Love of the job not blinding Elliott from racing's issues
Sam Ewing on Romeo Coolio, left, and Jack Kennedy on Brighterdaysahead lead a string of horses as they cool down on the gallops at the launch of the Bar One Racing Fairyhouse Winter Festival at Gordon Elliott’s Cullentra House base on Monday. Picture: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
Gordon Elliott is a proud Meath man, a statement he likes to qualify by clarifying that he lives and works in Longwood but is from Summerhill.
When his local meetings take place, he likes to be front and centre with his runners, so it should have come as no surprise to anyone that he saddled eight winners at the weekend’s two-day meeting in Navan.
Roll on two weeks to Fairyhouse and it’s quite safe to expect a similarly profitable outcome.
Of course, the tentacles reach out much further and when it comes to Punchestown this weekend, and Christmas in Limerick and Leopardstown, and all the spring festivals on both sides of the Irish Sea, he’ll be heavily involved when the prizes are being given out. It is precisely why so much time and money has been put into developing the Cullentra facilities into a state-of-the-art training operation.
“I’d love to have 500 horses if I had the staff to keep it going but it’s very tough,” he admits. “That’s not the goal, of course. We have a great set-up and a great staff and without them you couldn’t do what we’re doing.
“I never refuse a horse. Obviously, you’d be trying to thin out from the bottom end, but I get as good a kick out of winning with a General Hubble, rated 80, as I do winning a Grade One.”
Asked if he could put a number on just how many he has right now, he is quick to reply: “As Mick Easterby says, ‘if one went missing, I’d know,’.
“We’d always have close to a couple of hundred riding out. It’s a numbers game. If you want to compete with Willie Mullins, or Henry or Gavin or Joseph, that’s what it is. That’s the way the world has gone. It’s go, go, go.”
Of course, Elliott looks forward to all the big meetings and even admits to enjoying a day’s Flat racing with his friends, when there is no pressure, but, like most of us who have some part to play in the industry, there is a certain contradiction to how he views the sport.
“Do I think there’s too much racing? Yeah. I think we’re diluting it, and I think our prizemoney is disappointing.
“It’s burnout, nearly. You have racing every day of the week and it’s hard to keep staff at that. It’s not that long ago that we were going racing and there were six races, but now it’s eight races and 35-minute gaps. It makes it a long day.
“It never stops. It’s 12 months of the year. I think, in time, a couple of weeks during the year with no racing for everyone would be no harm, but the way the programme is set up, I don’t know how it’s ever going to happen.
“I’m not complaining, though. I love my job, and I love going racing, and I’m lucky to be in the position I’m in. Every time I walk around the yard in the evening and look at all the horses we have, and look at the place, I pinch myself.”
If he hadn’t chosen this career and been so successful at it as to be able to compete at the top level on a consistent basis, what might Elliott have been?
“It would have to be something I would get a buzz out of, but I’m not sure what that would be. To be honest, though, if I wasn’t working with horses, my family are panel beaters, so I’d probably be fixing cars or doing something like that.”
Happily, it appears as though he may be able to shelve that idea permanently, and while the thus-far elusive trainers’ championship is the monkey on his back, there are plenty of other worlds he wishes to conquer.
“I would like to win the Velka Pardubicka in the Czech Republic. It’s never been won by an Irish horse, so I will be having another go at it. I would also like to have a go at the Nakayama Grand Jump, in Japan, and to have a runner in the Melbourne Cup. They’re things I’d love to do.”
“We’re very lucky with the jockeys we have. Jordan (Gainford) is unlucky as he’s suspended at the moment, and Danny (Gilligan) was supposed to ride the winner of the Troytown. Sam (Ewing) got the bounce of the ball in Down Royal, but Jack is number one. There’s no question about that.
“If you give your jockeys the full backing, they’re there for you, and Jack is our number one. The boys know the situation.
“I was very proud of Jack being crowned champion jockey. He’s been coming here since he was 12 or 13 years of age and he’s a big part of the team. I was probably as happy as he was. I’d be happy if I was champion trainer – but that’s not going to happen any time soon – but Jack is a good lad. He’s had a lot of injuries, and he keeps bouncing back. He’s an approachable fella and I don’t think anyone would begrudge him being champion jockey.”
“I thought she was good in Down Royal. She’s in the Morgiana and the Hatton’s Grace, but there’s no decision made yet as to where she’ll go. She’s come out of Down Royal very well and we’re looking forward to getting her out again soon.
“We toyed with going chasing, but Michael (O’Leary, owner) wanted to stay hurdling so that was the final decision. She’s only five and she’s got a lot of years in front of her, hopefully, so I’m not disappointed. We have a lot of nice novice chasers this year.
“I think good horses win over any trip and she could go two or three miles.”
“He’s in great form. He’s not fancy at home – he just does what he has to do. We have it in our head to go the same route as last year. We’ll go to Fairyhouse, Cheltenham and back to Punchestown, all being well.”
“He was good at the weekend. We were delighted with him. He was bought to be a chaser, and I was impressed with him. I loved the way he quickened down over the last two. He’s quick enough for two miles, and two and a half miles plus wouldn’t be a problem either.”
“I thought he was beatable over the trip on Sunday. Again, he’s gotten a lot stronger from last year and, to be honest, I was impressed with him. The Drinmore (Fairyhouse) is an option. In an ideal world, we’d get two more runs into him before Cheltenham.”
“We kept all options open over the weekend, but I felt we were well enough represented and didn’t need to run him. He has settled a lot since last year. He’s classy, and the Royal Bond at Fairyhouse is definitely the plan. I don’t think I have too many quicker than him. He’s exciting. I’d say he and The Yellow Clay are the quickest I have.”
“He could go to the Lawlor’s Novice Hurdle or to the novice in Navan. He has a great way of racing. He’s so laid back, he takes his racing well. Jack said you never know what you have under the bonnet because he’s asleep the whole way through his races. He was the same in bumpers. He’s also exciting.”
“He seems fine, but I was a bit disappointed with him in Down Royal. For me, he was beaten after a couple of fences. He never looked like he really travelled or jumped. We’ll keep going the route we wanted to go but I was disappointed. He didn’t run his race, and he didn’t finish out his race. He always gives you everything, but I thought the writing was on the wall very early on. A couple of little things cropped up, but we’ll iron them out.”
: “I’m very light on them. We’re just struggling to buy them as they’re making so much money going foreign. I thought the horse that ran in Navan on Sunday (Wendrock) looked nice. I only have him a few weeks.”
