Pipe dream has inspired Elliott

GORDON ELLIOTT is a more edgy character than Irish training rival Willie Mullins, less prone to humour – ‘we’re lucky to have good owners and good horses’, is his mantra.

Elliott’s pre-Cheltenham media briefing took place on the gallops in his highspec Cullentra stables in County Meath.

Repeatedly on the move checking his horses, it was broken down into slices; he’s a young man in a hurry.

Just turned 39, his passion for racing began when he bunked off school at 13 and started dossing about Tony Martin’s yard. As an amateur jockey, first for Martin and then Martin Pipe, he rode two winners at Cheltenham before weight issues prompted a career switch to training, which he always felt was his calling.

His first Festival runner, Brandon Mountain, a 100/1 shot, was pulled up in the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle in 2006 and never ran again. ‘He wasn’t good enough to be there,’ recalled Elliott (above).

But Elliott was. A year later, he became the youngest trainer to win the Aintree National as he put in place what he learned from his time riding.

‘Martin Pipe never left any stone unturned. He brought training to a different level. I think he’s an amazing man. I worked for Tony as well. From the two of them, I learnt all I know.’

He knows how to train winners, at small tracks like Perth, and big ones like Prestbury Park. Only five trainers have more than Elliott’s eight Festival winners since Chicago Grey’s 2011 breakthrough – Mullins, David Pipe, Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and Jonjo O’Neill.

That’s the company he is keeping these days. ‘When you think of it like that, I’ve not done too badly, have I?’ he acknowledged.

‘I got going by training winners around Scotland. If you forget about the small men in this game you could be in trouble, because you never know what’s going to happen with the big men.’

Right now, he has ‘big men’ on his side, chiefly the O’Leary brothers. He has several good chances this week, though he has lost The Storyteller, who was favourite for the race named after his old boss, Pipe, as well as Don Poli.

Elliott accepts he may soon have to focus more on quality than quantity.

‘It’s getting harder on everyone to keep going at it in the summer months. We’re so busy here.’

This week, there will be no respite.