Cheltenham Festival ace Stumptown set for daunting Velka Pardubicka challenge: 'It takes cross-country racing to a whole new level'

Europe's leading cross-country specialist is to take on the continent's greatest test of the skillset, with Stumptown set to tackle the Velka Pardubicka.

A winner over the banks courses at the Punchestown and Cheltenham Festivals, the hugely popular eight-year-old will add a huge amount of Irish and British interest as he takes on the ploughed fields, moats and stone walls of Czechia's most famous race.

The Furze Bush Syndicate-owned and Gavin Cromwell-trained superstar has won four of his five starts over cross-country courses since switching to the discipline at the 2024 Punchestown festival. His return last season came over Punchestown's banks course before two wins, in December and March, over the Cheltenham equivalent.

And his trainer is hopeful that domination can be extended to a race he described as taking "cross-country racing to a whole new level".

Cromwell said: "We’ve been really happy with Stumptown since he came back in and his first target is the Pardubicka [October 12]. We’re really looking forward to taking him out to Czechia.

"I’ve actually had the pleasure of attending the race before, a long time ago. It takes cross-country racing to a whole new level and it is a massive track. Given the way Stumptown has taken to the discipline, I think he’ll enjoy the challenge.

"Keith Donoghue rode in the race last year and made it most of the way round before unseating four out. He knows what it takes round that track and thinks that Stumptown will handle it."

His banks course domination, and Tiger Roll's success over Cheltenham's cross-country course and Aintree's Grand National track, meant he was well fancied for last season's Aintree marathon over the same 4m2½f trip as the Pardubice spectacular. Sent off at 10-1, he was pulled up after three out and was found to be lame with a wound to his right hind leg.

2025 Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin with Caoimhe O'Brien, at trainer Gavin Cromwell's yard in DanestownCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Cromwell also provided an update on the biggest star in his yard, last season's Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin, who is back in the yard doing light work and whose season is as yet unplanned. However, he suggested the John Durkan, a race Galopin Des Champs has used for his seasonal return for the last three years, as a potential starting point.

Speaking to his sponsor William Hill, Cromwell added: "There's no plan set in stone for Inothewayurthinkin as of yet.

"He started last season in the John Durkan and I suppose that seems the obvious race to have in mind for him this year. We’ll make more definitive plans as we get closer to the start of the jumps season.

"We’re happy to have him back in. It’s very early days and he’s just doing light work at the moment, but he looks fantastic and we’re really excited to have him back."

On the pressure of training the reigning Gold Cup winner, he said: "Going into the new season with the reigning Gold Cup champion is a new feeling and of course that brings added pressure, but it’s wonderful pressure to have. It’s a privilege to have a horse like him in the yard and we’re looking forward to the season ahead."

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