Elliott sends strong team to Down Royal

A treble at Downpatrick last Sunday firmly indicated the Gordon Elliott team are back on track and the Cullentra House Stables operator will be hoping for further success in Northern Ireland on Down Royal’s Friday card.

Leading trainer at the past two Cheltenham Festivals and the handler of an astounding 210 National Hunt winners in Ireland last term, Elliott will have 13 representatives on this programme.

He has at least one runner in every race and the Meath man is particularly strong in the www.thetote.com Hurdle with four horses doing battle for him.

A dual Grade One winner in the past, Lieutenant Colonel is the mount of Jack Kennedy, while Davy Russell and Denis O’Regan are on his stable companions, The Game Changer and Lord Scoundrel who are also owned by Gigginstown House Stud.

The Game Changer is a 12-time scorer, including at graded level and Lord Scoundrel is best remembered for triumphing in the 2016 Galway Plate.

Pat and Joe Sloane own the other Elliott hope, Flaxen Flare and the 40-year-old had a nice winner for them at Downpatrick at the weekend with Count Simon.

The Storyteller did Elliott and the Sloane family proud at Cheltenham and Punchestown in the spring, and Barry Geraghty will take the reins for them on Flaxen Flare, a Fred Winter winner in his time.

Former Willie Mullins inmate Chateau Conti starts off for Joseph O’Brien in this two-and-a-half-mile contest, an event where ex-Nicky Henderson performer My Wigwam Or Yours is tried in first-time blinkers.

In the care of Terence O’Brien up until now, Mill Quest has been switched by her owners, the Coolglen Syndicate, to the trainer’s championship runner-up for the last six campaigns.

Elliott could instantly work his magic with the eight-year-old daughter of Milan, already twice a winner in her career.

Champion jockey Davy Russell rides for the first time as Mill Quest goes for the Down Royal Summer Festival Of Racing Handicap Hurdle.