Back from a ban... but the storm surrounding Elliott still lingers

THE ban of trainer Gordon Elliott ends on Thursday but if the trainer believes all is forgotten now that he has served his sixmonth suspension, then he might be gravely mistaken.

The Racing Post, the industry newspaper, has an exclusive interview with Elliott tomorrow and even the teasing Tweet informing the wider public about that nugget of information received consternation.

Social media is a dangerous courtroom when, more of10 or not, you are seen as the guilty party within seconds. A picture of Elliott sitting on a dead horse on his training gallops circulated online just weeks before March’s Cheltenham Festival. Many assumed it was a fake and could barely believe their eyes. It wasn’t and Elliott (right), rather belatedly, owned up.

A year’s ban with six months suspended ends this week. Denise Foster has taken charge in the interim and although Cheltenham turned out okay for the yard, the rest of the season tailed off badly. Results have dropped, sponsors such as Betfair have left and a lot of owners, including Cheveley Park stud, moved their horses elsewhere. However, core staff such as retained jockeys and stable staff have significantly stuck by the Irishman.

Elliott built his Cullentra stables from scratch. Unlike most in the game, he was not born into a racing like Willie Mullins or Aidan O’Brien and was not around horses from a very young age. If anyone can build from the bottom yet again, then it’s Elliott. But as well as improving on the track results with less ammunition, Elliott has to rebuild his reputation from rock-bottom.

The yard’s website was taken down and any social media activity has been restricted to less than 10 Tweets in six months. The ability for anyone to reply to any of them was removed since last month and that’s probably an indicator that public opinion remains firmly against him.

There are many people that the Irishman simply will never win over. Over the summer, two of the three racehorses named by Panorama’s documentary that were sent to an atrocious abattoir to meet an inhumane end to their lives were loosely linked to Elliott. That was a further dent to his reputation.

When Elliott won the Grand National (three times) and the Gold Cup, he largely chose to stay out of the limelight. Like it or not, the spotlight will be fixed upon him for a good while yet. And he’ll have to be prepared.