Henry de Bromhead tried to flee his calling with no success. Office walls are prison cells to the man who might have qualified as an accountant. And when he sought the happy medium of Tattersalls, the Newmarket auctioneers, he lasted only three months.

There was nothing for it. De Bromhead returned to Coolmore Stud, where his equine odyssey first started, and from where, aged 28, he would succeed his father on the family's Waterford farm. Only then did he realise he had been marking time all along. “I was definitely trying to get away from training in some respects. Dad had had some really bad years. I'd seen how hard it was,” he said.

To meet de Bromhead is to encounter a man of old values in contemporary clothes. Yet it is easy to glean, from asides in conversation, that he was a late developer. His confidence did not match his potential, and he may have taken longer than most to recognise the virtues of hard work.

The remedy? Two years in Sir Mark Prescott's Newmarket boot camp, although de Bromhead's making can be traced to an unexpected call he fielded from Alan Potts in December 2005. An English owner relatively new to the game, Potts wanted to buy a horse - only to be told on arriving in Ireland that the one he liked had developed tendon trouble.

Undaunted, Potts bought two others from de Bromhead who, three months later, had to tell him that one was dead and the other had fractured its knee. That should have been that, yet Potts quickly returned to Ireland to buy “one or two” more. He ended up with 13, one of which was Sizing Europe, a leading contender for the Irish Independent Arkle Chase at Cheltenham on Tuesday who could be joined by four other stablemates at the Festival.

De Bromhead doesn't say it, but Potts, a blunt Yorkshireman, saw sincerity in the young trainer. He made his fortune by an intuitive judgment of others, who would subsequently vindicate him. In de Bromhead's case Potts recognised a man who simply needed to be shown the way forward.

“Alan is very much behind so much of what I do now,” de Bromhead said. “He kicked my arse a bit; he kept telling me that whatever I did, I had to do it right. He gave me confidence to invest in the yard and build up the business.”

Potts is not alone. Last season was a washout for de Bromhead, leaving him worried that the harsh economic climate would reduce his string. Instead his numbers rose to capacity at his 45-box stable. And a thorough review of his daily routine has effected a dramatic transformation in fortunes. This season he passed his previous-best haul of winners by mid-December.

Since de Bromhead took over Knockeen ten years ago he has built numerous boxes and two new gallops, together with an equine hydrotherapy unit. He must now take the place to the next level and in Sizing Europe may have the horse to transport him.

It would be third time lucky. Two years ago Sizing Europe started favourite for the Champion Hurdle and looked like winning until, full of running two out, he damaged a bone in his spine. Worse would follow 12 months later. The horse was so badly affected by transit fever en route to Cheltenham that vets detained him for five days before they allowed him home.

Sizing Europe has since enjoyed a year of robust health. The only caveat within his record of four wins from as many starts this season is that Captain Cee Bee apparently had his measure when he fell at Leopardstown in December. “Whatever would have happened, my horse definitely felt that race,” de Bromhead said. “I think he needed to be freshened up, which is why he hasn't run since.”

More than anything, de Bromhead wants Sizing Europe to show his mettle this time round. He said: “The horse has had his knocks. I'd say that he's just unfortunate, rather than injury-prone, and he's absolutely bouncing now. Let's hope we see it at Cheltenham.”