Gordon Elliott

Formerly a highly accomplished amateur rider, Gordon Elliott first took out a training licence in 2006/2007 and saddled his first winner, Arresting, in a handicap hurdle at Perth in June, 2006. However, Elliott really announced his arrival in the training ranks by saddling the 10-year-old Silver Birch, ridden by Robbie Power, to win the Grand National the following April. Of course, Elliot recently hit the headlines again, when saddling Tiger Roll, ridden by Davy Russell, to win the 2018 renewal of the world famous steeplechase, but the whole of his 11-year training career has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Based at Cullentra House Stables in County Meath, in eastern Ireland, Elliott had actually saddled five winners, including Silver Birch, on mainland Britain, before opening his account in his native land. Nevertheless, he trained his first Grade 1 winner, Jessies Dream, in the Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse in December, 2010, and his first winners at the Cheltenham Festival, Chicago Grey in the National Hunt Chase and Carlito Brigante in the Coral Cup, in March, 2011.

The high-profile victory of Don Cossack in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2016 was an eighth success at the Cheltenham Festival but, in September that year, he was the major beneficiary of a split between Gigginstown House Stud, owned by Michael O’Leary, and Willie Mullins, which resulted in 60 horses being removed from the County Carlow trainer.

Elliot saddled six winners at the 2017 Cheltenham Festival, edging out Willie Mullins on countback to become leading trainer for the first time, and a further eight at the 2018 Cheltenham Festival, beating Mullins 8-7, to take a second trainers’ title. In early April, 2018, Elliott was €550,000 ahead of Mullins in the race for the Irish trainers’ championship and long odds-on to take the title for the first time.