Cromwell sets sights on Cheltenham for Stumptown

Last year’s Festival runner up will be back for more in March.

Stumptown will be trained for a return to the Cheltenham Festival in March after bouncing back to winning ways at the track on New Year’s Day.

The seven-year-old was narrowly beaten by Angels Dawn at the showpiece meeting last season but has been largely disappointing since, including when pulled up as a leading fancy for the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury in early December.

However, with headgear fitted for the first time, Stumptown showed his true colours back in the Cotswolds, providing his trainer Gavin Cromwell with a seventh winner from 17 runners at the home of National Hunt racing this season.

“I was delighted with him,” said Cromwell. “Going back to a small field, a bit of ease in the ground compared to Newbury, I suppose lowering our sights a bit and the blinkers applied, it was nice to get his head in front again.

“He’d lost his way since his good run there at the Festival. He ran in the Irish Grand National after having a hard race at Cheltenham and I’d say it took its toll and it just took him a while to get back this year.

“He ran well enough in the Kerry National, but made a couple of mistakes, which you just can’t get away with in those competitive handicaps.”

While a Festival win is top of Stumptown’s agenda, a tilt at the Grand National is also on the radar.

Cromwell added: “He’ll probably go to the Festival as I’m sure the owners would love to go back. I suppose the obvious races are the Kim Muir again or the Ultima and we’ll just wait and see which we go.

“The Grand National is a possibility and the Irish National is a possibility as well.”

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