CHELTENHAM 16 3 2011 The Champion Chase Trainer Henry de Bromhead with his Dad HARRY after SIZING EUROPE had won © Photo Healy Racing
Once most famous for expertly harnessing the potent combination of speed, agility and class in the two miles Champion Chase division, Henry de Bromhead has shown the world, in recent years, that he is more than capable of fully leveraging a horse’s skill in any sphere. He is far from a single-discipline specialist.
It was in 2021 that a sensational season saw De Bromhead win not only the Champion Chase, but the Champion Hurdle, the Gold Cup and the Aintree Grand National.
It was also the remarkable Honeysuckle, who helped to change opinions of De Bromhead as a master trainer of just chasers, as she ran up a sequence of 16 races unbeaten over hurdles. Through expert handling and race planning, the unstoppable “Honey” notched up two victories in the Champion Hurdle and another two Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Based at Knockeen in County Waterford, De Bromhead chose to follow in the footsteps of his father Harry who also trained National Hunt horses. While his father was keen for him to pursue an alternative career path and gain a qualification, Henry chose to ignore this advice and took over the operation in 2000 with only 12 horses in training. Through perseverance and "constantly trying to improve things" he has become one of Ireland’s top National Hunt trainers.
De Bromhead learned his trade with top bloodstock operation Coolmore before working for various trainers, including Robert and Sally Alner and Sir Mark Prescott.
His family tree features a secretary to Marie Antoinette as well as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, who won a Victoria Cross for his bravery as one of 139 soldiers who repelled an assault by 4,000 Zulu warriors in 1879.
Henry de Bromhead and his wife Heather had three children, Jack, Mia and Georgia. In 2022 tragedy struck the close knit family when the couple’s beloved son Jack was tragically killed in a pony racing accident at Rossbeigh, aged 13. The Jack de Bromhead hurdle is run at Leopardstown at Christmas in memory of their son.
It took eight years of hard graft for Henry de Bromhead to rise to the top of the training ranks and it began with his flagship horse Sizing Europe. The hardy type who possessed an abundance of speed won the 2010 Arkle and the 2011 Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, along with two Champion Chases at Punchestown in 2012 and 2014. The eight-time Grade 1 winner landed 22 victories throughout his impressive career and amassed over 1.3 million in prize money.
Special Tiara and Put The Kettle On gave De Bromhead two further Champion Chase wins in 2017 and 2021 respectively. More recently, Captain Guinness took the spoils in 2024.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the pinnacle for most jump trainers and De Bromhead added this illustrious contest to his successes when Minella Indo took the race in 2021 with his stablemate A Plus Tard in second.
In 2022, the result was reversed as A Plus Tard saw off Minella Indo by 15 lengths. It was jockey Rachael Blackmore who was in the saddle that day and she made history, becoming the first woman ever to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
In 2018, Honeysuckle arrived on the scene and her brilliance won her 17 races, including 13 Grade 1 races - her two Champion Hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival were the standout victories of her career.
Cheltenham 14 3 23 Henry Heather de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore after winning the Close Brothers Mares Hurdle Grade 1 with Honeysuckle © Photo Healy Racing
After being beaten twice, Honeysuckle secured her fourth Cheltenham Festival win in 2023, providing a dream victory in her final race in the Mares’ Hurdle. This victory came six months after the death of the De Bromhead's son Jack, which meant it was an emotionally charged win for the family. He said after the race: “A fairytale rarely comes true but she made sure that it did.”
The mare earned over 1.4 million in prize money and she now has a foal at foot by Walk In The Park, much to the delight of her legion of fans.
De Bromhead set his sights on the the world’s most famous race, the Aintree Grand National, and landed the gruelling event in magnificent fashion securing a 1-2 in the race in 2021 with Minella Times and Balko Des Flos.
Following the retirement of many of the stable's stalwarts, the yard is currently going through a transition phase as he nurtures progressive young horses. Slade Steel looks to be his emerging star having won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2024.
Henry de Bromhead has described himself in the past as a “Cheltenham-centric’ who ‘trains his horses for the festival.” This has certainly paid off and you can see his extensive list of Cheltenham Festival wins below.
De Bromhead has finished third in the Irish trainers' Championship for the last five years behind Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott. Here are his prize money earnings for the last five years.
IRE NH: €7,930,745
GB NH: £4,300,022
IRE Flat: €830,360
GB Flat: £131,705
This is a total of 13,192,832 and trainers typically take 10% of total prize money.
You can see Henry de Bromhead’s entries here along with all of his statistics from the past 20 years.
