Cromwell looks the Man to follow in Irish Grand National
ALL OF the headlines at Cheltenham were rightly about Willie Mullins, but another Irish trainer also enjoyed a pretty stellar four days at Prestbury Park.
Gavin Cromwell might not get the headlines that the likes of Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead do, partly because he doesn’t have the same firepower as the others, but the Meath-based handler continues to plunder big races on a regular basis, and I can see that continuing early next week.
That’s because I like both of his runners in the Irish Grand National (5.00pm) on Monday at Fairyhouse.
The first is Leinster National winner HARTUR D’ARC who I think could still be very well-handicapped off a mark of 137.
He might have only won that race by one-and-a-half-lengths, but he travelled into it in really impressively and looked to have bundles in hand at the finish.
The slight concern is whether he’ll stay the 3m5f trip as he’s never run over further than 3m1f, but he wasn’t stopping last time out at Naas, and can go very well at 10/1.
I like him, but I also found it hard to get away from Cromwell’s other contender YEAH MAN.
The ground at Fairyhouse is likely to be very testing and that will certainly suit this seven-year-old.
He won the Grand National Trial at Haydock on bad ground really well last time, and while he’s up seven pounds for that win, I still think there’s more to come.
The runner-up that day, My Silver Lining, ran really well in the Midlands National, and Yeah Man strikes me as a horse that we haven’t reached the bottom of yet.
At 12/1, he’s another who looks a rock solid each-way proposition.
POINTERS EASTER MONDAY
Hartur D’arc e/w 5.00pm Fairyhouse
Yeah Man e/w 5.00pm Fairyhouse