This week 12 months ago Gordon Elliott was in the eye of a massive storm.
An infamous picture of him sitting on a dead horse on his gallops made headlines around the world and ultimately saw him suspended from training for six months.
The fallout saw him lose several high profile horses and owners like Cheveley Park and he was forced to watch the Cheltenham Festival at home while his string horses ran in the name of caretaker trainer Denise Foster.
He returned to training in September and has enjoyed an excellent season — rebuilding his reputation and yard to such an extent that he sent out his 124th winner of the season at Naas on Sunday.
A year on from his "indefensible moment of madness" the 43-year-old Meath trainer is looking forward to his return to Cheltenham — loaded with the biggest team of horses he’s ever sent to the Cotswolds.
“If you asked me this time last year would I be in this position now I’d have said no. It just shows you the team I have behind me,” remarked Elliott yesterday, as he paraded 28 of his Festival contenders at Cullentra.
Included among them are Cheltenham Gold Cup hopefuls Galvin and Conflated — although Elliott admitted he’ll need to win a battle with Michael O’Leary if his Irish Gold Cup winner is to take his chance on Friday fortnight.
Gigginstown chief O’Leary suggested at the weekend that his eight-year-old would be tackling the Ryanair Chase (a race he sponsors) and not the Gold Cup, which he won with Elliott in 2015 with Don Cossack.
“If I had the call he’d be going to the Gold Cup. There's only one Gold Cup.
“But there’ll be a conversation. Michael (O’Leary) will say he wants to go for the Ryanair and I’ll say I want to go for the Gold Cup and we’ll probably have an argument for five minutes. Normally it’s his way but I hope I get my way,” remarks Elliott, who trained seven winners at the 2020 Festival and 32 in total.
Conflated was a shock winner of the Paddy Power sponsored Irish equivalent at Leopardstown last month, defeating 2021 Gold Cup winner Minella Indo at odds of 18/1.
“When he went to Leopardstown, we said we should go for the Irish Gold Cup and see where we are. Eddie (O’Leary) wanted to go for a handicap but we decided we’d give him a rattle at the Gold Cup and see whether that’s what he was.
“There’s probably a bit of a chink in him. When he’s good he’s good but when he’s bad he’s horrific. But he seems in a good place at the moment. He’s a lot more settled on the gallop, he looks a lot better and we’re really looking forward to running him.
“You can knock his form all you like and say he’s this and he’s that but he beat last year’s Gold Cup winner by five and a half lengths – going away at the line — so whatever way you like it or lump it he was good the last day.
Elliott fires two darts at the Friday feature with two-time Grade 1 winner and last year’s National Hunt Chase hero Galvin also very much in the mix.
He won the other big Irish ‘trial’ at Leopardstown over Christmas — defeating last year’s Gold Cup runner-up A Plus Tard, who is currently favourite for Cheltenham.
“I don’t think Galvin has done a thing wrong all year. If you were to pick a hole in him, he possibly lacks a gear, but his work since Leopardstown has been very good. He’s been working with a few quicker horses and we’re very happy with him.
“We know he stays and has won around Cheltenham three times. He relaxes, he jumps, and if he’s within firing distance at the second last you’ll know he’ll come home strong.
“He outstayed A Plus Tard at Leopardstown - he’s the Gold Cup favourite — and I think we’ll outstay him again.
“At the start of the year I thought he was probably going to be more of a Grand National horse but he’s improving week in week out.
“He’s going to have to improve again to win a Gold Cup but I think he’s going into the race with a really good profile. You know he stays, you know he likes the track, Davy Russell will ride him and there’s no better around.”
Russell has been a huge part of Elliott’s operation since the beginning and the pair have famously won two Grand Nationals with Tiger Roll — who will return to Cheltenham in two weeks time to attempt an incredible sixth win at the Festival.
His owner Michael O’Leary has indicated that the Cross Country Chase will be the 12-year-old’s final race before retirement with a third Grand National bid in April ruled out due to a dispute with the English handicapper.
“He’s an unbelievable horse. He hasn’t missed too many Cheltenham Festivals since winning the Triumph Hurdle. He might have missed one I think,” said Elliott.
“He’s a great horse. He’s part of the team here and he’s a horse of a lifetime. We had him in Cheltenham last week schooling over the Cross Country fences and he was very good.
“I suppose the one negative with Tiger Roll is if the ground is soft. He’s not the same horse on soft ground. The better the ground the better the chance he has.
“He’s going for a sixth Festival win. He’s a great horse. The one thing with Tiger Roll is that anyone who ever comes into this yard, the one horse they want to see is Tiger Roll. We probably don’t realise how lucky we are to have a horse like him.
“There’s only one place I care about winning with him and that’s Cheltenham. Around that place he’s just different. He’s getting old but if he can turn up even 80 percent in the form that he has the last few years then he’ll take all the beating.”
So will Russell dust off his Cross Country boots to ride Tiger Roll for his swansong at Cheltenham?
“Oh that's the million dollar question,” grins Elliott.
Perhaps Michael O’Leary knows the answer?
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