THEY say you have to be willing to work in the dark if you want to shine in the light and, on a miserable, wet and pitch-black morning at Navan Racecourse, Gordon Elliott is raring to put that adage to the test.
It’s just past 6.45am and the man who is only one win away from becoming the joint-most successful trainer in Grand National history is parked up adjacent to the racecourse stableyard. In the teeming, wintery rain - with dawn yet to break - the beams from his smart Colm Quinn-sponsored BMW XM 50e feel like the only lit-up spot for miles.
It isn’t long, however, before the bright young hopes entrusted to light up the National Hunt season for Cullentra this winter emerge from the darkness. An army of 76 jumpers, locked and loaded for a morning of racecourse galloping. There were 20 others here doing the same the previous evening too.
Logistically, it half resembles a scene out of Dublin Airport air traffic control towers. Horses, bridles, saddle pads and jockeys going every direction. Thankfully, assistant Lisa O’Neill has the crucial running order at hand and is at the heart of the team keeping matters rolling smoothly.
There’s a mixture of established names and unexposed youngsters in the workouts. Wodhooh, the saviour of last season’s Cheltenham Festival, and Jack Kennedy are to the fore in the first gallop, as the morning sky begins to brighten, though there are also a fair share of new point-to-point recruits catching Elliott’s eye as the lots go on.
It is serious horsepower for first thing on a Thursday morning - just how the 41-time Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer likes it.
“I love mornings like this,” Elliott beams, as he steps out of his four wheels, ready to oversee the first lot.
“You come to see what’s what and which of them can stick their heads up. We go a mile and six furlongs and don’t take them off the bridle. On a morning like this, you might have four or five horses surprise you and stand up more than they do at home, which is always nice.
“Maybe we’re a little behind ourselves at the moment, compared to other years, because we redid all the gallops this summer, relaying surfaces. We completed that work a month ago. It’s an exciting time of year.”
In the middle of that renovation work, it has already been a summer/early season to remember for the proud Meathman.
He’s again dictating the tempo in leading the Irish National Hunt trainers’ championship after an exceptional Galway Festival that saw him emerge with a five-timer - including a famous Plate-Hurdle double (with a little help from the stewards) and €100,000 handicap hurdle through progressive stable switcher Winning Smut.
His Plate star Western Fold has been excellently campaigned to capture the €100,000 McHale Mayo National and Grade 2 PWC Champion Chase at Gowran Park either side of Ballybrit. For good measure, Casheldale Lad plundered a €100,000 handicap hurdle at the Listowel Harvest Festival and King Of Kingsfield scooped a Grade 3 novice chase at Punchestown only last week.
American achievement
Far (away) Hills proved even greener for the Elliott team, however. It was a truly sensational feat to send six horses across the Atlantic for five races on last Saturday’s American Grand National card and emerge with an unprecedented five-timer (including the feature).
Such a venture comes at considerable cost logistically, but the raiding party couldn’t have possibly executed their long-range plan any better. All bar two horses have since been sold to continue their careers Stateside.
“It was great to get so many texts and calls from people in England and Ireland, and all over the world, wishing us well after last weekend,” says Elliott, who believes there is scope for further transatlantic openings with owners getting involved with his yard.
“I think there could be very good opportunities for American owners to find the right horses through our sourcing here. I’d like to think that after being over to America plenty of times, and having a bit of success, we have a good handle on the type of horse that’s suited to the style of racing there. It’s often a different type of horse that’s needed to win at these tracks; not always the big 16.2 hands horse.
“I don’t think there’s a huge pool of American jumping owners out there, but some are coming into the game. It’ll be interesting to see if that can grow.”
Racing faces a regular fight for column inches and airtime in national media, but it was particularly frustrating for many observers of the sport to note the lack of coverage Elliott’s Far Hills five-timer received last weekend. The point was well articulated this week by Racing Post Ireland editor Richard Forristal, bemoaning that Elliott’s exploits on the other side of the world never once made the RTÉ television news on Sunday - a broadcast that featured updates from Scottish Premiership soccer and golf’s DP World India Championship.
It even took until Tuesday morning for notice of the achievement to appear on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland sports bulletin.
Elliott stresses that he is never one to chase publicity for his own gain, though he concurs with the view expressed by others - including Forristal - that plenty more could have been done to promote a feel-good story for Irish racing.
“I don’t want to say too much because I’m a big believer in letting your horses do the talking,” he says matter-of-factly, “but I thought it was disappointing that no one from Horse Racing Ireland contacted me about what we did in America.
“Listen, I’m not someone who pats themselves on the back - and I’m absolutely not the type of person who goes looking for praise - but you’d like to think it could have been promoted better. I think Richie summed it up well in his piece.
“At the end of the day, we’re all just trying our best to promote Irish racing, so it was a bit disappointing HRI didn’t do more about it.”
Time doesn’t stand still as one lot rolls to another at the home of the Navan Racing Festival, and the clock is also rolling towards a notable milestone in Elliott’s training career. Next March will mark 20 years since he saddled his first runner under rules.
