Gordon Elliott faces uphill battle in trainers’ championship despite purple patch

Gordon Elliott’s chances of ultimately dethroning Willie Mullins as champion trainer this season may be slim, but he is enjoying a rare purple patch in the here and now.

A remarkable 11-winner haul over a couple of days at Down Royal’s Winter Festival included a dramatic success for Gerri Colombe in Saturday’s €150,000 Ladbrokes Champion Chase.

At one point, having won the first five races on Saturday’s programme, it looked like Elliott might secure an unprecedented feat and go through the card.

Any frustration that his effort ran out of steam in the final two races was eased by a couple of winners at Saturday’s other fixture in Gowran.

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Elliott came up one shy of a clean-sweep through Friday’s Down Royal action, the third time in his career that has happened, including in 2021 when saddling a 37,204-1 seven-timer on an eight-race card at Navan.

Such a haul over a couple of days would represent a good overall season for some of his colleagues, although Elliott’s hopes of being crowned champion trainer for a first time in May still look slight.

Paddy Power rate Elliott at 7-2 while Mullins is an overwhelming 1-5 favourite to secure an 18th championship.

The old rivals dominate the top of Cheltenham Gold Cup betting with Gerri Colombe cut to 5-1 second favourite after his narrow defeat of Envoi Allen on Saturday.

Mullins’s ‘Blue Riband’ title holder Galopin Des Champs is set to make his return to action in Punchestown’s John Durkan later this month.

“Willie’s horse is very, very good but this horse has a great attitude,” Elliott said, before pointing to the Gold Cup’s bigger stamina test as a plus for Gerri Colombe. “That’s why I think three miles and two furlongs is going to suit him perfectly.”

Stamina does appear to be the seven-year-old’s strongpoint based on his last-gasp victory at Down Royal.

Having been crossed at the second last by his stable companion Conflated, Jack Kennedy’s mount briefly looked like finishing third of the four runners as Envoi Allen led on the run-in.

The dour stayer rallied to such good effect however that he got back up to win by a neck as the 4-7 favourite.

If it didn’t appear the most flamboyant exhibition of Gold Cup potential, Elliott is convinced better is to come.

“We’ll have one run now and then the Gold Cup. He showed that he is in the mix now for the Gold Cup, he stays very well and that’s what you need.

“I was delighted that he settled into a rhythm, the other horse [Conflated] was going a bit left and was taking Jack’s horse’s eye off the fence a bit. I was a bit worried the whole way because Conflated does go left, but I did tell Jack to give him a bit of light and get him into a rhythm.

“Jack said he was a bit rusty early, but I thought he was pretty much foot-perfect, apart from one, for a novice stepping into open company. The sky is the limit,” the Co Meath trainer said.

Elliott’s hot-streak failed to continue into Sunday’s Naas action where he was out of luck, including with both King Of Kingfield and Fil Dor who finished runners-up in their respective contests.

Elliott goes into action next at Fairyhouse on Tuesday where he has a trio of runners. They include Cool Survivor, who goes in a beginners’ chase that will see Mullins’s Grade One winning hurdler, Gaelic Warrior, starting his career over fences.

Envoi Allen could get another crack at Gerri Colombe in Leopardstown’s Savills Chase over Christmas after pleasing Henry de Bromhead with his weekend performance.

“It was disappointing not to win but we were delighted with the run he put in. He was beaten by a very good horse,” De Bromhead reported on Sunday. “He got under the last. If we’d winged that, maybe we’d have held on.”

In other news, the exciting Cheltenham Festival winner Marine Nationale may not make his debut over fences until Leopardstown at Christmas.

Owner-trainer Barry Connell had nominated next weekend at Navan for the unbeaten Supreme winner to start his chasing career but ground conditions could scupper that plan.

“He’s ground dependent and I might wait until Leopardstown at Christmas. I don’t want to give him a grueller at the start of the season,” Connell said at Naas on Sunday.

“He’s a light-framed horse and he’d be lost on that ground today. If we have to wait until Leopardstown at Christmas that’s fine, as he went to Cheltenham last year on the back of two runs, so that’s not a big issue.

“There is a two mile and one beginners at Leopardstown and then he could go to the Dublin Racing Festival and Cheltenham, and hopefully Punchestown,” he added.