Shane Lowry might sympathise with Gordon Elliott sometimes. The Offaly golfer snapped at this year’s US Masters after being continually asked questions about Rory McIlroy’s chances of winning – the point being he was trying to win too. Lowry, though, might count his blessings at not having Willie Mullins constantly in his eyeline.
Elliott and Lowry are major forces, but too often find themselves perceived through the lens of someone else. Elliott’s rise from obscurity during the most successful period in Irish racing history is a remarkable story. But just as McIlroy effortlessly attracts focus, so does Mullins, the man who has redrawn the parameters of racing excellence.
Mullins has credited Elliott’s competition for his remorseless expansion and it’s easy to forget how he was twice carried to the final day of the National Hunt season before edging his young rival to Ireland’s trainers’ championship. Now that Mullins is champion trainer in Britain too, the prospect of dethroning him seems farther away than ever.
So, Elliott could have been forgiven some irritation when a Monday morning media date at his Cullentra base in Co Meath almost inevitably turned towards his rival – and particularly his remarkable Breeders’ Cup victory in Del Mar with Ethical Diamond earlier this month.
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Instead, he was generosity itself. “It was one of those days you’re proud to be Irish. The hairs would stand on the back of your neck,” he said of the Del Mar success.
Elliott supplemented those comments with an impressive shot of perspective on the task he faces in competing with Mullins every day.
“Lads talk about Vincent O’Brien and Tom Dreaper; they’re not in the same league as this man and what he’s doing. Willie’s an amazing man. We should all be glad to be in the same [sport].
“We’re chasing him hard. I look up to him and admire him. He’s very strong buying his horses, he has an amazing bunch of owners. He’s a brilliant man and I look up to him and admire him the whole time.”
It’s worth keeping in mind that for now at least, it is the 47-year-old who sits atop the trainers’ championship with over €1.7 million in prize money already in the bag in Ireland this season. Throw in Britain and the US and he has over 100 winners for the campaign so far.
Mullins’s strength in depth means Elliott’s title ambitions will, in all probability, have to wait even longer. But, like Lowry, he is still swinging and fancying his chances in the big events that count.
Star mare Brighterdaysahead could make her long-awaited debut over fences at Leopardstown over Christmas, while the former Stayers’ Hurdle champion Teahupoo is set to line up in this weekend’s Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at the Fairyhouse Winter Festival. Romeo Coolio, too, will be in Grade One action in the Drinmore Chase at Fairyhouse.
There was more than a hint of defiance is comments about a vintage first half of the jumps season highlighted by a rare Galway Plate-Hurdle double during the height of summer. Just like Lowry, there’s appreciation of his own worth and even a ticking off to media about the comparative lack of coverage given to his own US exploits last month.
Of six horses sent to the Far Hills track in New Jersey, five won, including Zanahiyr in the American Grand National. The only one that didn’t win, Fil Dor, stayed on in the US and on Sunday night won his own Grade One – the Colonial Cup in South Carolina, for new trainer Ricky Hendriks. Zanahiyr was Elliott’s 104th top-flight success in all.
That willingness to travel outside Ireland was underlined at the weekend as the exciting mare Wodhooh easily scored in a valuable contest at Ascot. Wodhooh was the horse that saved Elliott from a Cheltenham Festival blank last March, where the pressure of elite competition was obvious in her trainer’s post-race relief.
With a young team of emerging talent and a notable list of jockeys topped by Jack Kennedy, the outlook looks positive, although Elliott concedes he is light on older established talent. The 2024 Gold Cup runner-up Gerri Colombe is back after a year out through injury, but has a mountain to climb to go one better in steeplechasing’s blue riband in March.
“I’d love to dream and say he’s a Gold Cup horse, but I think even on his second in the Gold Cup, he will have to improve from what he is at the moment,” the trainer admitted.
If there’s a horse to ultimately dream of emulating Don Cossack’s 2016 Gold Cup, it looks like Brighterdaysahead.
Don Cossack was memorably described as an “aeroplane” by his trainer. Epithets such as “awesome” and “weapon” were used to describe the aptly named mare on Monday. A tweak generated by an impressive schooling session has delayed her return to action, but the wait promises to be worth it.
“We missed a week with her so Fairyhouse might come quick enough for her,” said Elliott. “I’d imagine it will be Christmas before we start her off. She just gave us a little twist behind schooling.
“She’s cracking, it’d be ideal to get her over a fence at Christmas, but you have to deal with the cards you’re handed. She’s jumped class, she’s been awesome, but she just twisted a leg behind."
No matter what the competition is, it’s a prospect worthy of any spotlight.
