Horse Talk with Simon Jackson:

Top horse-racing tips and the latest news.

HENRY de Bromhead bids to continue his phenomenal run of big-race success in the £250,000 Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury on Saturday.

The County Waterford-based trainer has racked up a phenomenal sequence of top prizes this year, bagging a never-previously-achieved Cheltenham Festival hat-trick of the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup.

He capped that the next month by winning the Grand National and this term showcased his team’s wellbeing by winning the valuable Betfair Chase at Haydock last weekend and is set to field Eklat De Rire and Chris’s Dream in the feature race on Saturday.

“It’s incredible to have the horses we have at the moment,” de Bromhead said. “When you list those races, they are races I’d have dreamt of winning. It’s unreal, incredible to be honest.” 

Eklat De Rire (9-2) has only run six times under rules, winning four times, second once and at the Cheltenham Festival in March unseated Blackmore at the 12th fence of the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. The seven-year-old returned with a decisive win at Wexford in October. 

De Bromhead said: “It was probably a bit early to gauge what Eklat De Rire could have done at Cheltenham but he seemed to be going well. Rachael [Blackmore – jockey] was happy with him and it was just unfortunate. He has good form and he won well the other day at Wexford. He’s a really nice staying chaser so fingers-crossed we get him there and he will give a good account of himself.” 

He continued: “In the spring Peter Davies, who owns Eklat De Rire, mentioned the Ladbrokes Trophy. He is based over there so he would love to see him run in it. It suited him so we said we would certainly aim towards it. Second season novices seem to have a good record in the race and hopefully he fits that profile.  

“He had two very good runs over fences last year; he was very impressive in his novice chase at Naas and we thought he was going well at Cheltenham. He is a horse we have high hopes for.” 

Chris’s Dream (20-1), a Grade 2 winner over fences, failed to add to his score last season but was well in touch in the Grand National in April until blundering away his jockey four out. 

“He was going really well at Aintree,” said De Bromhead. “He is a very good horse as well. He probably really appreciates a good dig in the ground.”

Horse Talk with Simon Jackson. Showcasing horse racing in London and the south east.