Stumptown, Irish-trained by Gavin Cromwell, wrote his name into the history books on Sunday afternoon.

He would win the Velka Pardubicka, and in doing so, became the first British or Irish-trained winner of the race since 1995.

It’s a tough test, a cross-country chase that is more demanding than races we see in the UK in terms of the jumping needed and track configuration.

Ridden by Keith Donoghue, who also deserves a ton of success for the win, it was a big day out for all connected to the horse. Once again, the pair connected for success, just like they did when winning the 2025 Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Special Win & Fabulous Donoghue Ride

The horse jumped out into a good position early, presumably with the intention of trying to avoid trouble that was taking place behind, given the jumping test on offer to those competing here. However, it didn’t all go to plan like that. As early as the fourth fence, things went wrong, and this is another reason why Donoghue deserves enormous praise for his ride.

There were scares throughout, for Stumptown and others, with the winner facing his biggest challenge quite early on in the contest.

He was at the Taxis Ditch, fence four and one of the most famous jumps on the course, but would only manage to clear it, with hardly any space between him and the fence.

On the way down, he was heading to the floor very steeply, so much so that Donoghue looked in danger of leaving the sadly, but amazingly, the partnership remained intact, thanks to some brilliant work from the pair.

Poor jumping after this actually left Stumptown with plenty to do, but of course, in a race of this nature, time is always on your side in the early stages, so there was no panic at this point.

The horse would slowly work his way through the pack, looking to be in a much better rhythm than he was at the start of the race, again something that Donoghue received plenty of praise for.

On the way to the final fence, he was in second place, jumped nicely enough and then began to track down the leader, High In The Sky. He would eventually go past him on the run in and would come away to win by a length and three-quarters.

Donoghue’s reaction after the race was a great insight into what he was thinking during the race:

“It means everything. I was very lucky to stay up, but thankfully, he did. A couple of mistakes after that put me back in the field, but I took my medicine because I knew he’d stay well.”

For trainer Gavin Cromwell, he commended Donoghue’s patience when speaking afterwards:

“He let him work his way back into it, which was very good.”

Cheltenham 2026 is the Main Priority for Stumptown

It’s not jump racing without instantly thinking about the future, and for Stumptown, it seems all roads will lead to the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.

Cromwell has flagged that a repeat appearance in Cheltenham’s Cross Country Chase is a priority, rather than targeting the Grand National.

He’s indicated that Aintree may be bypassed this time around, despite Stumptown being amongst the 2025 Grand National favourites last time he went there.

That path makes sense. Stumptown has already proven his cross-country capability by winning at Cheltenham earlier this year.

A return there gives him a chance to underpin the Pardubicka win with more familiar success under these British and Irish conditions. It’s a race style that plays into his strengths, much more so than the Grand National, I think, so I’m not surprised by this.

Of course, every time you have a horse capable of running in the Grand National, you’re taking a risk by sidestepping it, but I think in this instance, it’s what I would also do.