Gavin Cromwell is based in Ireland and had already established himself as one of the foremost dual-purpose trainers working in the Emerald Isle even before 2025. Yet when you train the horse that wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup, it is fair to say that your name is going to hit the headlines.
When you consider that his original dream in the world of horse racing was to be a jockey, that is some achievement. Sometimes, trainers that want to work in both flat and jump disciplines run the risk of being a jack of all trades and master of none, but that is not a criticism that can be levelled at Cromwell.
About
Gavin Cromwell was born on the 29th of September 1974 and comes from a small village called Ardcath in County Meath. Both his grandfather and his uncle trained horses, which is undoubtedly a big part of the reason why Cromwell himself wanted to get into the industry. Because of his desire to become a jockey, he worked in yards in Ireland before also gaining experience in Newmarket as well as in Australia. He then decided to head back to Ireland, taking on a four-year apprenticeship to become a farrier, before finally making the decision to follow in the family footsteps.
As a result, he took out his trainer’s licence in 2005, using his knowledge as a farrier to continue working and gaining a steady income whilst he earned a solid reputation as a trainer. Working out of a stables in Danestown, his first winner came two years after he gained his licence, seeing Dodder Walk win a handicap hurdle event at Cork Racecourse. In the years that followed, he continued to improve his reputation and soon became well-respected as a National Hunt trainer. In addition to that, though, he also trained horses on the flat, winning numerous events in that discipline over the years.
Major Successes
It is fair to say that Cromwell has not been shy of a few impressive wins over the years. In the wake of his success with Dodder Walk in 2007, he continued to win races up and down the country. It was in the March of 2016 when he really began to make waves, however. That was when Jer’s Girl won him his first Grade 1 event, winning the Mares Novice Hurdle Championship Final at Fairyhouse. Although an obvious feather in his cap, there have been numerous big wins in the years since, including several victories during the week of the Cheltenham Festival.
The first race that he won during the most prestigious meeting in jump racing came courtesy of Espoir d’Allen, who won the Champion Hurdle. At the same time as making a name for himself in National Hunt racing, he has also enjoyed some wins on the flat. When Quick Suzy won the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes in 2021, it meant that he was one of only a few trainers to have enjoyed wins at both the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot. It was the success of Inothewayurthinkin, owned by J. P. McManus and ridden by Mark Walsh, in the Gold Cup in 2025 that really helped to cement his reputation in the industry, however.
Here is a look at just some of the big races that Gavin Cromwell has trained the winner of at least once in his career:
- Cheltenham Gold Cup
- Queen Mary Stakes
- Mares Novice Hurdle Championship Final
- Champion Hurdle
- Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle
- Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase
- Christmas Hurdle
- Mildmay Novices’ Chase
- Tattersalls Ireland Champion Novice Hurdle
- Spring Juvenile Hurdle
Horses Trained
Gavin Cromwell reacts to a brilliant Gold Cup win with
Inothewayurthinkin 👏#ITVRacing | #CheltenhamFestival | @gavincromwell1 | @RishiPersad1 pic.twitter.com/0y5ktBvrjx— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 14, 2025
It goes without saying that when you’re a dual-purpose trainer, you get to work with some excellent horses in both disciplines. There are certainly some that never get to train the best of either National Hunt or flat racing because owners aren’t sure what they’re best at, but combining a Royal Ascot win in 2021 with the Gold Cup victory at Cheltenham four years later means that owners of both types of horse know that Cromwell is someone who can be depended on. As a result, he has worked with some of the best horses around, with the following being just some examples of them:
Inothewayurthinkin
If you are going to be associated with one horse first and foremost in the minds of most racing fans, it certainly isn’t a bad thing for that horse to be the winner of the most prestigious National Hunt race around. Inothewayurthinkin might have a silly name, but the Irish-born bay gelding is not a horse to be laughed at. Bred by owner J. P. McManus’s wife Noreen, the horse was added to the 2025 Gold Cup late on as a supplementary entry, with most people assuming favourite Galopin Des Champs would win for a third time. Instead, 15/2 Inothewayurthinkin beat him into second place and claimed the glory for himself.
Espoir d’Allen
It isn’t exactly outrageous to suggest that the Gold Cup is the most prestigious event that any horse racing trainer can win, but the Champion Hurdle isn’t a bad one to have on your CV either. It was that race that gave Cromwell his foothold into the Cheltenham Festival, winning it with Espoir d’Allen in 2019. Not that the win came out of nowhere for the horse, however. The bay gelding had already won two juvenile hurdle events in 2017, as well as the Fishery Lane Hurdle and the Irish Independent Hurdle a year later before turning up at the Festival in 2019 and winning the Grade 1 event.
Flooring Porter
Foaled in Ireland in 2015, Flooring Porter is arguably the horse that really cemented the name of Gavin Cromwell in the minds of horse racing fans as someone who really knew what he was doing. Highly tried in his first season running as a novice hurdler, the horse stepped up in his second season and won the 2020 Christmas Hurdle before heading to Cheltenham and winning another Grade 1 event in the form of the Stayers’ Hurdle. Had that been considered to be something of a fluke, the horse came back a year later and retained his crown, becoming the first horse since Big Buck’s to win the event in successive years.
