Henry De Bromhead 2026 Cheltenham Festival Stable Tour

Henry de Bromhead said on Tuesday night that Envoi Allen is a "crazy price" to crown his wonderful career with victory in next month's Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The bookmakers dismiss the three-time Festival winner, who will be running at the meeting for the eighth successive year, as a 66-1 outsider.

But De Bromhead reckons the 12-year-old, a ten-time Grade One winner who has won 17 of his 30 races, was better than ever when winning on his return in November and has kept him fresh for chasing's most coveted prize.

"I am kind of wondering why I haven’t run him in the Gold Cup for the past couple of years," he added.

De Bromhead was speaking at an event at the Lord Bagenal Hotel in County Carlow at an event organised by The Jockey Club,. 

The County Waterford handler, who has had 25 Festival winners,  said “We’re in good form. The horses seem in good form so we’re happy.

“We feel we have a nice team going there this year and we always try to give them every chance to be the best version of themselves on the day. We feel letting them have a break after Christmas to the spring really crowns some of them and allows them to freshen up.”

This is the first year in almost a decade that Henry De Bromhead will not have Jump racing’s most successful female jockey, Rachael Blackmore, riding for him at the Cheltenham Festival following her retirement last summer.

He said: “Of course, it will be different, but Darragh (O’Keeffe) has stepped into the role brilliantly and we are delighted with him.

“We will miss having Rachael around, of course, but I am sure she will still be there to help us out with advice when we need it.”

Recalling his victory in last year’s Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, he said: “He was like the forgotten horse. I was at a preview night a couple of weeks before and I was looking at the betting. I got to 20-1 and I got a fright and started wondering if I’d actually entered him or not! Then I got to 66-1 and I said ‘oh my God, that’s the each way bet of the week!’ I wasn’t saying he would win or anything but I couldn’t believe the price he was.

“He’s class and he always has been. Obviously we lost him for about a year, a year and a half, which was probably our fault, but it’s great to have him back.”

Bob Olinger has only run once since, finishing second in the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown on December 28th, and de Bromhead said: “It was a lovely run. Those older lads, you don’t want to be too hard on them for their first run, so he ran lovely. He took a little blow there just before the last and ran on again lovely.”

“He was disappointing last year to be honest. He just doesn’t seem himself. He seems better there now – certainly this time last year he started coming to himself but he’ll go to Naas on the 22nd and if he ran well in that then he could go (to the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase) but we’ll see.

“We’ve tweaked a few things with him and he definitely seems in better form now. We’ve tweaked a few things with him and he definitely seems better now so we’ll just see how he goes at Naas.”

“I think he has a chance, I really do. It’s sort of like Bob Olinger last year – you look at all the horses he has beaten and they are single figures and then you look at him and he’s some crazy price!

“I thought he was better than ever when he won on his comeback. People said it wasn’t a good race but you only have to look at the form since – if he stays that extra bit and don’t see why he won’t. I am kind of wondering why I haven’t run him in the Gold Cup for the past couple of years.

“The enthusiasm of him and Bob Olinger is amazing. I think it’s seven years ago that Envoi Allen won the bumper which is mad and I think he’s been there every year since.”

“He was thirdin the two and a half mile Grade One at Naas behind Declan Queally’s horse I’ll Sort That. It looked like they were going to quicken away but he stayed on nicely at the end.”

“We have two entries so I hate committing fully but I’d say we’re like 85 per cent for the Ryanair. I think we’ll go there and ride him a fraction more positive by the sounds of wat Darragh (O’Keefe, jockey) was saying.

“He’s hitting that age now so I’d say he’s definitely improved a little bit. I would hope he should run well.”

“She ran fine at Leopardstown, probably a little bit disappointing. Might have just been that the ground and that trip might have just put her out a little bit. She was winging fences and she seemed to tire there. I thought she was going to win turning in but she seemed to tire before the last.

“Looking at the Arkle now you’d be leaning towards the Mares’ Chase but we’ll keep an eye on the Arkle and just see. I thought she improved actually for the drop down in trip. Over two and half at Limerick I thought she was incredible that day.

“We’ll see. She’s obviously pretty adaptable and her form’s pretty good over any trip, it seems. I wouldn’t discount three miles in time but at Cheltenham it’s obviously two to two and a half miles.”

“He has a similar profile to Minella Indo going into the Albert Bartlett in that he was is still a maiden but was third to No Drama This End at Cheltenham in November when he was still very green. He is a really nice horse.”

On his victory at Leopardstown over Christmas: “He was brilliant. We’ve sort of built him through the season. He improved plenty from his first to his second and then improved again second to third. I thought he ran a lovely race behind Oscars Brother where he looked like he didn’t quite see it out on that heavy ground, but he looked electric on the nicer ground again at Leopardstown. Darragh (O’Keefe, jockey) was really pleased with him. He’ll probably have an entry in the novice handicap in case the ground came up soft but I’d say we’re leaning towards the Brown Advisory.

“You’d have to have a little question mark over him – he definitely got outstayed at Punchestown but I was putting that down to the heavier ground. We’ve always felt that he’s a horse that would prefer nicer ground.”

“He is in the Grand National and the Gold Cup and we’ll see. We are in discussion about it at the moment. The Maloneys love having their runners at Cheltenham and they think the Gold Cup looks an open race while another view would be he’s an out and out Grand National horse.

“He actually got kicked in the face by another horse last year unfortunately and I’m just not sure he ever really developed into what we thought he was going to be. When you look at his Brown Advisory run, he looked all over a Gold Cup horse. In fairness, the vets have worked really hard on him and we are definitely getting there but whether he will be as good as we thought he could be – I am not sure.”

“He’s had a couple of setbacks through the year but he’s really good now. He actually worked today on the grass at a place we go to and he worked really well. So the next few days will tell a bit but if he comes out of that ok he’ll do one more strong piece of work and if that goes well, we’re there (BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase).

“He’s in great form, he runs well fresh and he could be exciting. He worked really well today.” It’s a tough thing to do but it’s been done before but the next couple of weeks will tell.”

“We’re probably leaning towards the novice I’d say but it’s nice to have options (currently entered in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase and the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase). We’ll see what way the ground is and what the opposition is like but I suppose ultimately you have to think for your horse.

“She was good at Fairyhouse. She ran really well, just Jimmy Du Seuil looked really good that day. Obviously he’s disappointed a bit since then but he jumped and did everything right that day and she ran really well and they were miles clear of the third.

“Then I thought she looked really good at Limerick and came right out of Mikey’s (O’Connor, jockey) hands a few times. She’s been really good.

“Hopefully she can go right to the top. She probably has a preference for softer ground would be the only thing, but we could still get that in plenty of places and she ran really well at Cheltenham last year on better ground. Whether it just cost her jumping the last I’m not sure.

“She seems to have the class to go any trip. She’s probably two and a half (miles) plus. She stayed definitely in the Albert Bartlett last year so I think three miles would be ideal for her.”

“I’d say it’s unlikely (he’ll run in the Unibet Champion Hurdle). He’s going to run in Gowran on Saturday in the Red Mills Hurdle and we’ve left him in (the Unibet Champion Hurdle) but I’d say he’ll more likely go for the County Hurdle.”