“I don’t feel like I’m training 20 years - I still don’t think I’m that old, but we’re all ageing,” quips the 47-year-old.
How do the hunger levels compare between the trainer of 20 years ago and now?
“I suppose you’re a different type of hungry when you’re younger,” he considers.
“Back then, you’re hungry for the next winner, but also the next night out, the next place you’re going. Now it’s a little more different. I’m absolutely still very hungry for horses, very hungry for winners, but I feel more settled. Steadier. I love what I do.
Different perspective
“You probably look at life a bit differently. You look at people differently; the older you get, the wiser you are. That goes back to knowing who is genuine and who isn’t, who your core people are. Who stands by you, who doesn’t. That’s important. You have to figure it out yourself, but that’s life. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing than training exactly where I am.”
At times in the past, it felt as though there was a franticness about Elliott to get to the next level in the sport. It could be argued that there’s a more measured sense in the air at Cullentra now, while the results have still been well up to scratch. Only last Christmas, he trained a staggering 2,000th Irish National Hunt winner and recorded his 100th Grade 1 success.
“A few years ago, I think every day I got up and all I wanted was ‘bang, bang, bang’. I’d be thinking about today. Not tomorrow or next week. I was like a bull in a china shop to get going,” he explains.
“Now I’m trying to look at things a bit differently, looking at races further down the line with horses and taking a more long-term approach. You have to look at the bigger picture. Looking at what we did at Galway, and in America, those are the sort of plans that you make over time and pulling it off is a buzz.”
He adds: “Look, Willie sets the standard and I think I’ve been second to him in the championship for 10 or 11 years now. Four or five years ago, I was taking it a lot harder than I am now. I’ve just got to realise that I’m probably both lucky and unlucky to be training in the same era as one of the greatest trainers of all time.
“The other thing is, he’s 20 or so years older than me. Hopefully our turn will come. At my age, a lot of other trainers hadn’t achieved what I have. I’m hungrier than ever. I’m going nowhere.”
Does that more pragmatic approach extend to his life outside of racing? “Before, I was very selfish. I didn’t care about anything or anyone - I know that myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still obsessed with training racehorses - it’s my life - but I care about other things too. Family is very important to me. My friends and those close to me are very important. I love Meath GAA and Summerhill GAA.
“Being champion trainer and training winners is the only thing I want to achieve. Absolutely, that’s what I’m dreaming about every day and working towards. But when you’ve gone through what I’ve gone through, you find a different perspective on life.”
Cheltenham challenges
Elliott has seen contrasting perspectives in recent times when it comes to Cheltenham Festival too. He has made the meeting his own with leading trainer titles, plundering the Gold Cup with Don Cossack and orchestrating a host of memorable days with Tiger Roll - but last season demonstrated what being on the other side of the mountain can feel like.
Wodhooh, in the final race of the week, was his only winner from 52 runners, though there were no shortage of close calls in defeat. The Yellow Clay, Teahupoo and Stellar Story all posted Grade 1 seconds, while Better Days Ahead, The Wallpark and Romeo Coolio each finished third at the highest level. County Hurdle second Ndaawi ran a belter too.
“Listen, Cheltenham was very tough this year,” he says.
“It’s not that they were all falling out the back of the screen and running badly - they were running well, but we just weren’t getting the bounce of the ball. With the exception of the mare [Brighterdaysahead], who had her excuse and wasn’t right, they all tended to run up to scratch.
“And you know what, looking back on it all, I wouldn’t change a thing about what we did going into Cheltenham last season. I honestly think we had our horses in brilliant condition, but we didn’t have luck on our side. That happens to everyone.”
Any suggestion that his Cheltenham squad had been overly busy with racecourse gallops in the lead-up to the week are quickly refuted.
“I didn’t do anything different going to Cheltenham last year than would have been the case over the previous 10 years. The problem with social media is that everyone gets to see you doing your work here and there in the run-up to it, but that was no different to other years.
“I train my own horses and my records speak for themselves. I don’t think anyone can knock me for how I prepare them.”
He adds: “To get that winner was a relief. People might have this impression of you being some sort of iron man, but you do have emotions. Yeah, I am tough, but I care about the horses and people around me.”
Elliott used the word ‘transition’ on multiple occasions about his string last season, and the rebuilding process has been gradual after some prominent setbacks over the last number of years.
Judged by the Navan gallopers, at least, there are plenty of greenshoots emerging to build the next generation of Cullentra flagbearers.
“I think we’ve got a nice bunch of horses, a lot of youngsters,” he insists.
“We’ve been trying to rebuild. Obviously when we lost those horses before, it takes a good while to get that core of runners back. It was a blow to lose Andy and Gemma Brown and 35 or 40 horses in one go - and obviously horses before that previously.
“Realistically, we could have lost 50 proper horses, but we keep moving on. I know that if we get our hands on the horses, we can do it.”
Just as could be said about the start of the morning at Navan, it is often darkest before dawn. The scene is set for new stars to rise in Cullentra. Work in the dark that’s destined to reap dividends.
