De Bromhead Cheltenham hopes hinge on veterans Bob Olinger and Envoi Allen

Henry de Bromhead believes Bob Olinger can become one of the few 11-year-olds to win the Stayers Hurdle.

SWAN SONG: Envoi Allen bids to gallop into retirement by winning the Gold Cup for Henry de Bromhead. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

It’s 10 years since a Cheltenham Festival has passed without Henry de Bromhead visiting the winner’s enclosure at least once. He visited it six times five years ago and one of the victors in that dream week, Bob Olinger, gave his trainer a landmark 25th Festival win when scoring in the Stayers’ Hurdle 12 months ago.

A year on, De Bromhead’s hopes of maintaining his Cheltenham winning streak may hinge on Bob Olinger and fellow veteran Envoi Allen defying their advancing years.

Only three years have passed since Sire Di Berlais’ Stayers’ Hurdle triumph but the last 11-year-old to win the race before him was Crimson Embers back in 1986.

However, De Bromhead believes Bob Olinger can join that select club, his view based on the belief that the 2026 version of the three-time Festival winner “might be even better” than the 2025 one.

“Bob is super,” De Bromhead says. “He's in mighty form and I couldn't be happier with him.

Cheltenham Festival

The latest news, views, analysis and opinions on Cheltenham from the Irish Examiner sports desk and our  team of award-winning horse racing writers, tipsters and fans

Go

“We loose-school plenty of our horses on a Sunday morning and Bob and Envoi, the spark in the pair of them, it would put a smile on your face. They were both electric. The enthusiasm they show is incredible.” 

Asked how the Bob Olinger of 2026 compares to the Bob Olinger of 2025, De Bromhead replies: “He's definitely as good, if not better. I think he might be even better. He seems great.

“We know he loves it over there so we're going over there very hopeful. He’s unbeaten at Cheltenham and comes alive every March.” 

A lot of the top horses reserve their best for the place that matters most: The track. Not Bob Olinger. What he produces on the track is what he consistently shows De Bromhead at home.

“He really is a brilliant workhorse. You probably wouldn't work him as hard now as an 11-year-old but, back in the day, Honeysuckle, A Plus Tard, all of them, he'd have been as good as them, probably better, savage.

“After we bought him as a point-to-pointer, he worked with the Cheltenham horses before he ran in his bumper at Gowran and we were just gobsmacked. It was either going to be a bad Cheltenham or he was a very good horse.” 

Envoi Allen is also a very good horse. Like Bob Olinger, he has longevity as well as class. Also like Bob Olinger, he has three Festival wins to his name.

And this week he will bid to gallop into retirement by winning the biggest Festival race of them all: The Gold Cup.

Bob Olinger (right) is De Bromhead's best hope at Cheltenham. Pic: Adam Davy/PA

What A Myth was the last 12-year-old to win the Gold Cup while no horse older than nine has won the blue riband this century.

However, Envoi Allen is not just any 12-year-old. He’s a 10-time Grade One-winning 12-year-old who goes well fresh. Hence the reason why he hasn’t been seen since winning at Down Royal at the start of November.

“We just said we'd give it one go, he’s so good always in Down Royal,” De Bromhead says of the audacious plan to for gold on the back of a lengthy break.

“He won the Ryanair having had a bad run at Kempton but he's just so good at Down Royal we said we'd freshen him up and treat it like it's Down Royal but it's just in March rather than November.

“I know the stats are against him but I wouldn't think too many 12-year-olds have run in it.” A combination of those stats and recency bias perhaps explain why Envoi Allen is a 40-1 shot for Gold Cup glory. But De Bromhead doesn’t have to think back too far to find an example of a classy veteran defying a big price.

“It's like Bob last year.” he recalls. “I was at a preview night last year and when I got to the 20-1 shots in the Stayers’ Hurdle I thought I must have forgotten to enter him. Genuinely. I got to the 66-1s and that's where he was. It was madness.

“Horses who were beating him by a length were 6-1 - I don't get that at all but I'm not a punter. But Envoi, he's won a Ryanair, he's won every second year he's been to Cheltenham, he loves it there. Okay, he's a bit older but I promise you, if you saw him in the loose-school, we don’t even have to hunt him, he just takes off jumping, himself and Bob – they just love it. I don't know if he'll stay but it's an open race.” 

The Champion Chase has been good to De Bromhead in the last decade with Captain Guinness in 2024 the third Knockeen resident to land the spoils after Put The Kettle On (2021) and Special Tiara (2017).

Three might have become four had Quilixios not fallen when upsides Marine Nationale at the final fence last year.

He hasn’t run since but De Bromhead is not unduly concerned by the prospect of tackling a Champion Chase on his first run of the season.

“We've had a tough year with him, he's had a couple of setbacks so he's obviously going to be going there for his first run of the season but he runs really well fresh.” 

Asked if he feels Quilixios might have won last year but for the fall, De Bromhead replies: “I'd hate to ever take anything away from a winner. The winner won and we fell, that's it. He would have definitely finished second and we'd have been delighted. It was a shame but he jumps brilliant and if can get him there, he'll be there all guns blazing.” 

As will stablemate Heartwood, a horse who outran his odds when second to runaway winner Fact To File in last year’s Ryanair Chase.

He was an impressive winner at Tramore on New Year’s Day and De Bromhead anticipates another bold showing.

“I think he possibly has improved. He was only seven going there last year, he's still a relatively young horse and we probably rode him to run well whereas this year we'll ride him to win if you know what I mean. Of course you always want to win but we just rode him a little more conservatively. Listening to Darragh the other day, it sounds like he has got it in his head that he'll make more use of him this year. He's a good horse, his form is rock-solid.” 

Darragh is Darragh O’Keeffe, the man tasked with filling the considerable void left by Rachael Blackmore after her retirement last May. Replacing a legend is no easy task – ask the men who have followed Alex Ferguson in the Manchester United dugout – but this transition from one iconic jockey to another very talented one has been pretty seamless.

“Darragh is doing a brilliant job and we're delighted with him. It's been great so far. He seems to handle the big days well so hopefully that'll continue.” 

Given De Bromhead’s ability to keep churning out Cheltenham winners, one suspects it will.