Slade Steel: Profile, Record, Age & Best Races

Winner of the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2024, Slade Steel is perhaps a slow burner in his fledgling career over fences.

He has finished second behind good horses in both runs over the larger obstacles and his connections will not be losing heart.

Name: Slade Steel

Age: 7

Weight: 11st 12lb

Trainer: Henry de Bromhead

Winnings: £149,653

Cheltenham Festival wins: 1

Slade Steel race stats

Runs	1st	2nd	3rd
9	4	3	2

Slade Steel Age

Slade Steel is a seven-year-old gelding bred by Pollards Stables.

Slade Steel Weight

On his most recent start Slade Steel carried 11st 12lb in a beginners chase at Naas in December 2024, where he was second behind next-time-out Grade 3 winner Lecky Watson.

Slade Steel is expected to line up in the Jack Richards Novices Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday 13th March, for which his allotted weight has yet to be decided.

Slade Steel Record

Slade Steel won a Punchestown bumper on his debut in December 2022 before running into a pair of subsequent Grade 1 winners when third behind Ballyburn and Dancing City in a bumper at the same track the following April. 

Sent off a 10/3 chance for his hurdling debut at Naas over two miles in November 2023, he comfortably got the better of odds-on favourite King Of Kingsfield, doing his best work at the finish, which is a common theme for the horse.

He followed up with victory in a 2m4f Grade 2 at Navan, beating Willie Mullins' Lecky Watson, with eventual Albert Bartlett winner Stellar Story back in third and subsequent Martin Pipe winner Better Days Ahead in fourth.

No match for Ballyburn in the Grade 1 Tattersalls Ireland 50th Derby Sale Novice Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival in February 2024, connections wisely decided to take their chance in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle last season, with Ballyburn running in the Gallagher Novices' Hurdle.

That decision worked out to be a stroke of genius as Rachael Blackmore guided Slade Steel to victory, beating Mystical Power into second.

This season over fences Slade Steel has finished second in starts at Navan and Naas behind Gordon Elliott's Better Days Ahead and the Mullins-trained Lecky Watson.

Slade Steel Next Race

At the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, it appears as though the Jack Richards Novices Handicap Chase will be Slade Steel's target.

Slade Steel Owner and Cost

Brian Acheson's horses run under the Robcour brand, who own Slade Steel. He was brought up at Ballincurrig House Stud and sold to Gerry Hogan for €12,500 at Goffs, before being sold again as a three-year-old for €30,000.

A winner of his sole point at Dawstown in May 2022 when trained by Pierce Power, Slade Steel was then sold privately to Robcour for an unconfirmed fee.

Slade Steel Trainer

Slade Steel is trained by Henry de Bromhead, a hugely successful trainer based in Knockeen, County Waterford in the south of Ireland. 

It took De Bromhead eight years to gain his first Grade 1 victory courtesy of Sizing Europe winning the Irish Champion Hurdle and he has never looked back. Stable jockey Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Grand National aboard Minella Times for the yard in 2021. 

De Bromhead has amassed 23 Cheltenham Festival winners in his career to date. They include two Champion Hurdle wins with superstar mare Honeysuckle in 2021 and 2022 and four Queen Mother Champion Chase victories thanks to Sizing Europe (2011), Special Tiara (2017), Put The Kettle On (2021) and Captain Guinness (2024).

Probably his finest moment came at the Festival in 2021 as Minella Indo gave De Bromhead his first Cheltenham Gold Cup in the hands of Jack Kennedy, with stablemate A Plus Tard back in second.

A Plus Tard gained compensation when winning the race in 2022 under a brilliant Blackmore ride, with Minella Indo back in second on that occasion.

Slade Steel became the first horse to win a Supreme Novices' Hurdle for De Bromhead in 2024.

Slade Steel Official Rating

Slade Steel has an official mark of 151 over hurdles. After just two starts in beginners' chases, he is yet to earn a mark over fences.

Slade Steel Prize Money

Slade Steel has won £149,653 in prize money in his career to date. His biggest payday was £75,964 for winning the Supreme at Cheltenham in 2024.

Slade Steel News

Both of Slade Steel's runs this season in Ireland saw him finish second in beginners' chases - behind Better Days Ahead at Naas and Lecky Watson at Navan.

Better Days Ahead was second in a Grade 1 at Leopardstown over Christmas on his next start, while Lecky Watson landed a Punchestown Grade 3 in January.

Trainer De Bromhead has been having a quieter time of things compared to normal this season, but will be hoping his horses take flight in the spring, as they so often do.