IT was another good weekend for Gavin Cromwell who could be set for a few more good weekends this jumps season. The Meath trainer had four runners between Navan and Naas which yielded two wins and one second placing.

The first win came in the Grade 3 Fishery Lane Hurdle at Naas, where the somewhat forgotten horse Espoir D’Allen took advantage of a last flight fall from Saldier to win comfortably. The J.P. McManus-owned four-year-old had his progress checked when well beaten in the Spring Juvenile last season but he looks to be back on track now.

On the same day stable companion Brex Drago put up another fine effort over hurdles to chase home De Name Escapes Me in the valuable Brown Lad Handicap Hurdle. The six-year-old had won three times over hurdles since joining Cromwell in July and this was another step forward.

Cromwell’s other winner was Aasleagh Dawn in yesterday’s 24-runner handicap hurdle at Navan, a five-year-old mare who resumed her progression after winning twice in July.

And, just as I’m writing this, Cromwell has gone and sent out another winner, Earl Of Bunacurry in the first at Southwell today. I can’t keep up with you, Gavin!

Aasleagh Dawn gave him his 20th winner in the Irish jumps season. That is fair going when you consider the trainer only had eight winners in the Irish jumps season last year and 10 the year before. In fact Cromwell is already six winners past his best ever season total which came during the 2015/'16 campaign, and we’re only in November. He has all of the rest of this month and five more full months to extend his best total.

His story is a well-documented one by now; a well-respected farrier used by Gordon Elliott among plenty of other trainers, had always trained horses in a small-time manner, hit the headlines with Jer’s Girl, and his star has risen since.

The Balrath trainer has said before that Elliott has had a profound effect on his career and this can be easily seen when you examine some of his trainer behaviorals - namely the ability to improve horses that come to his yard, plenty of success on the flat and a willingness to travel to Britain to find better opportunities - Earl Of Bunacurry is the perfect example of all of the above.

For that reason you can see the attraction of having a horse with Cromwell, in that it’s a fair guess to say that he is probably a cheaper option than Elliott, yet without being a direct clone of his fellow county man, he has developed very similar training characteristics, having spent so much time at Cullentra House.

This progression isn’t at all uncommon. Olly Murphy is another Elliott protégé who has prospered out on his own. Dan Skelton and Harry Fry absorbed a large portion of training knowledge when with Paul Nicholls. Joseph O’Brien has maybe the best undergrad of all.

In respect of the owner, there is a lot of value to be found with these type of trainers, the ones who have served an apprenticeship so to speak and head out on their own. Of course, Cromwell’s wasn’t an apprenticeship of any kind, more a business-to-business, but it’s fair to assume he didn’t have his eyes and ears closed every time he walked into Elliott’s yard.

APPLE’S IN NUMBERS

Here goes: 17 starts. 11 wins. Seven Grade 1 wins. Two Grade 1 seconds. Two Grade 1 thirds. Three Grade 2 wins. Never out of the first three. Three different distances won over. Three different trainers. Three wins in three different countries. Seven different jockeys. Just short of €600,000 in prize money.

Still only six.

And she looked as good as ever yesterday. In fact yesterday’s performance suggested she could even be getting better. In her last two seasons, she has been beaten three times coming off a break of 75 days or over, suggesting she tends to need a run after a break. Her defeat at the hands Limini (when coming off a break) at Punchestown two seasons ago is perhaps the best case for this assumption, given she turned the tables on Willie Mullins’s mare at Cheltenham a month later. Even on her comeback in this race last season, she looked workmanlike in seeing off Jer’s Girl by two lengths. Yesterday there was a whole 11 lengths back to her nearest pursuer.

Even if some of the big entries take their chance in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle in three weeks' time, it’s hard to see her not making it a hat-trick in the race, emulating the great and much-loved Solerina in the process.

On a contrasting note, it was desperately sad to see Identity Thief suffer a fatal injury, just as he was coming to challenge this great mare. A very talented horse early on in his career, he was brilliantly brought back to his best by Henry de Bromhead last season, after a failed novice chasing expedition in the previous campaign. His Grade 1 Ryanair Stayers' Hurdle win at Aintree last April was seriously impressive and he had a lot more to achieve.

HORSES TO FOLLOW

De Name Escapes Me got 8lb from the handicapper for his impressive win in the Brown Lad Handicap Hurdle at Naas on Saturday but Noel Meade’s six-year-old has the scope to progress again.

Last season was a bit of a mess but he ended it with an excellent third to A Great View in the big three-mile handicap hurdle at the Punchestown Festival. That suggested there was a lot more to come and he duly took advantage of a mark of 130. Well on top at the finish, he beat a progressive and race-fit rival in the shape of Brex Drago in second. In fact the next four home all had race-fitness on their side.

Noel Meade might send him up in trip now or he might send him chasing. There are plenty of options but whatever way the trainer chooses, De Name Escapes Me looks worth following.

The other horse to catch my eye was Magnium, who finished second in the Grade 3 For Auction Novice Hurdle at Navan. Sent off 20/1, this was just his third career start, his first start of this season and for his new trainer Jessica Harrington.

Previously trained by Tony Martin, this big, scopey gelding won a Killarney maiden hurdle in May and, while he had no answer to the impressive winner Aramon yesterday, he ran really well to be closest in a slowly-run race. There should be more come this season and when he goes chasing.