Elliott's star continues to rise
November 27, 2010In the midst of the recession, Gordon Elliott has given local racing followers something to cheer about with his phenomenal achievements on the track.
Since becoming the youngest ever trainer to win the world's most prestigious steeplechase, the Aintree Grand National, with the now retired Silver Birch in April 2007, the Summerhill native has gone on to become one of Ireland's most successful trainers - and all at the age of just 32.
Gordon has trained a whopping 200 winners over the past four years. And with 66 winners in the first 11 months of 2010, he has already surpassed last year's tally of 60.
"It's been a very good year for me and hopefully next year will prove to be just as successful," he says.
"I've had 66 winners this year, 38 in Ireland and 28 in the UK. Winning the Grand National with Silver Birch gave me a big head start and things have gone from strength to strength since then. Most of my wins have come in National Hunt, but I've also had successes on the flat. We always have a few dual purpose horses in training."
The 2007 Grand National success was a phenomenal training feat for a man who had just obtained his trainer's licence and hadn't saddled a winner in Ireland prior to then. Starting out with half a dozen horses, mostly point-to-pointers, the former jockey has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the world of racing and now has 50 horses in training at his Capranny Stables base on Trim's Kildalkey Road. The stables are owned by 1996 Meath All-Ireland winner Barry Callaghan and managed by Gordon's partner Annie Bowles. The stables employ 12 staff, who Gordon has nothing but the height of praise for.
"A lot of our success is down to our staff and our head man Simon McGonagle from Trim. They have been brilliant over the past four years," he explains.
Gordon has made it to the top the hard way. Unlike so many of the great Irish trainers, he doesn't have a racing background, but that hasn't held him back. At the age of 13, he began working for Tony Martin at the weekends and during school holidays. At 16, he took out his amateur jockey's license with his first winner coming in a bumper at Ballinrobe on board Caitriona's Choice, trained by Michael Cunningham, for whom he would go on to ride many more winners.
Gordon spent around 12 years on-and-off with Tony, while also gaining experience with Liam Brown on The Curragh and the late Gordon Richards. He also spent a year in England working for the 15-times champion trainer Martin Pipe.
Gordon's major successes as a jockey were at Cheltenham and Punchestown (Champion Bumper), while he also had five winners in the US. After he was forced into retirement through injury, Gordon took out his trainer's license in March 2006 and his first winner came shortly afterwards with Arresting at Perth. Indeed, the East Scotland track has become almost a second home for Gordon who has had over 50 winners there alone.
Five more winners followed in 2006, as did the acquisition of Silver Birch from Paul Nicholls at the Doncaster Sales. A great run to finish second at Cheltenham in the cross-country race gave him and Silver Birch owner Brian Walsh the idea to run in the Grand National. And how the decision paid off!
Gordon's expanded yard includes several prolific winners, including Dirar who won the Ebor Handicap in York last August. Other horses he has enjoyed notable success with include Carlito Brigante, Tharawaat and Salford City. Among his up-and-coming horses are Beautiful Sound, Steps of Freedom, Jessies's Dream, Ballymak and Abbey Lane. High-profile owners include Ryanair boss and Delvin resident Michael O'Leary and the UK-based David Johnson, whose horse Comply or Die succeeded Silver Birch as Grand National champion in 2008.
Gordon's main jockeys are Paul Carberry, Davy Condon and Jason Maguire.
"We're going well in bad times," Gordon says in relation to the tough economic climate.
"The thing is we haven't had too many big owners, no big builders or anything like that. The thing now is to keep it going."
Capranny Stables are situated on a 50-acre farm and are centrally located for racing in Ireland. The yard's proximity to Dublin and Larne ports means Gordon is able to transport horses to race in the UK with relative ease. The happiness, comfort and welfare of each individual horse are of paramount importance and the quiet, secluded setting in the heart of the Meath countryside provides an ideal environment for this purpose.
Within Capranny, there are two American-style barns as well as 20 outside boxes back-to-back, totalling 50 stables in all. The stables also have the capacity to house four or five horses in an open barn which leads onto a woodchip paddock, providing sheltered yet well-ventilated accommodation, particularly for horses with respiratory problems.
Capranny also boasts a four-and-a-quarter-furlong Wexford sand circular gallop and a five furlong sand and fibre straight gallop on an incline. In addition to the top class gallops there is a state of the art all-weather schooling ground with Easyfix fences and hurdles.
An ardent GAA supporter, Gordon played underage football for his beloved Summerhill, but admits that his jockey brother Joey, who has ridden for him on numerous occasions, was the footballer in the family. Gordon recently dusted down the boots to play in the annual charity football match in Navan between the jockeys and trainers in aid of Temple Street Children's Hospital, in which the trainer's retained their crown.
2010 has been one of the most controversial years in the history of Meath GAA with the fallout from the Leinster final victory over Louth leading to Eamon O'Brien's dismissal as manager and the appointment of former Monaghan boss Seamus McEnaney's as the Royal County's first 'outside' manager.
"I thought Eamon O'Brien was hard done by. In two years, he got Meath to an All-Ireland semi-final and won a Leinster title with them. The only thing he didn't win was an All-Ireland," Gordon points out.
"Meath GAA has got a lot of bad press since the Leinster final, but hopefully things will settle down now that the new manager has been appointed. Seamus McEnaney will have his own ideas and I wish him the best of luck."
Despite the huge controversy that surrounded Meath's Leinster final win, Gordon believes the Royals were right not to offer Louth a replay.
"While it was tough on Louth, the decision to award Joe Sheridan's last-minute goal was the referee's and had nothing to do with Meath. If a replay was granted, it would have set an unwelcome precedent for the GAA.
"Sometimes decisions go your way and other times they don't. That's sport and it's time to move on from this episode. The same thing happened to Ireland in the World Cup qualifier against France. You just have to move on."
He continued: "The most disappointing thing for me was the fact that the final decision (on whether to offer a replay) was left up to the Meath players. They should never have been backed into a corner like that. The county board should have put the matter to bed straight away and not let it drag on." Tweet
