Delta Work (right)© Photo Healy Racing
Gordon Elliott is sweet on Delta Work as he goes in search of a joint-record fourth victory in Randox Grand National on Saturday.
The master of Cullentra was a fresh-faced and relatively unknown 29-year-old when first claiming the world’s most famous steeplechase with Silver Birch in 2007. But he is now very much established as one of National Hunt racing’s elite trainers.
Elliott has fond memories of that day 16 years ago, but does not believe Silver Birch’s triumph was a major factor in his meteoric rise through the ranks.
“I didn’t get one horse out of training Silver Birch. I got my name out after that, but I had to prove I could go and train winners,” he said.
“We trained an awful of mid-range winners in the north of England after Silver Birch and that is what really got us going. That got a lot of owners on board to get us in a great position.”
Elliott was a household name by the time his second National winner came around, with the hugely-popular Tiger Roll striking gold in 2018.
Also a five-time winner at the Cheltenham Festival, the Gigginstown House Stud-owned gelding became an Aintree legend by making it back-to-back victories in 2019.
Those triumphs have put Elliott on the verge of joining George Dockeray, Fred Rimell and Red Rum’s trainer Ginger McCain as a four-time winner.
Elliott added: “The Grand National has been a special race to me and I have won it three times. Obviously, I would love to win it again. Hopefully, I have at least another 20 or 30 years of my training career left, so hopefully it will happen at some stage.
“I rode around Aintree a few times and broke my arm the last time I rode there on a horse called Sheltering for Edward O’Grady (in the 2003 Fox Hunters’ Chase).
“I didn’t have much luck there as a rider, but I was just an ordinary amateur and enjoyed it. I like training a lot more.”
The shortest-priced of Elliott’s six-strong team is Delta Work, who denied Tiger Roll the fairytale ending to his career in the cross-country chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival before finishing third in the Grand National.
The 10-year-old successfully defended his crown at Cheltenham last month and Elliott is confident he will be in the thick of the action again on his return to Aintree.
He said: “If I had to pick a horse to ride this year, it would be Delta Work. He got a little bit far back early last year, but ran a very good race.
“He was a bit careful, but he is in great form now and we couldn’t be happier with him.”
Elliott’s second string appears to be Galvin who was runner-up to Delta Work at Cheltenham just over four weeks ago and will be ridden by Davy Russell, who steered Tiger Roll to his two National wins.
Russell came out of retirement to stand in for the sidelined Jack Kennedy earlier in the season and it would be a fitting end to his riding career if he can go out on a blaze of glory.
Elliott, who also runs Dunboyne (Jack Tudor), Fury Road (Jonjo O’Neill Jnr), Coko Beach (Harry Cobden) and Escaria Ten (Adrian Heskin), added: “With Galvin, the drier the ground, the better chance he has.
“He will have come on a lot from Cheltenham and is in good form. We are very, very happy with him.”
The horse bidding to emulate Tiger Roll by securing back-to-back Grand National wins is the Emmet Mullins-trained Noble Yeats
The eight-year-old gave distinguished amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen the perfect send-off last year, returning to Aintree to win the Many Clouds Chase in December before finishing third and fourth in the Cotswold Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup respectively.
Mullins is hoping Sean Bowen can repeat Waley-Cohen’s tactics from 12 months ago, saying: “He was last over the first last time. He wasn’t in contention for the first two miles, but it all worked out in his favour.
“There’s no rule of thumb for it, it’s just getting the horse happy and confident in a bit of space and running into the gaps. It’ll probably have to be the brave man’s route to get that space. He negotiated it last year and fingers crossed he can do it again.
“I think he’s getting a bit wiser every time and looking after himself a bit more. He’s just holding a bit back for himself, but hopefully we can get it out of him.
“Just a bit of space is ideal for him, it’s going to be hard in a National with 40 runners but I suppose I’ll just keep telling Sean to go back and look at Sam’s ride last year.”
In a market otherwise dominated by the Irish, the clear outlier is Lucinda Russell’s Corach Rambler
It is six years since Russell’s One For Arthur became only the second Scottish-trained winner of the Aintree showpiece, after Rubstic in 1979, and there is no doubt her latest contender has a lot going for him.
Corach Rambler lines up officially 10lb well-in at the weights, with the handicapper unable to penalise him for his successful defence of the Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival last month, and his trainer feels he provides her with a “fantastic chance” of bagging a second National.
“It was funny really because going in I didn’t expect to win at Cheltenham at all, I certainly didn’t expect him to win as he did,” said the Kinross handler.
“We knew that he had improved this season and before the race we knew that he had improved, so it was exciting to see him be able to go on and win like that. But the slightly scary thing is, I think he has improved again.
“Scu (Peter Scudamore, Russell’s partner) rode him just afterwards and he said that he had come out of that race so well. So if he can do (improve again), Aintree is the race for him.”
Stamina is Corach Rambler’s strong suit and with just 10st 5lb on his back, and One For Arthur’s rider Derek Fox set to return from injury just in time to take the ride, everything points to a huge run.
“Technically, if you look at it, he is extremely well in on the handicap,” Russell added.
“He’s gone up in the weights since Cheltenham and I think he has improved as well. From that point of view, technically, I think has got a fantastic chance.
“He has to take to the fences, he has to take to the whole Aintree experience, but again I am pretty confident that he will do that.”