THEY say a manager is only as good as the players they can put on the pitch, and how Ireland’s top National Hunt horses are sourced and produced has been a key talking point in recent times, with the emergence of initiatives like the HRI Academy Hurdle series.
Some leading bloodstock figures feel that a combination of climate change and better-draining tracks have led to many of the leading jumps meetings being run on better ground than may have been the case in the past - therefore advantaging speedier, sometimes smaller types than might traditionally be associated with jumping excellence.
“It’s something we’ve been thinking about and factoring in over the last few years,” says Elliott.
“If you look at the likes of Wodhooh, Honesty Policy and so on lately, we’re not trying to buy a boat when weighing up those types of horses. Okay, you’re getting a real wet month every now and then where those huge big horses might thrive, but I think we’ve probably been guilty at times before of buying too big a horse.”
Elliott has a strong handle on the Irish point-to-point scene, but has also excelled at the highest level with French recruits like Teahupoo and Irish Point.
“They have worked for us - it’s just very hard to source them with the price of them,” he explains.
“We have plenty of lads ringing pitching horses to us, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of horses priced around €300,000 or €400,000 after finishing second or third in France. It’s mental.
“Prize money is a worry too for horses in Ireland. I think we can be guilty of patting ourselves on the back here about how good prize money is - I don’t see it getting much better. Obviously you hope there are people working on that.”
He adds: “From day one, I’ve been lucky to have brilliant owners behind me. Michael O’Leary has probably been my backbone since I started training - he’s been with me through thick and thin - but the likes of Bective Stud and Robcour are obviously a massive part of our team too. Really, I’m grateful to each and every one of our owners for how they support the yard. We couldn’t do it without them.”
If he’d consider starting his big guns later in the season
“Of course you think about it. Every night when you go to bed, you’re working through different ideas about training. What we’re doing works for us, though. If we waited another month, we’re still taking on the Willie battalions again so it’d be even harder. We are taking our time a bit more in recent years and we’re happy with it. To be honest, we have a lot of nice horses, but we mightn’t just have the depth of what Willie has. He’s got a core of 10 or 15 owners, whereas we might have half a dozen of the type of owners he has. Willie’s the man. He sets the standard. He’s where we want to be.”
Other Irish yards growing in stature
“That’s what’s good about the game - it keeps everyone’s levels high. Competition is healthy. Genuinely, it’s hard to win any race in Ireland and I don’t think people fully realise that. It’s not a case of just four or five trainers being able to send out winners in Ireland - there’s easily 25 or more very good trainers in this country. You look at what the likes of Eoin McCarthy have done this season at Listowel, and I’m delighted to see their success.”
His increased social media presence
“We’ve brought someone on board for all our social media and videos for owners, and the one thing I told Issie [Wirgman-Neal] coming in was that we should make it a bit of fun. We’re not all robots; I’m not a robot. It’s important to let everyone see that people in this yard are enjoying themselves. I think people are seeing that this is a fun place to work. We’ve got fantastic staff. Take Lisa O’Neill, for example, on a day like this at Navan. She’s my eyes and my ears and pulls together whatever needs to be done.”
Better Days Ahead
“He could be a Grand National horse. He’s got an entry in the [BetVictor] Champion Chase at Down Royal and could start there, but we’ll see closer to the time. Otherwise, we could run Found A Fifty, Croke Park or Western Fold there.”
Brighterdaysahead
“She’s in good form and worked here at Navan on Wednesday after racing. She wasn’t right at Cheltenham last season, jumped right and we hopefully have ironed out any issues since. She could go to Down Royal for a beginners’ chase, or else wait and come here [for the Navan Racing Festival]. It looks like she’s taken well to fences.”
Gerri Colombe
“It might be Christmas before he starts off. He was a bit later coming back in. He hasn’t got a Grade 1 penalty in some of those races now, so he could possibly head to Tramore on New Year’s Day.”
Honesty Policy
“He put up a good performance to win at Aintree last season. I’m not sure what road he’s going down yet, but he looks great since coming back in.”
Irish Point
“We’re hoping to have him ready at Christmas time. I’d say somewhere between two and a half miles and three miles is what’s going to suit him best. He’s a very good horse on his day.”
Romeo Coolio
“He’s going chasing. I think he’s in very good form and could be one to start off at Down Royal. The way he jumps, I get the feeling he’ll be very classy over fences.”
Teahupoo
“He’s in good form and, if it came up soft, he’d have the option of beginning his season in the Hatton’s Grace. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be shocked if I ended up bringing him to the UK for something like the Long Walk at Ascot.”
The Yellow Clay
“We’re going to stick to hurdles with him. He could start in the listed hurdle at Down Royal or else the Boyne Hurdle at Navan.”
Wodhooh
“The plan is to start off in the Hatton’s Grace. All seems to be well with her and I thought she worked well [at Navan on Thursday morning]. She looks very strong in herself and I think she’s going to have a good season.”