger, who won the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham this year, meaning De Bromhead has won all four ‘Championship races’.
