De Bromhead outlines plans for stable stars

A Plus Tard heads to Haydock, while Honeysuckle goes for Hatton’s Grace again.

It appears Henry de Bromhead will be taking familiar routes with some of his stable stars as the jumps season begins to kick in to action.

A Plus Tard landed the Betfair Chase en route to Cheltenham Gold Cup glory last season and will begin his campaign at Haydock once again, while dual Champion Hurdle victor Honeysuckle will attempt to win the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle for the fourth year in a row as she begins what is set to be her final year on track.

Meanwhile 2021 Gold Cup winner Minella Indo will attempt to follow in the footsteps of dual-Cheltenham winner Al Boum Photo when he starts off at Tramore on New Year’s Day, with Bob Olinger reverting to the smaller obstacles following a disappointing end to last season over fences.

A Plus Tard, here ridden by jockey Rachael Blackmore on their way to winning the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, is pencilled in to return in Haydock's Betfair Chase on November 19
A Plus Tard, here ridden by jockey Rachael Blackmore on their way to winning the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, is pencilled in to return in Haydock’s Betfair Chase on November 19 (Mike Egerton/PA)

De Bromhead saddled a double at Thurles on Thursday as he returned to the track for the first time since the tragic death of his son Jack in a pony racing accident last month and ran through the plans for some of his string.

He told Racing TV: “I’m really happy with them all, they are all working well getting warmed up. I would say A Plus Tard would go back to Haydock – that is the plan at the moment.

“Honeysuckle will go to the Hatton’s Grace and Minella Indo will probably go to Tramore on New Year’s Day – it’s a great place and that is the plan at the moment.

“Bob (Olinger), will probably go back hurdling. We’ll start in the Lismullen at Navan and then I think he could go either way. He has so much class and I don’t know what happened Cheltenham onwards and that was a big mistake by me running him at Punchestown. Maybe it’s just fences – I hope it is – his work is high class.”

Reflecting on the most difficult of times for his family, the County Waterford handler thanked the racing industry for its support.

He continued: “We’ve had a pretty tough time, but the support from within our family, friends and our industry and all over has been unbelievable and Heather, Georgia, Mia and myself have been blown away by it.

“Every bit of support we get gives us a little bit of strength and we feel incredibly lucky to have everyone around us.”

De Bromhead’s Thursday winners were ridden by Mark Walsh and Darragh O’Keeffe as stable jockey Rachael Blackmore suffered an injury while schooling which is set to keep her out of action for a few days.

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