With the Cheltenham Festival looming large on the horizon, trainer Gordon Elliott and his trusted lieutenants at Cullentra House give an insight into the logistical challenges facing Irish trainers who will target National Hunt’s premier racing festival in a month’s time.
Elliott, who cut his teeth in the racing industry as an amateur jockey with Tony Martin and then Martin Pipe, joined the training ranks in 2006 and enjoyed phenomenal early success when 33-1 shot Silver Birch landed the 2007 Grand National.
The nascent training talent hadn’t even managed to make it to the winners’ enclosure in his native land when Silver Birch scooped the world’s most famous race, but it was obvious that Elliott was very much one to watch.
The 2010-11 season marked the first team that the Meath man managed to finish in the top-10 in the leading trainer table in Ireland, leaving such luminaries as Eddie O’Grady and Jessica Harrington in his wake.
His upward trajectory has continued in the years since, and in the last three seasons only Willie Mullins has denied him a champion trainer title.
It’s almost certainly going to be a case of deja vu this season, with Mullins over €1million year clear of his nearest rival in the standings.
The master of Closutton is also long odds-on to outperform Elliott at the upcoming Cheltenham extravaganza, but the backing of Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown operation could give the underdog a chance of emerging victorious in certain skirmishes over the key week in the National Hunt Calendar.
Explaining his modus operandi for Cheltenham week, Elliott told RTÉ Sport, “We like to travel them on the boat.
“From us leaving our yard to getting to Cheltenham, it takes us about nine or 10 hours, which isn’t too bad for the horses.
“We like the horses to travel over there sort of 36 hours before they run, get settled in, and have a good walk when they get there.”
Transporting horses can be a tricky business and the weight lost due to the stress of transit can prove the difference between winning and losing. Rehydrating your charges and getting them grubbing on arrival are crucial facets in race preparation.
"You like to know that they’re eating and drinking, that’s the most important thing for me,” Elliott opined.
“It’s not set in stone that they will travel over well. But thankfully a lot of the horses we’ve got going to Cheltenham this year have done it before.
“We actually have one or two horses going over this year that I’m purposely not going to keep at Cheltenham racecourse because they’re a little bit highly strung. Every horse is different, and if you trained them all the exact same way I suppose you wouldn’t train winners.”
Having been schooled at the knee of Martin and Pipe, Elliott wasn’t keen to reveal the identity of his plot handicap horse, but appraising his more obvious chances of success in the Cotswolds, Elliott said: “No More Heroes looks like he’s got a very good chance in the RSA and you’ve got Don Cossack in the Gold Cup.
“I think it’s our strongest team going over.
“We’ve got a lot of good chances, but if you ask me how many winners were going to get, if I get one winner I’ll be very happy and after that it’s a bonus.”
Running any racing yard - particularly one on the scale of Cullentra House - is a massively labour-intensive business.
Travelling head girl Zoe Winston and racing secretary Camilla Sharples are crucial figures behind the scenes and Elliott expanded on their duties.
“With 15 or 20 horses going over, there’ll probably be seven or eight staff over there,” he explained.
“Camilla is in charge of bridles, tack, feed, water, hay, and Zoe then in the office does all the booking of the boats. It’s all a team effort and it works well.”
The woman charged with keeping the administrative side of the operation ticking over efficiently clearly doesn’t take any prisoners.
“Gordon can be a bit last minute,” she castigated her boss.
“As soon as we have everything, we just have to book the boat and book them in with the stables as well.
“We do it so often, really, Gordon has so many runners in England that we kind of have it down to a fine art.
“From the tack room that stores the bridles, bits and breastplates for the yard, Sharples ran through the schedule that their Cheltenham contenders will follow: The first bunch for the Tuesday and Wednesday runners, they go on Saturday” she said.
“The next set of runners will go over on the Monday evening and they’ll run on Thursday and Friday. So they’ll arrive at five o’clock on Tuesday morning.
“Gordon’s very particular! He likes us to be turned out properly, as well as his horses. He likes them to be immaculate, but that’s all part of the fun of getting them ready. It’s really exciting.”
Elliott’s leading Cheltenham contenders
No More Heroes - RSA Chase, Wednesday 16 March
The son of Presenting holds multiple entries but will line up in the RSA Chase, a race for which he will be sent off as favourite. Finished third at Cheltenham last season as a novice hurdler, but winning staying chases was always destined to be his ultimate goal. Unbeaten in three starts over fences, ticks many boxes, but could be vulnerable on quicker ground than he has faced so far.
Don Cossack - Gold Cup, Friday 18 March
May well have been unbeaten in his last six starts but for capsizing in the King George at Kempton on his penultimate outing. However, Cheltenham hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for him thus far. Came a cropper at the 14th fence in the 2014 RSA Chase and was hampered at a crucial stage before finishing third in last year’s Ryanair Chase.
Oscar Barton - Foxhunter Chase, Friday 18 March
Traded as favourite with a number of firms for this race 12 months ago, but connections were forced to draw stumps when their picked up a leg injury in the gallops. Having been absent ever since, a win here would represent a remarkable training performance.
Tombstone - Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Tuesday 15 March
Also holds an entry in the Neptune over further, but races so keenly that this two-mile trip is probably a more suitable target until he becomes more tractable. Looks the type to relish a race run at a good gallop and the Supreme often offers such a test.
