Last Spring’s winning Cheltenham Gold Cup trainer, Gavin Cromwell, is cueing up another stable star in this year’s Crystal Cup. Stumptown, winner of both Cheltenham legs in December and March, is an intended runner at this October’s €200,000 Velka Pardubicka before returning to Cheltenham, a move that is sure to put Cromwell in the frame for Crystal Cup honours.

The news, released via Cromwell’s stable sponsor, bookmaker William Hill, will add a keen international flavour to a race that has been attracting Irish interest these past few years, yet without success. The last British-trained winner was It’s A Snip, in 1995.

STUMPTOWN and Keith Donoghue (green) clears the water at Cheltenham December 2024
© Photograph by Grossick Racing Photography 0771 046 1723

Coko Beach and John McConnell’s Streets of Doyen both ran up with the pace last year before unseating four out. Up front, the race enjoyed a unique dead heat for first place between Dalibor Torok’s Godfrey and Martina Ruzickova’s Sexy Lord.

Keith Donoughue, who has struck up a great partnership with Stumptown, rode Coko Beach last year, so has experience of the track. A promising run would put Cromwell in the frame for leading Crystal Cup honours as four of Stumptown’s last five runs have been cross country successes.

It’s an exciting fillip for the series, and a coup for Pardubice, which is attracting a higher class of entry from those outside the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, the statistics present a challenge: winners over the course hold a distinct advantage.