Dublin Racing Festival: Henry de Bromhead stable tour

It’s a big weekend for Henry de Bromhead who is set to unleash a number of his stable stars at the Dublin Racing Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

The leading Irish handler spoke to Racing TV’s Donn McClean ahead of the big two days at Leopardstown and provided the inside track on the likes of Honeysuckle, Minella Indo and Minella Times who are all confirmed runners.

Star mare Honeysuckle was De Bromhead’s sole winner at the meeting last year, and the unbeaten eight-year-old will bid to record her third consecutive victory in the Irish Champion Hurdle on Sunday.

One notable absentee from the De Bromhead team is Bob Olinger who is set to head straight to the Cheltenham Festival.

"It’s a big meeting and we’ve been lucky enough to have a bit of success there over the years since it started,” said De Bromhead. “It’s a fantastic weekend.”

Watch and read more from the trainer below on his stable stars, and don’t forget to watch every race from the Dublin Racing Festival live on Racing TV!

"He’s in great form. It was a super run in the Tingle Creek, so we backed off him over Christmas, and we said we’d have a go at this (Ladbrokes Dublin Chase). He’s in mighty form and we’re looking forward to it.

"He was just below the top novice’s last season. He was probably a bit unlucky in a few races, or brought it upon himself, but one of his biggest problems is he was against Energumene who beat him easily one day on heavy ground at Naas. He then went to the Dublin Racing Festival where he fell at the second-last when going well. He might have run into a nice place there. My tactics were all wrong at Cheltenham, so we kind of cut our throat a bit there, and then I’d say it was the end of his season before Punchestown.

"It was nice to win a big pot at Naas on his return and we will go and take our chance (in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase) and see."

"Grand Jury is in good form. He had a great run behind Ginto at Naas and the way he travelled into the straight, I thought he was nearly going to win, and then Ginto pulled away from him, but I liked the way he stuck at it and he’s a lovely horse. He’s stepped forward a good bit from his first run for a step up in trip, so we think a bit more of a step up again might suit him. We always had a good opinion of him. He’d been doing some lovely bits of work at home and he was a very impressive point-to-point winner.

"I was more surprised/ disappointed with him at Punchestown (in November) but I thought we saw more of the real Grand Jury at Naas, than at Punchestown.

"I hope so (that two extra furlongs will suit him). The way he stayed at it up the straight, I thought he gave every chance to let Hollow Games go by him, and I thought he stayed at it well. We’re learning and he’s entered in the three novice hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival, but after the Lawlor’s Of Naas, we thought the Albert Bartlett would suit him."

“She’s probably in her prime now. She’s achieved so much for quite a young age. In fairness to her, it feels like she’s been around a while, and hopefully a lot longer. She gave me a bit of a fright (in the 2020 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle) but this season we probably had her more forward for the race this time. The gallop and everything all fell right for her on the day. I don’t know (if she’s a better mare this year) but she certainly seems well and her performance in the Hatton’s Grace last time was as good as she’s ever been.

"We’ve been happy with her since then; she’s been good. It has worked for us before (heading straight to Leopardstown from the Hatton’s Grace) so we didn’t see any reason to deviate her.

"She’s an incredible athlete and she seems to take everything in her stride. You’d always be tinkering with her a little bit but on what she’s done, you wouldn’t want to change too much. We definitely wanted her more forward for the Hatton’s Grace this season than the previous year, and you’re always learning with them.

"You feel pressure (when she runs) and you just want to do right by her, whatever happens, but she has a great team around her and we just try to get her there as good as she possibly can be for each race and try to give her every chance of maintaining her unbeaten record."

“He’s been good since the King George. He came home pretty deflated and lost quite a bit of weight. He definitely didn’t come home like he normally would from a race. Normally it doesn’t take too much out of him and after the Gold Cup last year, there was no difference in him.

"It was pretty gruelling for him (in the King George). Obviously, he didn’t run to form at all, but he seems good now. We gave him a school the other day and he jumped really well, and seemed really good, and we’ve been happy with his work.

"He’d tightened up after the King George. Movement-wise, he was OK, but he’d tightened up and just looked tucked up. I’ve never seen him look as light as he did. I genuinely don’t know what it was. We ran a lot of tests on him; there was nothing obviously wrong and he lost weight, which was unlike him. I don’t know – maybe it was the fact he had such a gruelling race at that time of year? I’m starting to wonder if he’s just a spring horse. You often hear that. I’d never often agreed with that, but with him, it’s on my mind now. If he comes back this year as good as ever, you’d have to say that as his form in the spring is so strong. He’s the first horse I’ve ever felt like that with.

"Every year, you have to make an excuse for him ahead of Cheltenham, and then he either wins or just gets chinned!

"Cheltenham suits him well, but then as a novice hurdler he went and beat Allaho again at Punchestown, so I don’t think it’s that (that he’s a Cheltenham specialist).

"If there were any negatives, we wouldn’t run him. He seems really well. The fact it was a route that worked to the Gold Cup last year, we’re happy to go again as he seems good."

"He seems in great form and is on track to run in the Leopardstown Handicap Chase. We’re hoping to get him there as it was a lovely prep for the Grand National last year, so it seems the right way to go again.

"We were always toying with the idea (of running him in the Grand National last year) and it was incredible how it worked out. 2m5f is possibly on the sharp side and he was also just beaten in the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown last season, so he seems to like it there.

"This is an ideal race for him, so we will see how we go. He’s a very special horse for us and was incredible last year. We tried the John Durkan, but that didn’t work out, and we backed off him. He seems to be really coming into himself now."

"He’s been in great form and will join Minella Times in the Leopardstown Handicap Chase. I think he’s got every right to go there. He’s off a fairly high rating and has been an unlucky horse, so it was great to see him win at Limerick last time out.

"I think the softer the ground, the better for him, in fairness. We tried every ground and every trip, but we finally got there. We think 2m4f on heavy suits him best. He has form on goodish ground, but he just seems to peter out over three, even on better ground, so we think two and a half miles on heavy suits."