Gordon Elliott looks in prime position to continue his dominance of this weekend’s ‘Winter Festival’ action at Fairyhouse. The local trainer has 33 hopefuls declared over Saturday and Sunday, more than double that of his great rival Willie Mullins.
They include Teahupoo, who will try to give Elliott a record-equalling sixth success in the featured €120,000 Bar One Hatton’s Grace Hurdle.
He already has a record eight victories in Sunday’s other Grade One, the Drinmore Novice Chase, and Romeo Coolio is likely to start odds-on to make it nine.
Mullins has a pair of runners himself in both top-flight highlights but once again appears to be eying the long game in terms of unleashing the full power of his massive team of horses.
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Over the years that habit has helped Elliott hold sway at this festival and once again the man based in Longwood comes into it in flying form and on top of the trainers’ championship.
A good weekend is likely to see him edge past the €2 million mark in prize money for the season so far in Ireland.
Bitter experience suggests the current gap of almost €400,000 on Mullins won’t nearly be enough to encourage hopes later this season of a first trainers’ title. But for those at the Ratoath track, and tuning in to RTÉ’s coverage on Sunday, Elliott’s team looks primed to perform.
It will be Teahupoo’s fourth consecutive appearance in the Hatton’s Grace. Having won in 2022 and 2023, the former Stayers’ champion had to settle for second behind Lossiemouth last year. In her absence though, plenty will fancy him to become a fifth Hatton’s Grace hat-trick scorer.
Elliott has two other chances in the six-runner contest, although it’s Mullins’s Ballyburn who shapes as the biggest danger. An initially promising novice career over fences ended in disappointment and leaves Ballyburn with plenty to prove on his return to flights.
In contrast, although Teahupoo appears rarely, it is almost invariably consistent. He has a proven track record of pitching up here first time out and Jack Kennedy’s mount will be a default choice for many.
Romeo Coolio is a classy sort that did what was expected of him on his chasing debut at Down Royal. The fact that ground conditions look like being decent for the time of year can only help him, as will how Mullins’s two hopefuls hardly look to be among his front-rank novices.
Former British champion jockey Harry Cobden flies in to maintain his partnership with last season’s Scottish National winner Captain Cody, while Gold Dancer has won his last three. Ol Man Dingle is another with a chance but Romeo Coolio might prove a level above them all.
In the days when the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle made up a triple Grade One fixture, Elliott memorably completed the hat-trick in 2017.
He has a pair of chances in the now Grade Two Royal Bond and Koktail Brut, impressive at Punchestown on his last start, looks to be a major player.
A first-time hood may help Mange Tout get the better of another French import, Narciso, in Sunday’s Juvenile Hurdle although Elliott’s Wendrock looks to have a fight on his hands in Saturday’s Grade Three feature, up against Murcia and the unexposed I’m Slippy.
Elliott’s winning form continued at Newbury on Friday through the Listed winner Highland Crystal and he relies on Three Card Brag in this weekend’s big handicap prize, the Coral Gold Cup.
In other news, one of the trainer’s main jockeys, Danny Gilligan, will have his appeal against a 14-day ban for breaching ‘non-trier’ rules heard on Tuesday.
Gilligan was suspended at the rescheduled Navan fixture last week after riding Elliott’s Gunnery Sergeant in a maiden hurdle. The horse finished 11th but Elliott told the stewards his charge may have finished three or four places closer “with a more vigorous ride.”
The horse was suspended from racing for 60 days. Gilligan’s suspension is due to run from Tuesday to New Year’s Day.
Other regulatory news saw the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) confirm a €2,000 fine for Enda Bolger following the embarrassing mix up of a pair of JP McManus owner runners at Punchestown earlier this month.
The maiden hurdler Centreofattention ran instead of Dont Tell Jack in a novice chase and the mistake only came to light over an hour after the chase. Bolger told a referrals panel on Thursday the blunder was due to human error and “caused him much embarrassment”.
The IHRB panel fined trainer Danny McLoughlin a total of €4,250 after his runner Magny Cours tested positive for the anti-inflammatory, dexamethasone, at Listowel in June. The filly was disqualified, and McLoughlin also penalised for a series of breaches after an unannounced yard inspection.
Horse Racing Ireland has reallocated the 11 fixtures for its own track at Tipperary next year after getting a green light from the Government to start construction of a new all-weather circuit there. The reallocation includes the card featuring the Fairy Bridge Stakes going to Cork in August.
