Henry de Bromhead
Based in Knockeen, County Waterford, where he took over the licence from his father, Harry, in 2000, Henry de Bromhead is firmly established as a leading National Hunt trainer on both sides of the Irish Sea. He saddled his first Grade 1 winner, Sizing Europe, in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown in January 2008 and has since added another 56, at home and abroad, to his career total. His ability to prepare horses for the big occasion is unquestionable. At the Cheltenham Festival, for example, his 23 career winners include Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle in 2021 and 2022 and Minella Indo and A Plus Tard in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2021 and 2022. Indeed, in 2021, de Bromhead also saddled Put The Kettle On to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase, making him the first trainer in history to win all three ‘feature’ races at the same Cheltenham Festival.
Just three weeks later, de Bromhead made further history when he saddled Minella Times, ridden by Rachael Blackmore, to win the Grand National at Aintree. Having her third ride in the race, Blackmore, of course, became the first female jockey to win the world-famous steeplechase. Just for good measure, de Bromhead also saddled the runner-up, 100/1 outsider according to GrandNationalBetting, ridden by Aidan Coleman, thereby becoming just the second trainer – and the first since William Costello in 1908 – to be responsible for the first two horses home.
Minella Times was brought down at Valentine’s Brook on the first circuit, when well-fancied, on his return to Aintree in 2022. More recently, though, trainer de Bromhead also saddled his former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Minella Indo, again ridden by Rachael Blackmore, to finish an 8-length third at Aintree, having led over the final fence, in 2024. That result took his overall Grand National record to one win, one second-place and one third-place finish from his 15 runners to date. It is also worth noting that, in recent years, de Bromhead has made a habit of having multiple runners in the National, three in 2021, two in both 2022 and 2023 and three, again, in 2024.
At the time of writing, the 2025 renewal of the Grand National, scheduled for Saturday, April 12, is many months away, but, as usual, ante-post prices are available well in advance. Of possible de Bromhead-trained runners, Minella Indo, who will be a 12-year-old by then, is a top-priced 33/1 to go two places better, while Ain’t That A Shame, who has twice completed the National Course, finishing seventeenth in 2023 and sixth in 2024 is a top-priced 66/1.