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Elliott entitled to aim at an even bigger jackpot

Chris McGrath,Co Meath
Tuesday 20 November 2007 01:00 GMT
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Suddenly, just as the horse was led from his stall, an icy sunset plunged beneath the melancholy afternoon sky and drenched the little stableyard in dazzling light. All that remained of Silver Birch was his silhouette, as though in token of the unreality pervading his achievements in the care of Gordon Elliott.

But there was nothing counterfeit about his role here yesterday, draped in a blanket that identified him as winner of the John Smith's Grand National. For one thing, he has already been ruled out of a return to Aintree in April by a leg problem – a reproof quite superfluous to Elliott, who was never the type to get carried away by winning the world's most famous steeplechase in his very first season as a trainer.

Instead a reality check remained the obligation of those who came here, to the banks of the Boyne, to hear the announcement of yet another prizemoney boost for the National. The purse in 2008 will be £800,000, £100,000 more than last season. It is a prodigious jackpot for a mere handicap, but one that nowadays makes the participation of the very best jumpers all but imperative.

Yet this, the latest winner, could scarcely have come from a humbler background. The stabling is breezeblock, the roofing corrugated iron. In some yards, there are engraved nameplates beside each box. Here, the names are scrawled in chalk on blackboard. Elliott has still only had six winners in Ireland, and nine in Britain. Such is the reality of the National's romance.

While his cropped hair is frosted with grey, Elliott is still only 29. In his thickening torso you can still observe the power of the crack amateur rider who rode for Martin Pipe through a decade of Cheltenham Festivals. "They're the only two lads I ever worked for," he said. "Tony Martin, and Martin Pipe. They train differently, but I suppose a mixture's working OK. I'm only young. I'm still learning. So long as I keep doing that."

Since those days, Pipe has been succeeded by his son, David, who remains a close friend and travelled over to join Elliott in his celebrations after Silver Birch's stupefying success. Even at the time, Elliott knew that people would doubt the foundations beneath the edifice he had erected so abruptly. "After the National, we were there to be knocked," he said. "Luckily enough, since then we have proved that we can train winners of every type, that we can do the job, wherever it takes us: Ireland, England, Wales or Scotland."

Sure enough, as he parades the horses that have doubled his string to 40 since the spring, he mentions targets as varied as the Maryland Hunt Cup to a handicap at Royal Ascot. He sent three over to the big meeting at Cheltenham last weekend and came home with a winner and a second, the latter beaten a neck after his rider lost his whip. Vitally, many of the horses he likes best are mere youngsters, bumper horses, maiden hurdlers.

Then there is Salford City, once fifth in the Derby and now enjoying a new lease of life over timber. "None of yous are shy of slagging him off," Elliott grinned. "But he has had a wind op and when things fall right for him, and the ground's quick, he's well capable of winning a big race."

He is confident that Silver Birch himself will be back in 2009. As he acknow-ledges, the horse would never have found his way here, burgled from Paul Nicholls for just 20,000 guineas, but for his problems. "It's nothing at all bad," he said. "We just got the warning, a bit of heat in his near-fore. We could have got him back in January and tried to get him ready for Aintree, but the owner's a sound man and said to give him time. I would say he's even stronger than last year. Remember he has only had 20 runs. There's horses get that in a season and a half. He's no mileage. "

Still less so, after that bare season and a half, Elliott himself. For all his muttering, low-key ways, he could not have made a more assured start. It was the same when he began riding in point-to-points, as a mere schoolboy, albeit that time he missed the cue for instant glory. "I had my first ride on a mare for Tony Martin," he recalled. "I was 16, and I decked her at the last going to win. I think I got a bit excited, and put her on the floor."

This time round, he has landed with the world at his feet.

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